---
title: A vault you want to look at
canonical: https://mavaul.com/blog/photo-vault-gallery/
description: Most photo vaults are built to hide photos. Mavaul's gallery is built for looking at them: a full-screen viewer with nothing in the way, tap or swipe to move, and a slideshow you can hold, skip and shuffle without stopping it.
updated: 2026-10-29
format: text/markdown
generator: scripts/generate-llms.js
---
# A vault you want to look at

## Hiding is half the job

Most photo vaults are judged on how well they lock: the encryption, the passcode, the fake calculator. Mavaul does all of that. AES-256 on the phone, Face ID or a passcode, no account, a calculator that really calculates.

But nobody hides photos to never see them again. You open the vault to look. In most vaults that part is an afterthought: a grid, a basic viewer with buttons all over the photo, and a slideshow, if there is one, that ends the moment you touch the screen.

In Mavaul the gallery gets as much care as the lock.

## Nothing on screen but the photo

Open a photo and it fills the screen. No buttons, no toolbar, and the status bar hides, so the clock and battery go too. Tap the middle when you want the buttons, and tap again to put them away.

Pinch or double-tap to zoom. Pull down and the photo drops back into its place in the grid. It works like Photos on the iPhone, so there's nothing to learn. [More on the photo viewer](/features/photo-viewer/).

## Tap or swipe

Tap the right or left edge of the screen for the next or previous photo. Or swipe. Tapping is quicker with one hand, swiping is what your thumb already does. Both work everywhere in the viewer, and both keep working during a slideshow.

## A slideshow you can touch

Most slideshows are all or nothing. Want to stay on a photo? You exit. Want to skip one or go back? You exit, or the show stops.

Mavaul's slideshow is built to be touched:

- **Hold to stop.** Keep a finger on the screen and the show stays on that photo. Let go and it carries on.
- **Tap or swipe without stopping.** Go to the next or previous photo and the show keeps playing from there.
- **Or just watch.** It plays full screen, and the screen stays on until the show ends, so the iPhone doesn't dim or lock halfway through.

A small ring fills until the next photo is due. Each photo zooms in slowly while it's on screen. All of this is free. [More on the slideshow](/features/slideshow/).

## Make it yours

With Premium, the slideshow has settings most vaults don't have at all:

- **Interval.** 1 to 30 seconds per photo. The default is 5.
- **Transition.** Zoom in, Crossfade, Slide, or None for a plain cut.
- **Progress.** The ring, a thin line along the bottom edge, or nothing, so only the photo is left.
- **Shuffle.** A button in the corner as the show starts, then it fades away. Every photo plays once in a random order before a new order begins, so nothing repeats until you've seen them all.

The settings live in Settings, under Slideshow, with a preview at the top that plays your pick.

## On a bigger screen

Some photos are better on a TV. [Wi-Fi Share](/features/wi-fi-share/) opens the vault in a browser on a TV, laptop or any device on the same Wi-Fi, with its own slideshow. Nothing goes out over the internet.

## Still a vault

None of this makes the vault less private. Photos are decrypted as they come up and cleared when the vault locks. The gallery lives inside the same encrypted vault, with no account and no Mavaul cloud.

A vault you only open to add photos is a hiding place. Mavaul is a gallery that happens to be locked.