How To Hide Photos On An iPhone & Unhide Them Again
Apple built two levels of photo hiding into iOS, letting iPhone users easily remove images from view or go further and hide the hidden album.
There may be times when an iPhone user wants to keep photos private from others in the household or workplace and Apple makes this fairly easy once the method is known. As with many iOS features, the tasks that come up less frequently are placed a little out of the way. This is the case with hidden photos, and given that the goal is to keep them secret, it is just as well that the feature isnt presented as a big, colorful button.
Apple launched Photos for iOS in 2014 and quickly ported it to the Mac in 2015 replacing the more awkward iPhoto app. By 2016, Photos was released for tvOS becoming the default photo app for every Apple device that includes or outputs to a screen. With iCloud photos syncing automatically across any device signed in with the same Apple ID, it is easy to save and access photos throughout the house, on the road and at work. With Photos potentially showing up everywhere, Apple realized the need to limit access in some way.
Related: How To Scan Documents On An iPhone Or iPad
Best Phone And Gadget Tips And Hacks
Looking for tips and hacks for your phone? Want to find those secret features within social media apps? We have you covered…
- How to get your deleted Instagram photos back
- How to track someone on Google Maps
- How can I increase my Snapchat score?
- How can I change my Facebook password?
- How can I do a duet on TikTok?
- Here’s how to see if your Gmail has been hacked
- How can I change my Amazon Alexa voice in seconds?
- What is dating app Bumble?
- How can I test my broadband internet speed?
- Here’s how to find your Sky TV remote in SECONDS
In other news, check out the new Lamborghini Huracan Evo that can clean your house and cook you dinner.
Check out the wildly impressive Panasonic 65HZ1000 TV, which makes most tellies look rubbish.
Read our complete guide to Call of Duty 2021.
And Dell’s Alienware R10 Ryzen Edition is a gaming PC powerhouse that crushes both the new consoles.
Actions To Take Today Related To iPhone Privacy
In 10 minutes, you can take a significant step to guard your privacy!
Read Also: Will An iPhone Xs Case Fit An iPhone Xr
Change The Memory Mix
Memory mixes are curated combinations of photographic looks and corresponding songs that you can apply to a memory. For each memory, you can choose between multiple Memory mixes, or select your own look and song from Apple Music. Here’s how:
Create Your Own Memories

To create your own Memories from an album, or a specific month or day:
When you share a memory, the music is shared with it. If a certain song isn’t shareable, you’ll be prompted to choose a song that can be shared with the memory.
You May Like: How To Pull Up Blocked Numbers On iPhone
What Is Browser Fingerprinting
Browser fingerprinting is a process that uses publicly shared information about your device to identify and track what that device does online.
This is information such as platform, screen resolution, browser even fonts or accelerometer info.
Combined, this lets unaccountable analytics firms develop an extremely accurate picture about site visitors and what they do.
So, how much information are you giving away right now? These two sites will show you: AmIUnique.org and Panopticlick.eff.org I think youll be surprised.
Apple is taking action to prevent this kind of activity.
Hide The Hidden Photos Album
The steps above are not foolproof, as your Hidden photos section can still be accessed under the Photos tab. Luckily, there is a way to hide the Hidden tab itself:
Now, when you go to the Albums tab in the Photos section, you will see that the Hidden Album will have disappeared.
Recommended Reading: Airplay Password Samsung Tv
Unhide Photos On iPhone iPad Or Ipod Touch
On an iPhone or iPod touch:
How To Hide Photos On Your iPhone iPad Or Ipod Touch
Were all adults here, right? So lets get real. Sometimes we take and/or download photos wed rather not share with anyone else. We dont want someone looking over our shoulder and slapping us in the head after what they just saw. We need to hide these sacred images to view them later when nosey people arent lurking around, looking for an excuse to pop us in the head again.
In situations like these, to avoid potential conflict, the ability to hide photos on your phone becomes invaluable, especially if you have children or friends who use your device often. Here, well detail how to hide your images on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch the methods are near identical. We even have a few third-party apps wed suggest for those photos you really dont want getting out.
Recommended Reading: How To Clear Siri Suggestions On iPhone
Option : Hide Them In The Photos App
A little-known iPhone secret is that you can actually hide photos and videos in the Photos app. However, doing so will only hide them from your Moments, Years, and Collections view, as well any albums they appear in, but will keep the photos and/or videos available in a new “Hidden” album.
While it would be nice if Apple could make this a passcode-protected folder one day, it still helps keeps eyes off your spicy media when showing off collections to your family and friends. If you definitely want a password on your content, check out the other options in this guide.
To hide a photo or video, select it, then use the share icon to bring up the share sheet. Scroll through the bottom row of activities until you see “Hide.” Tap that, then “Hide Photo” or “Hide Video” to get the job done. To view your hidden media, just open the new “Hidden” folder in the “Albums” tab.
How To Lock And Password
Before you can lock your photos in the Notes app, make sure you have the lock feature enabled. To turn on password protection for your notes:
When you have this feature turned on, you can start adding pictures to a password-protected note. To lock a photo with a password:
That last step is important because just copying your pictures to a password-protected note still leaves it in your photo library. So, its not truly locked until you delete it from the Photos app.
Don’t Miss: How Do I Make Keyboard Larger
How To Hide Photos On iPhone In A File Locker App
In addition to password managers, there are other apps out there that are designed solely for securing files, including photos and video. These are file locker apps, and you can store plenty of things in them, such as documents and other files, and keep everything secure with a strong password. There are plenty of free options available, such as Folder Lock, Private Photo Vault, and Secret Photo Vault, that you can find on the App Store. Feel free to give them a try to see if you like them before committing to an in-app purchase.
Hiding Photos From Collections And Memories

Don’t Miss: Metro Pcs Facetime
Hiding Photos Using Apps In iPhone
You might want to make a secret photo album that only you knew about it. People looking to create such folders dont even want others to see that they have such hidden folders on their phones. The built-in features cannot provide such services. The best alternative is to use third-party apps that hide pictures on your iPhone.
1. Private Photo Vault Pro
This is a privacy app in iOS, which allows you to lock your photos so that only you can access them. You can import or export images from your photos app, sync them with iTunes, text images or emails, or carry out other actions.
It features a Private Camera that allows you to take photos directly into the app without going through the camera roll. It also features a Decoy Password to ward off anyone insisting on seeing whats inside the private photo vault. When you use this password, the app will open up to a different set of pictures.
It also features a break-in report to secretly take a picture of the perpetrator trying to access your secret album using the front camera. It also records their GPS location.
2. Best Secret Folder
Its a free app on iOS, which allows you to create locked photo albums for photos you want to keep as a secret. It is password-protected and even alerts you when someone tries to access it. It also takes a snapshot of this offender and stores it so that you can see the face of this person.
How To Lock iPhone Photos On Pc/mac
Step 1: Download and install iPhone photo locker
Once you have installed WidsMob PhotoVault, you can launch the program on your computer. You can transfer photos from iPhone to computer. After that, you can enter and re-enter your password, and click the Done button to confirm it.
Step 2: Tweak the settings to lock photos on iPhone
If you want to reset the security level, go to the WidsMob PhotoVault menu and choose the Preferences option. After that, you can choose the High for the Security level. You can also adjust the view mode, lock screen, storage path and more.
Step 3: Add and lock iPhone photos on computer
Go to the default Photos folder in the main interface, and click the Import button to add the iPhone photos. Moreover, you can also click the Plus icon under the Album section to create a new album for locking iPhone photos in different categories.
Step 4: View locked iPhone photos with ease
Whenever you want to view the locked iPhone photos, go to the album, and click the View menu and choose the Play Slideshow or the Full Screen. You can also add the desired photos into a Favorite folder and export these photos within clicks.
You May Like: How To Clear Siri Suggestions On iPhone
Password Protect Photos On iPhone Or iPad
When you hide Photos on iPhone, the Photos App creates a Hidden Photos Folder and moves all the Hidden Photos to this Folder.
While the hidden Photos do not appear in Photos view or in the original Photo Album from which they were hidden, they can be easily accessed by going to Hidden Folder, available within the Photos App.
The workaround as provided below makes use of the Notes App to truly Hide and Password Protect Photos on iPhone.
Before going ahead with the steps to Password Protect Photos on iPhone using Notes, you want take a look at this guide: How to Password Protect Notes on iPhone .
This should help you get a good understand of how the Lock Notes feature works on iPhone.
How To Hide Photos And Albums In Ios 14
Learn how to utilize iOS 14‘s new “hide” feature for photos and how to hide the album in which hidden pictures are stored.
There are plenty of reasons to hide photos on your iPhone. Maybe you’ve got pictures you don’t want people to see when you scroll through your pictures on the bus. Perhaps you’ve got photos you want to keep on hand, but don’t need clogging up your camera roll.
While third-party solutions have existed for a while now, Apple has finally implemented the feature in full in iOS 14. By using the new Hide feature on your iPhone or iPad, you can easily store photos out of sight.
Read Also: What Is Scam Likely On iPhone
How To Hide Pictures On iPhone Using The Notes App
The Notes app that is preinstalled on iPhones may not seem like a place to hide private photos, but it isthanks to the ability to lock notes. This feature lets you lock a note with a passcode that must be entered to view it. You can put a picture into a Note and then lock it. Here’s how to use Notes to hide pictures on the iPhone:
Open and select the photo you want to hide.
Tap the Action icon.
In iOS 14 and iOS 13, tap Notes. In iOS 12, tap Add to Notes.
In the window that pops up, you can add text to the note if you want. Then tap Save.
Go to the Notes app.
Tap the Notes folder with the photo in it.
Tap the note with the photo to open it.
Tap the Action icon.
Tap Lock Note and, if prompted, add a password. If you use Touch ID or Face ID, you can lock the note using that.
Tap the lock at the top right corner so that the icon appears locked. This locks the note. The picture is replaced by a This note is locked message. The note and photo can now only be unlocked by someone with the password .
Go back to the app and delete the photo.
Make sure to fully delete the photo so that it can’t be recovered.
Protect Your Privacy By Hiding Sensitive Or Very Personal Photographs On Your Personal Technology It’s As Easy As Accessing Your Pictures And Taking A Few Simple Steps
If you share your iPad with your kids so they can play games when theyre 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 its 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?
Recommended Reading: How To Factory Reset iPhone 6s
Lock Photos On iPhone Using Notes
Maybe you were hoping for a way to password-protect specific pictures. Even though you cant do that in Photos, there is a workaround using the Notes app that will let you do that. You can move a photo into a new note and then add a password to the note. Unfortunately, this only works for still images because you cant save Live photos or videos in a note.
Delete Photos In Chat Or Im

If you don’t just take private photos but share them, then it’s possible your messaging client of choice has copies of those photos stored as well. Whether it’s Apple’s iMessage, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, or any of the half-dozen or so Google apps that offer messaging, if you want your pictures gone, you’ll have to get rid of them there as well.
Some apps let you set photos to automatically evaporate after a short period of time. Others require you to delete them manually. Take a look through the settings and choose the options that make sense to you.
You might even be able to manually or bulk delete any photos already in the app. Just realize there’s almost no way to make sure the person you sent the photos to has likewise deleted them. Saving, screenshots, even taking photos of the screen with another phone or camera are all possibilities.
The only truly deleted photo is the one never shared or taken. Everything else is mitigation.
Recommended Reading: How To Delete Calendar Subscription On iPhone