Comparison
One app for passwords. Another for private files.
1Password is excellent at what it is for: logins, passkeys and team credentials. Sealby is for something else: a sealed, deniable home for the photos, documents and notes of your private life, with no account attached to any of it.
Should I use 1Password or Sealby for private documents?
Use 1Password for credentials (logins, passkeys, 2FA), where its autofill and team features shine. For private files, photos and notes, a vault on your device fits better. Sealby encrypts on your device with no account, organizes media and documents with folders and search, and offers deniable hidden vaults.
Where 1Password shines
- Best-in-class credential management: autofill, passkeys, watchtower alerts
- Mature cross-platform ecosystem with family and team plans
- Strong security model for what it stores (Secret Key + account password)
Where it falls short
- Requires an account and an ongoing subscription
- Your encrypted vault lives on their servers, attached to your identity
- Documents are attachments, not a browsable media/file vault
- No deniability — the vault, and the fact you have one, visibly exist
The honest verdict
This is not either/or. Use 1Password for the secrets you type into websites, and Sealby for the files you would never upload anywhere. If you must pick one place for private documents, photos and notes on an iPhone, the account-free, deniable vault is the safer choice.
Common questions
Can 1Password store files and photos?
It can attach documents to items, with storage limits by plan. That works for a passport scan attached to a travel login. It is not built to hold and organize a private photo library, videos, or folders of documents. That is the job Sealby is shaped for.
Is “no account” really more secure?
It removes whole classes of attack instead of defending against them: nothing to phish, no server-side vault to breach or subpoena, no identity linking you to your data. 1Password defends those fronts well. Sealby simply does not have them.
Related: Notes & documents · The security model · Best encrypted vault apps
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iPhone & iPad · iOS 17+ · Free