Yes. A photo vault app that backs up to your own iCloud counts against your iCloud storage. The encrypted copies of your photos and videos take up space in your iCloud account, just like any other app data. A vault that does not back up to iCloud does not use iCloud storage, but then a lost or broken phone takes the vault with it.
Why it uses your storage
There are two ways a vault app can keep a copy of your files off the phone. It can upload them to servers the company runs, or it can upload them to your own iCloud account. The first means you trust that company with your files and with staying in business. The second means the files sit in storage you already pay for, or get free from Apple, and the app maker never holds them.
Vaultpod takes the second route. It has no servers of its own. Encrypted backup to your own iCloud is on by default and free, and it counts against your iCloud storage. Each file is encrypted on the phone before it is uploaded, so Apple only ever holds encrypted data. The guide on a photo vault with iCloud backup covers how that works and how to test it.
The encrypted copy is roughly the same size as the file you put in. Encryption scrambles the data; it does not compress it. A vault full of videos will use far more space than a vault of screenshots.
How to see how much space it uses
On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud. The bar at the top shows how full your storage is. Tap Manage Account Storage to see the list of apps using it, each with its size. A vault app that backs up to iCloud appears there by name.
Be careful on that screen. Apple lets you delete an app's data from iCloud there. For a vault app, that data is your backup. If you delete it, the files are still on the phone, but the copy that would bring them back on a new iPhone is gone.
Watch out for paying twice
The most common reason a vault seems to eat iCloud space is that the photos are now stored twice. When you import a photo into a vault, the original stays in the Photos app until you delete it. If iCloud Photos is on, that original is also in iCloud. So you have the original in iCloud Photos and the encrypted copy in the vault backup.
After importing, a vault app offers to delete the originals from Photos. Say yes. Then empty Recently Deleted in Photos, or the originals stay there, and in iCloud, for up to 30 days. Hiding photos instead of moving them does not help with space either: hidden photos stay in iCloud Photos like any other, as the guide on whether hidden photos are backed up to iCloud explains.
What to do when iCloud is full
When iCloud runs out of space, new files stop backing up. In Vaultpod, the backup status is always on the home screen, with any problem in plain words, so a full iCloud does not go unnoticed. The files already in the vault stay on the phone and stay readable. Only the backup stops growing.
You have a few honest options:
- Free up space elsewhere. Old device backups, large attachments in Messages, and duplicates in iCloud Photos are common culprits.
- Delete what you no longer need from the vault. Remember that Recently Deleted inside the vault keeps files for 30 days.
- Buy more iCloud storage from Apple. The free tier is 5 GB, and a few long videos can fill it.
- Export some files to a computer or a drive you control, through the Files app, and keep them there instead. Export always works, free.
You can also turn the backup off. That frees the space, but think hard first. Without a backup, the vault lives only on that phone. If the phone is lost, stolen or broken, the files go with it, and no one can bring them back.
When a vault is not the answer
If your real problem is that iCloud is full, a vault will not fix it. It encrypts files; it does not make them smaller. Moving photos into a vault only saves space if you delete the originals, and even then the backup takes roughly the same room.
If you want photos off your phone and out of iCloud entirely, exporting them to a drive at home is cheaper than any storage plan. If you want them private but still safe if the phone is lost, an encrypted backup in your own iCloud is a fair trade for the space it uses. Before you pick any vault, the guide on whether photo vault apps are safe lists what to check, including where the backup goes and who holds the key.