How to Move Photos Into a Vault App and Delete Every Leftover Copy

The most common vault mistake is not a weak PIN. It is importing a photo, seeing it in the vault, feeling done — and leaving the original exactly where it was. A vault with the originals still in the camera roll is a locked drawer with the papers left on the desk.

Here is the routine, with the places copies hide.

Where copies of a photo live

1. The camera roll (Photos on iPhone, Google Photos or Gallery on Android). The original.
2. Recently Deleted / Trash. Where deleted photos sit for 30–60 days, still viewable.
3. The cloud library. iCloud Photos or Google Photos backup, if on — plus its Recently Deleted or Trash.
4. Other devices. An iPad, a Mac, a family tablet signed into the same account.
5. Chat threads, if you ever sent the photo.
6. Screenshots and edits. An edited copy or a screenshot of the photo is a separate file.

The vault handles the first item. You handle the rest, once.

The routine on iPhone

1. Import. Open TuckVault, unlock the vault, tap Add, select the photos, import.
2. Delete the originals. TuckVault prompts you to delete the imported items from Photos. Confirm.
3. Empty Recently Deleted. Photos → Albums → Utilities → Recently Deleted → Select → Delete All. (Face ID or passcode is required.)
4. Check iCloud. With iCloud Photos on, the deletion syncs — but open iCloud.com → Photos → Recently Deleted once to confirm, especially if the originals had already uploaded.
5. Check other devices signed into your Apple ID if iCloud Photos was on. They should already be clean; a shared iPad is the one to look at.
6. Lock the vault.

The routine on Android

1. Import into TuckVault as above.
2. Delete the originals from Google Photos or your gallery app when prompted.
3. Empty the bin. Google Photos → Library → Trash → Empty trash. Samsung Gallery → Menu → Recycle bin → Empty. Do both if you use both.
4. Check Google Photos’ cloud. If backup is on, open photos.google.com → Trash (or the app’s Trash, which is the same) and confirm it is empty.
5. Check WhatsApp/Telegram folders. If the photo arrived through a chat app, its own gallery folder may hold a copy; delete it there too.
6. Lock the vault.

Before you delete anything

• Confirm the import finished. Open the photo inside the vault first. Then delete the original.
• Keep one private backup of anything irreplaceable somewhere else that is also private. TuckVault does not back the vault up, and deleting the app deletes it.
• Do a batch, not a trickle. Importing ten photos a day means emptying Recently Deleted ten times. Do it in one sitting.

While you’re in the camera roll

This is also the moment you see every duplicate, burst and 400 MB video on the phone. Run TuckVault’s duplicate cleaner and video compressor on what stays in the library — the private things are in the vault, so “delete” now only ever means clutter.