how to Hide Photos on iPhone.
You are constantly at risk of exposing photos and videos on Apple iPhone. It’s all too easy to stumble upon something confidential among other people, or accidentally share it with contacts. Your privacy is also at risk if someone gains access to your iOS device.
Luckily, you can put an end to this by hiding sensitive photos and videos on your iPhone. Use the Photos app or any of the alternative methods below to get the job done. The instructions in this guide also apply to iPod touch and iPad.
1. Add Photos to Hidden Album
The fastest way to hide photos and videos on iPhone is to move them to the Hidden album, which you can also hide, in the Photos app. However, this may not be a practical solution as you cannot password-lock an album.
Hide Photos on iPhone
To hide a photo in the Photos app:
1. Open the Photos app and tap the image you want to hide.
2. Click “Share” (rectangle icon with an arrow coming out of the top) in the lower left corner of the screen.
3. Scroll to the Sharing page and click Hide.
Hide Multiple Photos on iPhone
You can quickly hide multiple photos by entering selection mode. For this:
1. Press the Select button in the upper right corner of the Photos app while browsing the contents of any album, camera roll, or photo library.
2. Check the photos you want to hide.
3. Tap the Share icon.
4. Scroll down and click Hide.
Accessing a hidden photo album
Hidden photos will no longer appear in your albums, camera roll, and photo library. If you want to view them, you must open the Hidden album on your iPhone. To get to it:
1. Click the Album tab in Photos.
2. Scroll down to the Utilities section.
3. Click Hidden.
If you’re using iCloud Photos, the above changes will also sync across Apple devices. You can access hidden photos on any other iPhone or iPad you have by repeating the steps above. On a Mac, select the Hidden folder in the Photos sidebar instead.
Hide Hidden Album
You can also hide the Hidden album on your iPhone. For this:
1. Open the Settings app on iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap Photo.
3. Turn off the switch next to Show Hidden Album.
If you want to display a “Hidden” album, go back to the screen above and turn on the toggle next to “Show Hidden Album”.
Show Photos in Hidden Album
If you want to display photos in the Hidden album:
1. Open the Hidden album.
2. Press the “Select” button and mark the photo or photos you want to display.
3. Click the share button.
4. Scroll down and click Show.
2. Hide Photos in Notes
The following method involves hiding photos in the Notes app on your iPhone. It’s not as convenient as the previous method, but it’s comparatively safer because you can lock your notes with a password.
Export Photos to Notes app
Start by exporting your personal photos from the Photos app to Notes. For this:
1. Open “Photos” and select the photo or photos you want to hide.
2. Click Share.
3. Click Notes.
4. Create a new note or select any of the existing notes in your iCloud or On My iPhone folders.
5. Click Save.
Lock note in Notes
Then you must lock the note. This includes creating a password for iCloud or On My iPhone accounts for the first time.
1. Open the Notes app.
2. Tap the photo note.
3. Tap the menu icon (three dots) in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Click “Block”.
5. Create a password, enable Face ID or Touch ID unlock (optional) and tap Done. You won’t see this step in any subsequent notes you want to block.
Remove images from photos
Don’t forget to remove images from the Photos app. For this:
1. Open Photos.
2. Select the image or images you want to delete.
3. Tap the Trash icon in the lower right corner of the screen and select Delete.
Saving photo notes
If you want to later save images from the Notes app to Photos, you need to:
1. Open a note with photos.
2. Tap and hold a photo in a note, then tap Share.
3. Click Save Image.
4. Repeat these steps for any other images you want to save to Photos.
3. Hide Photos in Files App
The Files app on your iPhone offers another way to hide pictures and videos, allowing you to conveniently hide them in obscure places in your iCloud and On My iPhone directories. However, you can’t use password protection like Notes does.
Hide photos in files
1. Open “Photos” and select the photos you want to hide.
2. Click Share.
3. Scroll down and click Save to Files.
4. Select a location or create a new folder and click Save.
5. Delete photos from the Photos app.
Saving images back to Photos
If you want to save your photos back to your camera roll in the Photos app:
1. Open the Files app and navigate to the location of the photos.
2. Select a photo or photos and click Share.
3. Click Save Image(s).
4. Hide the Photos App
Removing the Photos app from the iPhone home screen can minimize the chance of someone viewing your photos without permission. You can also use this by removing Photos widgets and preventing images from appearing in search results.
Remove the Photos app from your home screen
To remove the Photos app from the home screen:
1. Press and hold the Photos app icon.
2. Click Remove App.
3. Tap “Remove from Home Screen”.
If you want to access the Photos app, open the App Library, expand the Photos & Videos category, and tap Photos. To return photos to your home screen, press and hold the Photos icon and tap Add to Home Screen.
Remove the Photos app widget
If you have the Photos app widget on your iPhone home screen, you can remove it by tapping and selecting Remove Widget. However, if it’s part of a widget stack:
1. Tap and hold on a widget set, and then tap Edit Widget.
2. Find the Photos widget and tap the Delete icon.
3. Click Remove.
Hide photos in search results
To prevent the Photos app and your images from appearing in search results:
1. Open settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Photo.
3. Press Siri and Search.
4. Turn off the toggle next to Show app in search.
Optionally, you can turn off photo-based Siri recommendations by turning off the Show on Home Screen, Suggest App, and Suggestion Notifications toggles.
5. Use a Third-Party Photo Locker
Third party photo lockers offer the best way to hide photos on iPhone with less hassle. Doing a quick search in the App Store will turn up several apps that offer photo locking capabilities, but here are a few of the best options.
Warning. Always check the privacy labels in the App Store before granting third-party apps permissions to access your photo library.
Private Photo Vault – Pic Safe
Private Photo Vault starts off by requiring you to set a special password so that only you can access it. You can then move images and videos from your photo library, ask the app to delete the originals shortly thereafter, and organize hidden items into separate albums.
Private Photo Vault also provides a built-in camera that lets you capture and save footage directly within the app, helping you avoid the hassle of moving it around. It even has a built-in browser that automatically hides any photos you upload. If you’re willing to shell out $6.99/month or $39.99/year, you can sync your images across devices with the built-in Cloud Vault feature.
Secret Photo Vault – Keepsafe
Secret Photo Vault works similarly to Private Photo Vault, allowing you to add, organize, and lock photos with a secure passcode. It also has a built-in camera to take pictures and hide things right in the app, though it doesn’t have a private web browser.
You can subscribe to Secret Photo Vault for $9.99/month or $23.99/year to remove ads and access additional features such as cloud backup and cross-device sync.
Stay Private
Hide photos directly in the Photos app on iPhone is quick and easy. But if you feel that this is not enough, you can explore the other methods above or consider investing in a third party photo storage to protect your privacy. Also, learn what you can do to prevent people from accessing content in other apps on your iPhone.
how to Hide Photos on iPhone
how to Hide Photos on iPhone