How to hide photos on iPhone

Option 1: the Hidden album (built in, free)

Every iPhone has a Hidden album. Hiding a photo moves it out of your library, out of Memories and out of the widgets, into one place.

How to hide a photo

1. Open the Photos app and open the photo or video.
2. Tap the More button (the three dots).
3. Tap Hide, then confirm.

To hide several at once, tap Select in your library, pick the photos, tap the More button and choose Hide. Apple’s guide to hiding photos covers the same steps.

How to find and unhide them

1. In Photos, scroll down to Collections and find Hidden, listed under Utilities.
2. Tap View Album and unlock it with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
3. Open a photo, tap the More button and choose Unhide.

Option 2: lock the Hidden album down properly

Since iOS 16, the Hidden album and Recently Deleted are locked by default and need Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode to open. A few settings make the most of it:

1. Keep the lock on. Go to Settings, then Apps, then Photos, and make sure Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID or Use Passcode) is turned on.
2. Hide the Hidden album itself. In the same screen, turn off Show Hidden Album. The album disappears from the Photos app until you turn the setting back on.
3. Remember Recently Deleted. Deleted photos stay there for 30 days. It is locked the same way as Hidden, but empty it if you want something gone now.
4. Check iCloud Photos. With iCloud Photos on, a photo you hide on your iPhone is hidden on your other devices too, and it is still stored in your iCloud library.

What the Hidden album protects, and what it doesn’t

The Hidden album is good at one thing: keeping photos off the main grid, so they don’t pop up when you’re showing someone your holiday pictures.

It is weaker against anyone who knows your phone’s passcode. Apple’s own wording is that the album unlocks "using Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode". The passcode lots of partners, kids and friends have seen you type is enough to open it. And the photos are protected by the same lock as the rest of your phone, rather than a separate key of their own.

Option 3: an encrypted vault app

A photo vault app keeps photos in its own storage, encrypted, behind a lock that is separate from your phone’s passcode. A good one gives each file its own encryption key, so copied files are useless without the key.

Here is how to move photos into Umbra, as an example:

1. Install Umbra and draw a pattern. It is the key to your vault, and it doesn’t have to match anything else on your phone.
2. Write down your 12 recovery words. They restore the vault if you forget the pattern or change phones. There is no account, so nobody else can reset it.
3. Tap the add button and pick photos from your library. Umbra encrypts each one as it comes in.
4. Let Umbra delete the originals. After importing, Umbra offers to delete them from your library. Say yes, then empty Recently Deleted in Photos, or the originals stay there for 30 days.

From then on, photos taken with Umbra’s own camera go straight into the vault and never touch your camera roll. You can also share photos to Umbra from other apps.

What a vault adds over the Hidden album

• A separate lock. Knowing your phone’s passcode doesn’t open it.
• Encryption with its own keys. AES-256-GCM, with the key made from your pattern on the phone.
• Hidden vaults. Up to 3 on the free plan. Each pattern opens its own vault, and the unlock screen never lists them.
• Screenshots come out black, and the app switcher shows a cover instead of your photos.
• A log of wrong attempts, so you know if someone tried.
• A duress pattern (Pro) that opens a harmless decoy vault if someone forces you to unlock it. See what a duress pattern is.

What about locking the Photos app?

On recent versions of iOS you can touch and hold an app icon and tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode) to lock or hide an app. Built-in apps like Photos can’t be hidden, and the lock still accepts your phone’s passcode, so it raises the bar for a casual snoop more than for someone who knows your code.

Which option should you use?

Questions

Checked against public pages on 20 October 2026. Details change, so check the linked pages before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.