Forgot your calculator vault password? How to get your photos back

Forgot the code for your calculator vault? The calculator still adds up, but your photos stay locked behind it. Whether you can get back in depends on the app, and on what you set up when you first used it. Here's how calculator vaults usually handle a forgotten password, the reset codes some of them use, and what not to do while you're locked out.

First, don't make it worse

• Don't uninstall the app or clear its data. Many calculator vaults keep your photos only on the phone, and one popular app's own listing says files aren't available after you uninstall and reinstall it. Here's what an uninstall really does.
• Don't keep guessing wildly. Some vaults lock you out for longer after each wrong try, and some can erase themselves.
• Don't pay for a "calculator vault unlocker". A vault that encrypts your photos can't be opened without its key, and one that doesn't encrypt needs no paid tool.

How calculator vaults reset a forgotten password

Calculator vaults use one of four ways back, and each only works if you set it up beforehand:

1. A reset code. You type a special number into the calculator, press =, and a reset screen opens. It usually asks your security question.
2. A security question. You answer the question you chose when you set the vault up.
3. An email address. The app sends a reset code or link to an address you added.
4. No recovery at all. Some vaults deliberately have none, so nobody else can get in either.

Check the app's listing on Google Play first. Many put their recovery steps in a FAQ at the end of the description.

Reset codes, from the developers' own pages

We only list codes that an app's developer publishes. Two popular calculator vaults say this in their Google Play listings (checked on 23 October 2026):

• Calculator Vault - Gallery Lock: type 11223344 and press = to open the password reset screen, then answer your secret question. If you added an email address, you can reset with an emailed code instead.
• Calculator - photo vault: type 11223344 and press =, then answer your security question to get your password back.

Other apps use other codes, or none, and a code that works in one app does nothing in another. If yours isn't listed, look for its FAQ on Google Play, or email its developer from the listing's contact details.

Vaulty's calculator

Vaulty can also disguise itself as a calculator. Vaulty's help says you open it by typing your PIN and then pressing and holding =, and that you reset a forgotten password by answering your security question, unless you turned on its secret door feature. Our guide to vault app recovery covers Vaulty, Keepsafe, Gallery Vault and LockMyPix in more detail.

If there's no way to reset it

If your app has no recovery, or you never set it up, there may be no way back, and that's by design: whatever stops you also stops anyone else. A vault that only hid your files in a folder is the exception, because the photos are still ordinary files somewhere on the phone, as our guide to finding hidden photos explains. A vault that encrypted them can't be opened by any tool. Our guide to a forgotten vault PIN covers what's left to try.

How Hidey's calculator works

Hidey's calculator disguise has no reset code, on purpose: a code anyone can look up is a door anyone can try. Hidey's PIN reset, through Google after a 24-hour wait or with a recovery key in zero-knowledge mode (Pro), lives on its normal lock screen, and the calculator takes that screen's place. So before the disguise turns on, Hidey makes you open the calculator once with your PIN.

If you're not completely sure you'll remember your PIN, use one of Hidey's icon disguises instead. Clock, Weather and Notes (Pro) change the icon and name but keep the normal lock screen, with its forgot pin link. If you've already forgotten your PIN with the calculator on, contact us before you uninstall anything. Our guide to using a calculator vault walks through the disguise step by step.