How to Hide Photos on Your iPhone Securely

We all have photos on our iPhones that we would rather keep private. Whether it is a picture of a sensitive document, a surprise gift you bought for your partner, or just personal photos you don’t want someone seeing when you hand them your phone to show a meme. Thankfully, Apple has built a highly secure way to lock away specific images using Face ID or Touch ID.

How to Hide a Photo or Video

Hiding a photo removes it from your main camera roll, your “Days” and “Months” views, and any home screen widgets.

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Find the photo (or video) you want to hide and tap on it.
3. Tap the three dots (…) icon in the top right corner of the screen.
4. From the drop-down menu, tap Hide.
5. A confirmation message will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Tap Hide Photo.

Tip: To hide multiple photos at once, tap “Select” in the top right corner of your main library, tap all the photos you want to hide, then tap the three dots icon in the bottom right corner and choose “Hide.”

How to Find Your Hidden Photos

Once the photos are hidden, they are moved to a special, locked album.

1. In the Photos app, tap on the Albums tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. Scroll all the way down to the bottom, past your regular albums and media types, to the Utilities section.
3. Tap on Hidden.
4. Your iPhone will prompt you for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. Once authenticated, the album will open, and you can view your hidden media.

How to Unhide a Photo

If you no longer need to keep a photo secret, you can easily put it back in your main camera roll.

1. Open the Hidden album using Face ID.
2. Tap the photo you want to unhide.
3. Tap the three dots (…) icon in the top right corner.
4. Tap Unhide. The photo will instantly jump back to its original chronological place in your main library.

The Ultimate Security Step: Hiding the “Hidden” Album

While the Hidden album requires Face ID to open (in iOS 16 and later), the album itself is still visible in your Albums list, which might make a snooping friend curious. You can completely remove the “Hidden” album button from the Photos app.

1. Open your iPhone’s main Settings app (the gray gear icon).
2. Scroll down and tap on Photos.
3. Look for the toggle switch labeled Show Hidden Album.
4. Turn this switch Off (so it is gray, not green).

Now, if someone opens your Photos app and scrolls down to Utilities, the “Hidden” option simply won’t be there. When you want to view your hidden photos again, you must go back into Settings and turn the toggle back on.

Conclusion

Apple’s built-in hiding tools provide excellent privacy without the need to download sketchy third-party “vault” apps. By utilizing the Face ID lock and removing the album from plain sight, your private photos remain exclusively yours.