The Apple Photos app is excellent for managing your camera roll, but for years, the “Hidden” and “Recently Deleted” albums were entirely visible at the bottom of the Albums tab. While the photos inside were obscured, anyone holding your unlocked iPhone could easily tap on these folders and view their contents, defeating the purpose of hiding them in the first place.
Starting with iOS 16, Apple introduced a vital privacy feature: the ability to lock these sensitive albums using Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode. Once enabled, the albums remain visible in the list, but their contents cannot be accessed without biometric authentication.
How to Lock Hidden and Deleted Albums
This setting is not found inside the Photos app itself, but rather in the main iOS Settings application.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Photos.
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID on older devices).
- Toggle this switch to the ON position (it will turn green).
Now, open the Photos app and navigate to the Albums tab. Scroll to the very bottom to the Utilities section. You will notice a small padlock icon next to both the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums. Tapping on either will instantly prompt for a Face ID or Touch ID scan before revealing the images.
How to Completely Remove the Hidden Album from View
If locking the album is not enough and you want to ensure no one even knows a Hidden album exists on your device, you can completely remove it from the Albums tab interface.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Photos.
- Locate the toggle switch labelled Show Hidden Album.
- Toggle this switch to the OFF position (it will turn grey).
When you return to the Photos app, the Hidden album will no longer appear under the Utilities section. Your hidden photos remain safely stored on the device; they are simply inaccessible until you return to Settings and toggle the album back on.
Note: The “Recently Deleted” album cannot be completely hidden from the menu, but it remains securely locked behind Face ID if you enabled the biometric lock.