How To Protect Your iPhone Photos
Your first line of defense is your passcode.
This is actually a form of encryption, meaning anyone who doesn’t know the code can’t access your smartphone. Many Apple users have Face ID, which locks your device so that only you can gain access, and can be set up when initializing your iPhone. A passcode further enforces this, so that, if Face ID fails, your data has another line of protection.
Otherwise, you can activate it by going to Settings > Face ID & Passcode.
Naturally, this isn’t foolproof. You might unlock your phone then hand it over to someone else who can then look at anything they want. So how can you actually hide certain photos?
How To Hide Photos In The Notes App
Apple includes a Notes app, and one of its standout features is the ability to lock individual notes. This means you can add media to a note, and then add a password. You can require Face or Touch ID to unlock password-protected notes, as well. Also, after you lock a photo or video in a note, you can delete it from the main photo library.
First, you have to send the photo or video to Notes follow these steps:
Now, follow these steps to lock the note you just created:
From now on, to lock or unlock the note, tap it, and then authorize access with your password, face recognition, or fingerprint.
However, you can create a folder within the Notes app and put any private notes in there. While not ideal, this method offers more security than Apples unsecured Hidden album.
How To Password Protect Photos On iPhone And iPad
Benj Edwards is an Associate Editor for How-To Geek. For over 15 years, he has written about technology and tech history for sites such as The Atlantic, Fast Company, PCMag, PCWorld, Macworld, Ars Technica, and Wired. In 2005, he created Vintage Computing and Gaming, a blog devoted to tech history. He also created The Culture of Tech podcast and regularly contributes to the Retronauts retrogaming podcast. Read more…
Sometimes, you need to protect your iPhone or iPad photos from prying eyes that might also have access to your device. Unfortunately, Apple doesnt provide an obvious, secure way to do this. However, theres a work-around thanks to the Notes app.
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How To Hide Photos On Your Mac
If you use iCloud Photos, the photos that you hide on one device are hidden on your other devices too.
How Can I Hide Photos On My iPhone Without The App
How to Hide/Unhide Photos in iOS 10/9/8 on iPhone or iPad without App
- Open Photos app on iOS device and go to Camera Roll or Albums.
- Tap on the picture you wish to hide, or click Select option to select multiple photos.
- Tap on the Share button at the bottom on the left corner.
- In the share options, click Hide.
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How To Hide Photos On iPhone In Secure Folders
There seems to be a lot going on any given day, so you may need to whip out the best iPhone and just photograph and record what’s going on around you as it’s happening. But sometimes, these important photos and videos should be kept secured and hidden away somewhere that isn’t so easily accessible for others. Unfortunately, even on iOS 14, the can only “hide” your photos and video, but anyone can still view them if they know where to look. A better solution is to use the Notes app since you can secure individual notes, or better yet, use a password manager or file locker app to keep things really safe. Here’s how to do each method, as well as other alternatives.
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Open the photo up and click on the box-and-arrow icon in the bottom left corner.
On the bottom row of icons, scroll along until you see a ‘Hide’ icon which looks like two images with a strikethrough line.
Tap it and the photos will disappear from your Photos feed.
You can also do the same thing with multiple photos: just select several pictures in an album, then follow the same steps above.
Don’t panic your photos haven’t been deleted.
To find them, tap on the Albums tab at the bottom to open up all of your albums.
Scroll right to the bottom of the page and you’ll see a ‘Hidden’ folder in ‘Other Albums’ just above ‘Recently Deleted’.
You’ll be able to see all of your hidden photos in there.
It’s also possible to restore the photos back into your main Photos feed.
To restore a photo, tap on it and then tap the bottom-left icon again.
Then scroll along the options on the bottom row until you see ‘Unhide’ then tap it.
Another option is to simply delete private photos.
Then you can navigate to the Recently Deleted folder, which contains those snaps.
They will disappear eventually though, so make sure to restore them before they auto-delete.
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The Problem With Hiding Things In The Photos App
When you use the method described above to hide a photo or video, it provides very little protection. You cant lock the hidden album, or even hide a photo behind a Face or Touch ID, or passcode.
The biggest issue is all of your hidden media is accessible in a single location. Anyone who has access to your unlocked phone can open your Hidden folder with a few taps.
All the Hide function really does is tidy up your main library. It allows you to hold on to some photos without deleting them entirely. Although many iPhone and iPad owners embrace this trick, you might want to avoid it if you actually want to hide your private media.
If someone else might have access to your unlocked phone, and youre concerned about privacy, dont use the Hide feature. Its ideal if you want to tidy up your library, but you dont want to make it an easy-to-find repository of your most embarrassing media.
Apple could improve this if the Hidden album were locked behind a passcode or password, along with the option of requiring Face or Touch ID to access it.
We hope something similar will be introduced in iOS 14, or a future version of Apples operating system.
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How Secure Are Locked iPhone Or iPad Notes
Locked notes on an iPhone or iPad are encrypted to the extent that it would be difficult to extract them, even with forensic tools. Its not ironclad state-security-level encryption, though. One research firm recently discovered some weaknesses in the Notes app. These could allow a determined attacker with unrestricted access to your device to guess the partial contents of a locked note.
These circumstances are rare, but there might also be other undiscovered bugs in Notes that could potentially compromise a notes security.
For casual privacy purposes, however, locked notes are secure enough for most people to prevent opportunistic snooping. Just make sure you dont create a password thats easy to guess!
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Send Your Media Content To Notes:
How To Unhide Photos On iPhone And iPad
After you hide photos or pictures on your iPhone or iPad, if you change your mind, you can choose to unhide your photos and make them visible again in your Photos tabs with the following steps.
Step 1: Open the app and go to the Albums tab on your iPhone or iPad.
Step 2: Scroll down the page until you see the Hidden album below Other Albums.
Step 3: Click the Select button at the top right corner of the screen to select the photos that you want to unhide.
Step 4: Tap on the icon at the bottom left corner of the screen and choose Unhide. Then, the photo will appear on its original album folder.
Tips: For the iCloud Photo Library users, if they hide a photo on iPhone, the photo will also be hidden on other related devices, such as iPad and iPod Touch. This rule is also applicable for unhiding a photo.
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How To Hide Your Hidden Photos Album On An iPhone
The Hidden album is surprisingly easy for anyone to find and open in the Photos app. Here’s how you can improve it.
It’s no secret that the Hidden photos folder on iPhones is not really hidden. Anyone with access to your Photos app can open the folder and view images that you apparently want to keep away from prying eyes.
Thankfully, iOS 14 came with a fix for that. Whether it’s screenshots you’re saving for later, your meme bank, or anything else, there’s now a way to keep your private images away from snoopers.
In this guide, well show you how. First, for those who are just hearing about the Hide photos feature, lets quickly run through how that works.
Hide/unhide Hidden Album From Photos App
Be sure to update the iPhone, iPad to the latest iOS 14/iPadOS 14 or later, to use this feature.
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How To Unhide Photos
Step 1: Tap to open the app.
Step 2: Tap the Albums tab listed at the bottom.
Step 3: Scroll down and tap the Hidden folder listed under Utilities.
Step 4: Tap the Select button displayed in the top right corner.
Step 5: Tap on every that you want to unhide.
Step 6: Tap the button located in the bottom left corner. It resembles a box with an up arrow.
Step 7: Tap the Unhide option on the pop-up menu. The photos will then move back to their original destination. Alternatively, you can tap Add to Album to move them to a specific album.
How To Hide The Hidden Album In The Photos App
Once you’ve moved photos to the hidden album, you can hide the album itself, removing it from the Photos app. Here’s how:
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Ios 1: How To Hide Photos From The Library In The Photos App
For years, iPhone and iPad users have been asking for ways to hide pictures from the main camera roll in the Photos app. Apple has finally gone some way to addressing this feature with iOS 14 thanks to a new Hidden Album toggle. Heres how to hide photos from the camera roll on the iPhone in iOS 14
There are many reasons why people want to hide photos, perhaps you have taken photos only meant for certain people to see or you have screenshots that you want to keep but dont want to clutter up your main Photos library. Perhaps youve taken a picture of a present for your kid that you want to keep a surprise for a little longer.
In previous versions of iOS, you are able to hide photos. Select a photo, press the Share button, and press Hide. This removes the photo from the main Library tab, so it feels like it is hidden.
However, the photo can be easily found by going to Albums -> Other Albums -> Hidden.
This kind of defeats the point because someone looking at all your photos can very easily get to it. A toddler could accidentally tap on the Hidden album view, they dont even need to be explicitly looking for it.
With iOS 14, however, you can now go one step further. You can now hide the Hidden album from showing, removing all traces of hidden images from the Photos app.
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How To Hide Photos On Your iPhone: 4 Methods
Want to keep your photos away from prying eyes on your iPhone? Here are all the ways you can do that.
If you want to keep photos away from prying eyes, sometimes an iPhone passcode just isn’t enough. You might be handing your phone over to a business client, showing your friend a meme, or storing sensitive information like your driver’s license. Either way, you don’t want embarrassing images in your Camera Roll that others can view.
So how can you hide photos on your iPhone? Can you “lock” hidden photos on your iPhone? And can apps successfully hide your documents?
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Where Are Hidden Photos On Your iPhone
To find your Hidden Photos album, scroll down the Albums page in until you get to the Utilities section. Now, heres where the problem is. Its not exactly hidden if its still visible to anyone, especially when its conspicuously labeled Hidden. In fact, that makes it easy for prying eyes to know where to find the things you want to keep private.
It would be nice if Apple could make this a passcode-protected folder one day, much like you can do to lock documents in Notes, Pages, and Keynote.
However, iOS 14 introduced the next best thinga way to hide the Hidden folder.
How To Hide Photos And Videos Using The Notes App
The Notes app comes with the ability to lock individual notes. This lets you hide your photos and videos by providing a layer of authentication. You can add your content to a note and create a password required every time to access those contents.
You can even add biometric authentication to your password-protected note to unlock it. Heres how to do that:
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Youll Never See My Photos
Youve successfully hidden your private pictures so no one will ever find them! I hope youll share this article on social media to show your friends, family, and followers how to hide photos on their iPhone. If you have any other questions about your iPhone, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
Move Photos From Notes To Photos App On iPhone
At any time, you can unlock the Password Protected Photos and bring them back to the Photos App on your iPhone.
1. Open the Notes App> tap on the Note containing Photos.
2. On the next screen, tap on View Note.
3. Next, tap on Enter Password> type the Password to View the Note and click on OK.
4. Once the Locked Note is open, tap on the Share icon located at top-right corner of your screen.
5. On the share menu that appears, scroll down and tap on Save Images option.
The selected Photos will be immediately moved back to the Photos App on your iPhone.
Until a proper option to Password Protect Photos is made available by Apple, you can make use of this workaround to truly hide and Password Protect Photos on iPhone.
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How To Hide Private Photos On Your iPhone Or iPad
If you share your iPad with your kids so they can play games when they’re bored, you may not want them to easily share or erase your photos. Alternately, if you let your friends use your phone or check out some apps, you might not want them to access your personal pictures. Did you know that it’s possible to hide photos from prying eyes who might look at your device? Follow this easy how to hide photos on your iPhone guide. The Apple Photos app has a built-in “Hide” function that makes it simpleit works on your iPad and iPod Touch, too. Did you know you can also hide apps on your iPhone?
Things That Androids Can Do That iPhones Can’tAre you an Android person or an iPhone person? Here are the differences.