The Unexpected Origins of Vaulty: From Video Game to Private Gallery

Vaulty started as an accident. Well, sort of. Back in the early days of Android development, I was deep into making a video game—coding mechanics, designing characters, and building out the world. But there was a problem: every time I tested new assets on my phone, they would show up in the gallery app, mixed in with my personal photos. Not exactly ideal.

The Gallery Problem

Games often require a lot of images—character sprites, UI elements, background art—you name it. I had folders full of these assets, none of which belonged in my phone’s photo gallery. But Android’s media scanner didn’t care. It picked up everything and tossed it into the gallery, turning my personal media into a cluttered mess.

I needed a way to hide these images from the gallery without actually deleting them. That’s when I stumbled upon a simple trick: preventing the media scanner from indexing certain files. It was a small revelation, but it got me thinking—if I could do this for game assets, what else could it be useful for?

The First Version of Vaulty

At first, I wrote a tiny app that did one thing: it applied this protection to a single file when run, and reversed it when run again. No interface, no bells or whistles—just a simple utility tool for my own use.

Then I realized something interesting: I wasn’t the only one with this problem. People wanted to keep some of their photos private—away from prying eyes or accidental discovery. With that in mind, I refined the app, gave it a basic UI, and made it easy for users to hide and unhide their own files.

Honestly, a big part of my motivation at the time was just to learn how to publish an app.

From Dev Tool to Privacy App

What started as a simple fix for my game development workflow turned into something much bigger. As more people discovered and downloaded the app, I saw the potential to create a polished, user-friendly tool for privacy.

Over time, Vaulty evolved from a barebones folder hider into the full-featured private gallery it is today—with password protection, online backup, and a smooth user experience. I kept iterating, listening to great user feedback, and working with the team that’s been building and supporting Vaulty ever since.

The Takeaway

Vaulty’s origin story is a great reminder that innovation doesn’t always come from grand plans—it often starts with solving a small, personal problem. What began as a way to keep game assets out of my gallery turned into a widely used privacy app that’s been helping people protect their photos and videos since 2011.