# Encrypto Alternative for Mac: Cloak vs Encrypto & Hider 2

Looking for an Encrypto alternative on Mac? How Cloak compares to Encrypto and the discontinued Hider 2 for hiding and encrypting files, and when each makes sense.

Updated: 2026-09-10. Source: https://trycloak.app/blog/cloak-vs-encrypto-hider/

MacPaw made two of the best-known privacy tools on the Mac: Encrypto, which is still free and popular, and Hider 2, which many people still search for. If you are weighing either against Cloak, here is how they actually differ.

## Encrypto: great for sending, not for living in

**Encrypto** is a free, single-purpose tool. You drag a file or folder in, set a password, and it produces an AES-256 encrypted `.crypto` file you can email, AirDrop, or drop in Dropbox. It is genuinely good at that one job, it is free, and it runs locally on both Mac and Windows.

The catch is that Encrypto is built for *sharing*, not for daily privacy. It does not lock apps. It does not hide anything. It does not keep a folder encrypted in place while you use it. Every time you want your files, you decrypt the package; every time you want them protected again, you re-encrypt and clean up the originals yourself. There is no Touch ID-gated vault and no always-on protection.

**Cloak** is the opposite shape. It keeps your folders [encrypted in place with AES-256](https://trycloak.app/blog/how-to-encrypt-files-on-mac/), [hides whole apps](https://trycloak.app/blog/how-to-hide-apps-on-mac/) so they vanish from view, and [locks apps behind Touch ID](https://trycloak.app/blog/how-to-lock-apps-on-mac/) for everyday use. You are not manually packaging files before each send; your private things just stay private on your own machine.

Use Encrypto when you need to send something securely. Use Cloak when you need your Mac itself to be private.

## Hider 2: discontinued since 2019

**Hider 2** was MacPaw’s hide-and-encrypt vault, and it was the closest thing to an all-in-one privacy app for the Mac. MacPaw discontinued it in 2019. It is no longer sold or supported, and it will not keep up with new versions of macOS or Apple Silicon. Relying on an abandoned security app is a real risk: the moment it breaks on a macOS update, your data can be stranded inside it.

MacPaw itself pointed Hider 2 users toward Encrypto for individual files. But that leaves the original gap wide open: there is no current MacPaw product that hides apps and keeps a living encrypted vault the way Hider 2 did.

That gap is exactly what Cloak fills, with an actively maintained, notarized app that gets free updates.

## Side by side

|  | Cloak | Encrypto | Hider 2 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $9.99 once | Free | Not sold |
| Encrypts files | In place | To send | Was yes |
| Hides apps and files | Yes | No | Was yes |
| Locks apps | Yes | No | No |
| Always-on vault | Yes | No | Was yes |
| Intruder photo | Yes | No | No |
| Maintained in 2026 | Yes | Yes | No |

## The verdict

Encrypto is a fine free tool for one job: encrypting something before you send it. If that is all you need, keep it.

But if you want what Hider 2 used to offer, hiding apps and files and keeping a real encrypted vault, with the added ability to lock apps behind Touch ID, Cloak is the maintained, one-time-purchase answer. Everything runs locally, with no account and nothing uploaded.

[Try Cloak on your Mac](https://trycloak.app).

For all eleven points on every locker, see [every Mac app locker compared](https://trycloak.app/blog/mac-app-lockers-compared-2026/).

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Cloak locks, hides and encrypts apps, folders and files on your Mac. One-time purchase, no account. https://trycloak.app/