Hider 2: Encrypt and Hide App Reviews

I liked this app and found it useful, but after one upgrade (last year) I lost several years worth very important files. Fortunately, I had made backups. The MacPaw staff was very helpful and enabled me to restore the lost files; however, the memory of that experience lingers. Right now I am not using this app because I do not want to risk losing files again. I am sorry for that, because the idea is an excellent one, and I felt very secure during the initial period that the app was working well.

It’s very greats program! Recommend.

Be sure and have a backup of whatever you’re hiding (and do not hide that backup with this product). After brief use of the app, I had all of the folders I hid “disappear". The tech team was able to recover the folders (so be sure and contact support if you have this problem). However, though the folders they recovered are visible, every file in the folders is corrupted and worthless and I lost a decade of tax records. I was otherwise a fan of MacPaw but this product is extremely flawed and potentially damaging. Be warned.

I think the app would benefit greatly from a fast hide option. I deal with a lot of NDA files on a machine I share and the wait period for encryping the files makes it completely useless to me. Bummer, this would be great otherwise.

Used Hider and Hider 2 for about six month now. Impressed. Works and is very “macish”. Does its jobb fast and efficient. Had a hard drive crash and had to restore all my information from my TimeMashine. I didn´t really think it would work with Hider 2 so I “tried to help” myself. Had to contact support and they were just great. Simple instructions how to get the app working again. I once before forgot my password and exactly as MacPaw advertised - information lost and could not be recovered. I like that, nothing important but it really worked. So save your password in another app like OneSafe or in Keychain and you are all safe. Have other MacPaw apps and they all work excellent. Hard to try to write a review with no negatives in but there really is no with this product. Hider was updated fast when Yosemite was released as well. Well done and thanks from a happy customer!

If you go to the macpaw forums you will see multiple threads about this app not being able to restore data after it’s been hiden. This app is likely to lose your data and macpaw support is AWFUL. It took them over a month to reply to my support request about this app crashing when opening my “vault”. This thing is a data shredder. Macpaw makes good stuff but this app is dangerous and they have no safety measures to help you when this thing corrupts your data. Don’t buy this product.

No one can get into my stuff…

When I purchased this program, I was expecting something different. What I found in this application is the bare minimum of what I actually need. Although you can hide and unhide files, it takes forever to do so. Also, I would like to just open the files within the application itself. Then, when I close the vault again, no other programs would be able to use them. More importantly, however, would be the ability to store a vault in iCloud so I can view files with an iOS app. I wish this was basically 1Password for files. Whenever I’m away, I can instantly view what I have stored across all my devices. It’s a pain to only be able to see my files on one device. If this feature is implemented, though, the user shouldn’t be able to see the files on iCloud Drive. That defeats the entire purpose.

The whole process takes too long.

Sometime I just need to hide some files!

I’m so glad I kept a Time Machine backup of all my data. When I created a Vault and put files “in” it, I assumed that with my password I’d be able to retrieve those files at any time. For a while, that was the case but after I did an incremental update to the app, the next time I opened it, it did not recognize that I had already created a vault and forced me to set up a new one. Well, I went through the set up process all over again and then deleted the new unnecessary vault. But when I went to open my original vault, all my files were gone. I knew they were still there, however, because if I right clicked on the vault and clicked “show package contents” I could see the files in their encrypted form. I just couldn’t open them. So I contacted support to ask for help and they sent me a program that gathers information about your computer so they can assess what’s wrong. I’m not a super paranoid person or anything but I’m a little skeptical of running any program that auto generates information about my system from a company I’m not totally familiar with. So I asked if I could give them the information they needed with out using that program. I never got a response back. Bottom line - terribly sketchy app and service. I would not recommend you trust it.

The original app was able to hide applications with no issues. The app is now double the cost with half the options.

After running Hider for 6 or 8 months I’m satisfied. It does its job as advertised. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this software.

Not worth the money….lost over 100MB of sensitive data

I have been using this application for a short period of time, but explored the extent. I have delt with encrypting and encryption files on various OS platforms and by different developers. This version (2.0) seems to be great for the average user. If you are doing local file encrytption as well as external harddrive encryption, this will do the job and it will do it in a fashionable user friendly way. The options are a bit limited, but it hits all the main points of encrypting on a mac. For a one time buy, it is efficient and useful. Hope the quick review helps!

I found this a simple way to secure confidential material on my laptop. It works rapidly to “hide” the files I work with, 50 to 100 MB usually, and to unhide them. I never failed to recover a file.

Hider2 worked perfectly until it lost all my files. All my files! I’ve been attempting to sort out my situation with thier "customer support” for weeks now and I still don’t have a solution from them. I go days without hearing anything. I’ve lost pictures and data I simply can’t replace. It seems others have faced similar situations with this thing. Just don’t risk it!

Easy to set up, easy to use . . . very well thought through.

Earlier this year I purchased Hider2, and I LOVED it. Until May when my vaults suddenly disappeared. I mean completely gone. So I went to the Macpaw web site and sent them a support email. Heard nothing back, I sent then a second one and got a big apologetic email — so sorry we didn’t get back to you, blah, blah stuff. I wasn’t really concerned because Macpaw is in Europe and I’m in the middle of the US -- big time difference. So, they sent me a zip file that I was supposed to run and then email the results back. So I did. Heard nothing for weeks. I emailed again and again got the so sorry routine. They asked me to resend the zip results. I did, and I also asked them to email me when they got it. Heard nothing for weeks. I composed a more sharply worded message about the situation and was told to run a terminal script, take a screen shot of the results and put it in a public Dropbox. I did. So it is now weeks later and I AGAIN still have heard nothing from these people. I really hate writing this. I also use CleanMyMac and Gemini which are great applications. If only they could do as well with their support. I mean, just tell me you have no idea whats going on with Hider and Ill try to deal with it. But to just leave a customer hanging is inexcusable.

This app hides things so well sometimes I almost lose myself! Where am I? Who am I? I have no idea, Hider 2 has hidden it all from me — and everyone else. Another great MacPaw creation.