How to lock the Hidden album on iPhone

How to lock the Hidden album

The setting lives in the Settings app, not in Photos. These steps follow Apple’s guide to hiding photos (checked November 2026).

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Apps, then tap Photos. On older versions of iOS, Photos is listed directly in Settings without the Apps step.
3. Turn on Use Face ID. On an iPhone with a Home button it says Use Touch ID, and if Face ID or Touch ID isn’t set up it says Use Passcode.

That’s it. The same switch locks two collections at once: Hidden and Recently Deleted. You can’t lock one without the other.

Check that it worked

1. Open Photos and tap Collections.
2. Scroll down to Utilities and find Hidden. It should show a lock.
3. Tap Hidden. You should see a View Album button instead of your photos. Tap it and Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode opens the album.

If the photos appear straight away without asking, the lock is off. Go back to the steps above.

Hide the Hidden album as well

Locking the album still leaves it visible in Photos, with a name that tells anyone exactly where to look. Apple lets you remove it from view too:

1. Open Settings, tap Apps, then Photos.
2. Turn off Show Hidden Album.

The Hidden collection disappears from the Photos app. Your photos are still there, still hidden. To see them again, turn the setting back on. Keep in mind that anyone holding your unlocked phone can do the same, so this removes a signpost rather than adding a lock.

On iPad and Mac

Apple’s support article on the Hidden album says it is locked by default on iPadOS 16.1, macOS Ventura and later.

• iPad: the same switch, in Settings, then Apps, then Photos. In the Photos app you may need to open the sidebar to find Hidden under Utilities.
• Mac: the Hidden album is not shown by default. Choose View, then Show Hidden Photo Album, select Hidden in the sidebar and click View Album. It unlocks with Touch ID or your Mac login password.

With iCloud Photos on, a photo you hide on one device is hidden on all of them. Each device then locks the album with its own Face ID, Touch ID or passcode.

Why your Hidden album isn’t locked

A few reasons come up again and again:

• Your iPhone is on iOS 15 or older. The lock arrived in iOS 16. Before that, the Hidden album could only be hidden from view, not locked. Update in Settings, then General, then Software Update, if your iPhone supports it.
• The switch is off. It’s on by default, but it may have been turned off at some point, by you or someone else. Turn on Use Face ID as above.
• Your iPhone has no passcode. The lock works through your passcode, and Face ID and Touch ID are built on top of it. With no passcode set, there is nothing for the album to ask for.
• You opened it a moment ago. Once you’re past View Album, you’re inside. Leave the album and come back to see the lock again.

The limit: your passcode opens it

Apple’s own wording is that you unlock the Hidden and Recently Deleted collections "using Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode". So the lock is only as private as your iPhone passcode.

That’s fine against a stranger who picks up your phone. It is weaker against the people most of us actually hide photos from: a partner, a child, a friend, a coworker. They have often seen you type your passcode, and some know it outright. With it they can open Hidden, and they can also go to Settings and turn the lock off.

Apple doesn’t describe any extra encryption for hidden photos. They’re protected the same way as the rest of your library: by your phone’s encryption while it is locked, and readable to anyone who can unlock it. If you use iCloud Photos, they are in your iCloud library too, hidden but present.

Can you lock the Hidden album with a separate password?

No. There’s no built-in setting for a password that only opens Hidden. If you want a lock your phone’s passcode doesn’t open, these are the real options.

Locked notes with a custom password

Notes can be locked with a custom password instead of your device passcode, set in Settings, then Apps, then Notes, then Password. You can paste photos into a note and lock it. Apple’s guide to locking notes lists the catches (checked November 2026):

• Notes with video, audio, PDF or file attachments can’t be locked, so this works for photos only.
• The title of a locked note stays visible in the list.
• If you forget the custom password and can’t use Face ID or Touch ID, Apple can’t help you get those notes back.
• Apple advises not to rely on Face ID or Touch ID as the only way into your notes. Keep the custom password written down somewhere safe.

It’s a workable fix for a handful of pictures. It gets clumsy fast with dozens of photos, and it’s not an option for videos.

Lock the whole Photos app

On recent iOS, touch and hold the Photos icon and tap Require Face ID to lock the app. It stops someone you’ve handed your phone to from opening Photos. But it still opens with your passcode, and Apple notes that apps that come installed, like Photos, can’t be hidden. So it’s the same limit as the Hidden album lock, applied to everything.

An encrypted vault app

A vault app keeps photos and videos in its own encrypted storage, behind a lock that has nothing to do with your passcode. In Umbra, for example:

1. Draw a pattern on a 5x5 grid. It’s the vault’s key, separate from your iPhone passcode, Face ID and Touch ID.
2. Save your 12 recovery words. There’s no account, so they are the only way back in if you forget the pattern. Nobody can reset it for you.
3. Import from Photos. Each photo and video is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under its own key.
4. Let Umbra delete the originals, then empty Recently Deleted in Photos so they don’t stay there for 30 days.

Screenshots and screen recordings of the vault come out black, wrong patterns are logged, and you can keep up to 3 separate vaults on the free plan, each opened by its own pattern. The free plan holds 100 photos and 10 videos in total.

Which lock fits

Plenty of people use both: the Hidden album for things that are merely awkward, and a vault for things that are genuinely private. For a side by side look, see Umbra vs the iPhone Hidden album.

Questions

Checked against public pages on 7 November 2026. Details change, so check the linked pages before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.