Coldkeep vs Samsung Secure Folder.
Secure Folder is a solid built-in choice on a Galaxy phone. Coldkeep suits you if you want recovery and backup that don't run through a Samsung account.
Last reviewed 27 October 2026
If you have a Galaxy phone and want a locked space that is already on it, use Secure Folder. It holds apps as well as photos, and Samsung says it is encrypted. Don’t install anything just to replace it.
Coldkeep is for a different set of needs. It is an Android app for hiding photos and videos, on Google Play. There’s no account. We never see your photos, your pattern or your recovery phrase. We can’t recover them for you. Pick it if you’d rather keep your own recovery phrase and backup file than depend on a Samsung account.
What Secure Folder does well
Secure Folder is real encryption, not a trick. Samsung’s UK support page says the Samsung Knox security platform “encrypts all data stored there”. Samsung describes it as a private place on the phone with its own lock.
- Its own lock. You pick a PIN, password or pattern for Secure Folder, plus fingerprint on supported devices.
- It holds apps. You can add apps as well as pictures and files. An app you download straight into Secure Folder exists only there.
- It is part of the phone. On supported Galaxy devices it is a setting under Security and privacy. If your device doesn’t support it, the feature doesn’t appear.
- It can hide itself. Samsung’s page says you can hide it from the Apps screen if you don’t want anyone to know it is there. Samsung’s UK page notes it can still be reached through Settings.
- It moves with Smart Switch. Samsung says you can transfer Secure Folder to a new Galaxy with Smart Switch, then open it on the new phone to check the data arrived.
- It stays on the phone. Samsung says Secure Folder can only be accessed on your phone or tablet, not from the web or a computer.
Side by side
| Samsung Secure Folder | Coldkeep | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A locked space on supported Galaxy phones for files and apps | An Android app for hiding photos and videos |
| How you get it | Built in | Separate app |
| What unlocks it | A PIN, password or pattern you set up for Secure Folder; fingerprint on supported devices | Your pattern or passphrase, stretched with Argon2id before it’s used. |
| Account | A Samsung account is used to reset a forgotten lock. Samsung’s US and UK pages differ on whether setup requires one | No account. Coldkeep has no internet permission. Android itself blocks it from going online. |
| If you forget the lock | Reset with your Samsung account, if you allowed it at setup. Otherwise Samsung says you can’t recover access, and you can remove Secure Folder and set up a new one | A 12-word recovery phrase you write down. It opens your vault if you forget your pattern. |
| New phone | Smart Switch | Excluded from Android backup and phone-to-phone transfer. With your backup file, your recovery phrase brings everything in it back on a new phone. Without a backup file, a new phone starts empty. |
| Backups | Samsung says backing up Secure Folder is no longer supported. You can restore earlier backups, except on Android 16 with One UI 8 or higher, where Smart Switch is the only route | Encrypted backup in one file you can keep anywhere: Drive, a USB stick, a computer. It opens with your pattern or passphrase, or your 12-word recovery phrase. You make each backup yourself; there’s no automatic backup. See the limits |
The Samsung account row is the one to check on your own phone. Samsung’s US page says to sign in “if needed” and ties recovery to the Reset with Samsung account option. The UK and India pages say you will need to sign in or create an account.
Where Coldkeep is different
Recovery and backup are yours. Secure Folder’s recovery runs through your Samsung account, and Samsung says that without it you can’t get back in. Coldkeep has no account to lean on, so it gives you two things you keep yourself. A 12-word recovery phrase you write down. It opens your vault if you forget your pattern, and with your backup file it brings everything back on a new phone. The phrase alone doesn’t bring photos back onto a new phone. That needs the backup file too.
Encrypted backup in one file you can keep anywhere: Drive, a USB stick, a computer. It opens with your pattern or passphrase, or your 12-word recovery phrase. A backup file has limits of its own. Read what a backup file can’t do.
No internet, no account. Coldkeep has no internet permission. Android itself blocks it from going online. We never see your photos, your pattern or your recovery phrase.
How files are encrypted. Files are encrypted with AES-256-GCM using Google’s Tink library, each with its own key. Your pattern or passphrase is stretched with Argon2id before it’s used. On phones with secure hardware, unlocking also needs a key held in that hardware, so vault files copied off the phone can’t be cracked on another computer. That applies to vault files on the phone. It doesn’t apply to backup files.
Wrong guesses. Wrong guesses are slowed down.
Hidden vaults (Coldkeep Pro). Hidden vaults: a second pattern opens a separate vault, and Coldkeep never shows a list of vaults. Give a hidden vault a long pattern or a passphrase. That, not the wrong-guess delays, is what keeps it out of reach of someone who knows another of your patterns.
What Coldkeep doesn’t do. It doesn’t hold apps. Secure Folder does, and that is a real advantage if you want to lock an app away too.
What Coldkeep doesn’t protect against
Secure Folder has limits too, and we only know what Samsung documents. Here are Coldkeep’s, in plain terms.
- A compromised phone while the vault is open. Malware with root, accessibility or screen access can see what you see.
- Someone watching you draw your pattern. Hiding the trail helps. A passphrase helps more.
- Being forced to unlock. If someone makes you open Coldkeep, they see what is in it. Hidden vaults help inside the app, but forensic analysis can tell how many vaults exist. Someone who knows one of your patterns isn’t slowed down by the wrong-guess delays when trying others on your phone, because opening the vault they know resets the delays. A long pattern or a passphrase for a hidden vault is what keeps it out of reach.
- Copies elsewhere. Deleting an original removes it from your gallery. It doesn’t delete copies in Google Photos’ cloud backup, chat apps or other backups. Flash storage may also keep deleted blocks for a while. Android’s own encryption protects those blocks, not us.
- Losing both the phone (or your credential) and your recovery phrase. Then nobody can get your files back, including us. That is the price of real encryption.
- Memory forensics. Clearing keys from memory is best effort.
- Video recording. Videos from the Coldkeep camera sit in Coldkeep’s private storage while recording and are encrypted the moment you stop.
- Knowing you use Coldkeep. The app shows in your app list and your Play account’s library. Secure Folder can hide its icon. Coldkeep doesn’t disguise itself.
- A short pattern on a backup file. Someone who gets your backup file can try patterns on their own computer, without Coldkeep’s delays and without your phone’s secure hardware. A short or common pattern can be guessed in hours. A long pattern (8+ dots, not a letter or shape) or a passphrase makes it impractical, and your 12 words can’t be guessed at all. See the full limits page.
Questions
Is Samsung Secure Folder encrypted?
Yes, according to Samsung. Its UK support page says the Samsung Knox security platform encrypts all data stored in Secure Folder. We haven’t tested it, because we have no Samsung device. Everything here comes from Samsung’s own pages.
What happens if I forget my Secure Folder lock?
Samsung says you can reset it with your Samsung account, if you allowed that during setup. If you didn’t, Samsung says you can’t recover access to Secure Folder. You can remove it and set up a new one, which loses what was inside.
Can I back up Secure Folder?
Samsung says backing up Secure Folder is no longer supported. You can restore earlier backups, except on Android 16 with One UI 8 or higher, where Smart Switch is the only route. To move to a new Galaxy phone, Samsung points to Smart Switch. For more on how it works, see our Secure Folder guide.
Is Coldkeep a replacement for Secure Folder?
Not entirely. Coldkeep doesn’t hold apps, and it shows in your app list. It is better thought of as a photo and video vault with its own recovery phrase and backup file.
Sources
Checked against these official pages on 27 October 2026.