Your phone can hold a passport scan, a private recording, a signed agreement, and years of family photographs. Protecting those files means following each copy through its life: where it was created, how it enters encrypted storage, what happens when you view it, and how you recover it after losing the device.
Quick answer
To encrypt photos, videos, and files on iPhone or Android, protect the phone with a strong passcode, check Krypt's Remove originals after import setting, and import selected content into the vault. Keep source removal off while you verify that the imported files open and create an encrypted recovery backup. Then decide which originals to remove. Review gallery, cloud, trash, preview, and export copies separately because encrypting one copy does not protect every other copy.
What protection does your phone already provide?
Apple's Data Protection architecture provides file encryption on iPhone and iPad, with key management rooted in the Secure Enclave. Android's file-based encryption separates credential-encrypted storage from device-encrypted storage; devices launching with Android 10 or later must use it. These are substantial protections against access to stored data.
Device encryption and an application vault answer different access questions. You might unlock your phone while keeping selected content locked inside Krypt. That separation depends on the vault encrypting its stored content and managing its unlock state.
Apple's Hidden album requires authentication by default on current systems, but hiding does not move an item into a separate vault or remove cloud copies.
No vault can make a compromised operating system trustworthy. Malware may capture content when you display it. Keep the device updated and use a trusted device for importing and recovery.
Step 1: Prepare the device and your recovery plan
Set a strong device passcode and install available system and Krypt updates. Configure the vault's authentication and choose an auto-lock interval that fits how you use the phone. Check what happens when you leave Krypt and return: the important behavior is that private content requires the intended authentication again.
Check source removal before your first import. In Krypt Settings, find Remove originals after import and Ask before removing originals. On a fresh installation, removal is enabled and the per-import question is disabled. Turn removal off if you plan to inspect the vault copy and make a backup while retaining the source. Or enable Ask before removing originals and leave Remove originals off in the import dialog until you are ready. An import can remove the source before you have had a chance to make the backup described below if you leave the default in place.
Before moving irreplaceable content, establish a recovery path. Keep the encrypted backup and its matching Recovery Kit or Rescue Key available outside the phone that could be lost. Protect the recovery material separately from the backup. Do not put the only recovery copy inside the vault it is meant to recover.
Leave space for the source, encrypted destination, and temporary processing. Test the workflow with a harmless image, short clip, and sample document first.
Step 2: Import photos and videos into Krypt
Unlock the intended vault. Open the add menu and choose Import from Photos, then select the images or videos to protect. Grant the photo access needed for your selection. On mobile, permissions and picker presentation depend on the operating system and the access you previously granted.
You can select up to 50 assets in one Photos import batch. The Photos view limits selection to images; the Videos view limits it to videos; the broader media view accepts both. If you started inside an album, Krypt adds successfully imported items to that album. For a large collection, work in small batches and keep a simple count of what you selected. A failed or inaccessible item may be skipped while others complete.
Wait for completion and review errors. A thumbnail alone does not prove import succeeded. A cloud library may need to download an original before Krypt can encrypt it locally.
Import creates a separate encrypted vault copy. If source removal is enabled, Krypt then asks the platform to delete the successfully imported Photos assets. The attempt may fail, and Krypt reports that the media was imported but the originals could not be removed. If you imported into an album, source deletion waits for the album assignment to complete. This setting does not erase separate messaging attachments, earlier downloads, exports, or independent cloud copies.
Step 3: Import documents and other supported files
From Krypt's add menu, choose Import documents and use the system file picker to select supported files. Confirm the actual source: a file shown in the picker may belong to local storage, a cloud provider, or another app. An attachment opened from email may also remain in the original message after import.
File-picker imports enter an import queue. The message that files were queued means processing has started, not that encryption and storage have finished. Wait for completion and check each result before treating the file as protected. When source removal is enabled, Krypt attempts to remove the source path after a job imports successfully. A picker-provided temporary file, a local document, and a provider-managed cloud file can have different cleanup behavior; inspect the original location rather than assuming the picker item disappeared everywhere.
Organize the records so you can recognize them later. Storage and in-app preview are different capabilities: some formats may require an external application to use them.
Step 4: Verify content before deleting anything
Open each important item. Inspect a full image, not just its thumbnail. For video, check the beginning, middle, end, and audio. For a multipage document, inspect later pages. Compare names and counts with your selection.
Then lock and reopen the vault and repeat a representative check. This can catch an incomplete selection, an unsupported preview, or a cloud source that never downloaded.
Create or refresh the encrypted backup and verify your recovery workflow before removing the only usable source. For a fresh installation, this order requires changing Krypt's default source-removal setting before import. A successful import message is evidence of one operation. Recoverability requires both usable encrypted data and the corresponding means of unlocking it.
Step 5: Review originals, cloud copies, and Recently Deleted
Decide which originals you still need, file by file. A shared family photo may stay in the library; a private scan may belong only in the vault and its protected backup.
| Where the source is | Before removing it | Check afterward |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone Photos with iCloud Photos | Verify the vault copy and backup; decide whether every synced device should lose the library copy. | Photos on other devices and Recently Deleted. |
| Android gallery or Google Photos | Check backup and sharing status; distinguish Delete from Delete from device. | Google Photos, device folders, albums, and Trash. |
| Files, Downloads, or another provider | Confirm the actual source path and whether the provider keeps its own copy. | Provider storage, its trash or version history, and earlier shares. |
On iPhone, deleting from Photos normally moves content to Recently Deleted for 30 days. Apple also explains that iCloud Photos deletion synchronizes across devices. Understand that effect before removing an original; it may delete a copy you expected to remain on another device. Review Recently Deleted only after confirming your retained copy and recovery plan.
On Android, review the gallery, Files app, and each cloud provider you used. Google Photos explains that deleting from its app can remove backed-up copies across devices, while Delete from device has a different purpose. Its current help page describes 30-day Trash retention. Other galleries and providers can behave differently. Also consider edited duplicates, screenshots, email attachments, shared albums, and earlier exports. A checklist of locations is more reliable than assuming that removing one gallery entry removed every copy.
Deletion does not guarantee erasure from flash storage or historical backups, nor can Krypt recall copies already sent to someone else.
What happens inside Krypt's encrypted file storage?
Krypt's current import path writes its KXF2 file format using XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption. New file imports use chunks, with a default plaintext chunk size of 1 MiB. The file identity includes the vault, storage object, and object type; the authenticated context binds each chunk to its header, position, and plaintext length.
Authentication detects alteration. Krypt's format includes an authenticated terminal record and checks the expected file length. Full-file decryption validates the header, identity, chunks, length, and terminal commitment before publishing output.
The underlying construction provides encryption and an authentication tag; the libsodium XChaCha20-Poly1305 documentation describes the primitive and nonce requirements. Krypt's container layout and identity checks are application design around that primitive. Naming an algorithm alone would not demonstrate those additional properties.
Krypt also encrypts file metadata, including the filename and source path, and any generated thumbnails. Ciphertext sizes and storage structure remain observable.
Viewing, sharing, and backup cross different boundaries
Images and video frames require plaintext during use. Krypt's supported encrypted video playback paths decrypt requested portions; other preview paths can involve temporary readable files. See the encrypted video playback explanation for platform details.
Sharing or exporting intentionally hands readable content to another destination. Check the selected app or folder before confirming. A recipient, cloud drive, or document editor may retain the result after Krypt locks. Temporary-file cleanup in Krypt cannot remove independent copies that another app creates.
Keep recovery and portability distinct. An encrypted backup preserves a protected recovery artifact. Krypt's decrypted category export creates readable ZIP archives for deliberate inspection or migration. The verifiable export guide explains that format; it should not become an unprotected long-term backup by accident.
Krypt's answer: a practical encrypted home for private files
Krypt is a zero-knowledge password manager that combines photos, videos, documents, and other vault records in a storage workflow with separate authentication, encrypted file content, encrypted metadata, and protected thumbnails where generated. That makes it useful when your question is how to retain selected mobile files behind an additional encryption boundary while still being able to find and use them.
Krypt cannot make an old cloud upload private retroactively or guarantee that a recipient deletes an export. Import, verify, back up, review originals, and share deliberately.
Mobile encryption checklist
- Protect the device and configure vault authentication and auto-lock.
- Check Remove originals after import and Ask before removing originals in Krypt Settings; disable automatic removal while preparing a backup.
- Identify every source location and confirm enough free storage.
- Import the selected media or supported documents and review errors.
- Open representative content, including video endings and later document pages.
- Verify encrypted backup recovery before removing irreplaceable originals.
- Review gallery, cloud, attachment, duplicate, and trash copies separately.
- Recheck the destination whenever previewing externally, sharing, or exporting.
FAQ
Are photos on an iPhone or Android phone already encrypted?
Modern phones provide operating-system encryption, including Apple's Data Protection and Android file-based encryption. That protection depends on device state and platform access controls. A separate encrypted vault adds an application boundary for selected files; it does not replace a strong device passcode or software updates.
Does importing a photo into Krypt delete the original?
It depends on your settings. On a fresh installation, Remove originals after import is enabled and Ask before removing originals is disabled. Krypt attempts to remove successfully imported source items. Check these settings before importing irreplaceable media; keep removal off until you have verified the vault copy and prepared an encrypted backup.
Can I view encrypted videos without exporting them?
Krypt provides in-app video playback, and supported encrypted playback paths decrypt requested portions as needed. Playback still requires plaintext in memory. Compatibility paths and external previews can involve temporary readable files, so viewing is not a promise that plaintext never exists.
Is a decrypted export a safe backup for private photos?
A decrypted export is readable outside the vault and is intended for deliberate portability. Use an encrypted backup for ongoing recovery, retain its matching recovery material separately, and verify restoration before relying on that backup or erasing your phone.
Technical references
The linked primary documentation explains Apple Data Protection, Android file-based encryption, Hidden album access, Apple Photos deletion, Google Photos deletion and Trash, and XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption. Krypt-specific behavior described here follows its file import, metadata, and encryption implementation as reviewed for this article.
Use Krypt to encrypt private photos, videos, and documents on your phone, then build a recovery plan for the files you want to keep.
