How to Hide Photos on Your Android Phone

If you have photos and videos on your Android phone that you don't want friends and family to stumble upon, you can protect them using Google Photos' Locked Folder or Samsung's Secure Folder. Items you move there don't appear in your normal photo grid, memories, search results, or albums, and other apps with access to your media can't see them.

Access to items stored in your locked Photos folder requires you to authenticate using your phone's screen lock, such as a PIN, password, pattern, or supported biometric method. If you use Google Photos, the default app for Google Pixel and select other Android phones, you can use Google Photos' Locked Folder. On Samsung Galaxy phones, Samsung's Secure Folder provides a separate protected space where you can store photos, videos, apps, and other files.

How to hide your photos in Google Photos

Before you can move your photos or other media files to the Locked Folder, you'll need to set it up.

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Go to the Collections tab (at the bottom of the screen).
3. Scroll all the way down and tap the Locked button.
4. Authenticate using your phone's screen lock. On some versions of Google Photos, you may first see a Set up Locked Folder button.
5. Choose whether you want the photos in your Locked Folder to be backed up.
6. You'll see a "Nothing here yet" message. Tap the Move items button.
7. Select the photos you want to move to the Locked Folder and hit the Move button.
8. Tap the Continue button (if prompted) and then Move.

To view items in your Locked Folder, open Google Photos and go to Collections > Locked, then authenticate using your phone's screen lock.

Photos and videos in Locked Folder aren't available to other apps and can't be shared until you move them out. If Locked Folder backup is turned off, items that aren't individually backed up remain stored only on your device. Google lets you turn on automatic Locked Folder backup or manually back up individual items.

If backup is enabled, you can access your Locked Folder from other devices signed into the same Google Account. If backup is off, unbacked-up items won't transfer through USB-to-USB or cloud device transfers and can be lost if you factory-reset the phone, clear Google Photos app data, uninstall the app, or lose or damage the device.

To keep Locked Folder items safe if something happens to your phone, you can either move them out of Locked Folder or back them up to your Google Account. To back up your Locked Folder, open Google Photos, tap your Profile picture and go to Photos settings > Backup > Back up Locked Folder. You can also open Collections > Locked and toggle cloud backup on.

For Pixel 4 and later phones, once you have a Locked Folder set up in Google Photos, you can select your Locked Folder as the save location for the Pixel Camera app.

1. Launch the Camera app.
2. Just adjacent to the Shutter button, long-press the circle button showing your recently taken photo.
3. From the popup menu that appears, choose the Locked Folder entry.

After you've set the destination as the Locked Folder, you'll see a padlock icon on the thumbnail of any new photos you take. Leaving the Camera app resets the save destination to the standard Photos folder. When you reopen Camera, the thumbnail next to the shutter button will show the most recent photo saved to your regular Photos library.

How to hide your photos in Samsung Gallery

Samsung's Secure Folder serves as a place to store photos from the Samsung Gallery app and use the Samsung Camera app to take pictures and videos and have them saved directly into the Secure Folder.

1. Go to Settings and scroll and select Security and privacy.
2. Select More Security Settings and then Secure Folder.
3. On the Welcome to Secure Folder screen, select the Continue button at the bottom of the screen.
4. On the Permissions screen, select the Continue button at the bottom of the screen.
5. Tap on Lock Type.
6. Select the type of security you want to use with your Secure Folder – PIN, password, pattern, or biometric scan.
7. Go to the Gallery app.
8. Select the photos or videos you want to protect.
9. Tap More (the three-dot menu) and select Move to Secure Folder.

When you want to view your photos and videos, you'll need to open the Secure Folder app and then the Gallery app inside the Secure Folder. And if you want to take pictures and videos and have them saved directly into the Secure Folder, open the Secure Folder and use the Camera app there.

What to do if "Move to Secure Folder" is missing in Samsung Gallery

If you don't see Move to Secure Folder when you select photos in Samsung Gallery, check one Secure Folder setting before assuming something is wrong with your phone. Samsung says the option will disappear from Gallery and My Files if Allow background activity while locked is turned off.

To turn it back on:

1. Open Secure Folder.
2. Tap the More options button (the three vertical dots).
3. Select Settings.
4. Turn on Allow background activity while locked.

Once the setting is enabled, Move to Secure Folder should appear again in Gallery and My Files. If it still doesn't, Samsung recommends restarting your phone and checking for software and Secure Folder updates.

How to back up or transfer your Samsung Secure Folder

Samsung no longer lets you create a traditional cloud backup of Secure Folder. If you have an older Secure Folder backup in your Samsung account, you may still be able to restore it on supported devices. However, Samsung says the restore feature is not available on phones running Android 16 with One UI 8 or later.

If you're moving to a new Galaxy phone, Samsung recommends transferring your Secure Folder using Smart Switch instead. After connecting the two phones, tap the right arrow next to Apps on the new phone and select Secure Folder. Or, tap the right arrow next to Secure Folder to choose specific Secure Folder content to transfer. Then tap Done and Transfer. Samsung supports both wired and wireless transfers between Galaxy devices.

This makes transferring Secure Folder particularly important before you erase, trade in, or otherwise stop using your old phone. Unlike Google Photos' Locked Folder, Samsung Secure Folder does not currently offer a conventional cloud backup that you can simply restore later on a new device.

Do iPhones let you hide your photos?

Yes. The iPhone Photos app has a Hidden album that keeps selected photos and videos out of your main photo library, other albums, and the Photos widget. The Hidden album is locked by default and requires Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to open.

You can also hide the Hidden album itself so it doesn't appear in the Photos app. Go to Settings > Apps > Photos and turn off Show Hidden Album. Your hidden photos stay on the phone; the album simply disappears from view until you turn the setting back on.

If you use iCloud Photos, hiding a photo on one Apple device also hides it on your other devices signed into the same Apple Account.

The process is different from Google Photos' Locked Folder and Samsung Secure Folder, so we've put together a separate step-by-step guide covering how to hide photos, find the Hidden album, lock it with Face ID, and unhide photos later. See our full instructions on how to hide photos on an iPhone.

Updated on 10/7/2026 with updated details on backing up your locked folders.

[Image credit: Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious]

As a lifelong tech enthusiast, Hemant Saxena is always looking for the latest gadgets that intersect with his hobbies. For more than a decade, he has been writing about consumer gadgets, popular apps, and social media tips for publications, including Windows Club and Techmate Tricks.

Tips & How-Tos, Cameras and Photography, Photo / Video Sharing, Phones and Mobile, Mobile Apps, Android Apps, Privacy