“Way too many ads and the ads last forever. This is beyond annoying!”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 465 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
Gallery Vault-Hide Photo Video
GalleryVault Developer TeamGalleryVault is a fantastic privacy protection app to easily hide and encrypt…
4.4 ★606,087 ratings
50M+Downloads
4+Age rating
—App size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
GalleryVault is a fantastic privacy protection app to easily hide and encrypt your photos, videos, and any other files that you do not want others to see.
GalleryVault can hide its app icon and keep your privacy absolutely safe. You can import your private images and videos into this secure vault, and nobody knows its existence. What's more, GalleryVault has a beautiful design, it provides you with a smooth and amazing media browsing experience.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 4.6.35 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 4.6.35, updated 2026-09-20.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to at least 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
1 theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
65–79% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 4.6.35, scanned 2026-09-30.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
6 or more requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 1
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 16 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Chartboost and 12 more
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Asks for more sensitive permissions than similar apps
The package requests substantially more of the device's sensitive permissions than the typical app in its category. This is a measurement, not an accusation: a permission is granted because a feature needs it, and a wide request list is a reason to look rather than a finding on its own.
What we saw: Requests 7 sensitive permissions (CAMERA, PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS, READ_CONTACTS, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, READ_PHONE_STATE, RECORD_AUDIO, SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW); the median for 83 scanned apps in Video Players & Editors is 3
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Aggressive ad load: raised by 28 distinct reviewers (6.0% of 465 reviews scanned)
In the app's own text: Trial terms not stated in the app's own text
The app's own screens offer a free trial without stating, beside it, what happens when the trial ends. Read this as context rather than as a charge: renewal terms are normally shown on the store's purchase sheet instead, which we cannot see, and we can only observe one kind of evidence for this — so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Offers a free trial ("Free Trial") with no renewal price, renewal date or auto-renew notice anywhere in the app's own text
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Edit: Wow came back to this a few years later to retrieve some old photos and man this has turned into a horrible experience. So many ads I can hardly use the app, can renew my old purchases, zero respect to the users time. I decided to…”
“Can't get my purchased app to desktop after Verizon screwed it. Without my Pro and ProKey there ARE FAR FAR FAR too many ads. It's disgusting to the point I would NEVER buy anything that was advertised. Not to mention the phishing, spam…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 4.6.35.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.