3 simple ways to hide and lock private photos / videos on iPhone

There are a lot of interesting things in everyone's smartphone, among them there will also be things that should only be kept to ourselves, then we will want to hide or lock them away so that others cannot see them. Here's how you can hide and lock private photos / videos on iPhone.

How to hide photos on iPhone in the Photos app

First you will need to select the images to hide:

Open the Photos app and open an image to hide, or select multiple images to hide.
At the bottom left, click on the " Share "

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On the bottom taskbar, scroll down and select the option " Hide ".

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Click " Hide Photos " (or Photos) in the pop-up to confirm.

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Subsequent photos are no longer on your main album and stored in an album called "Hidden". To access them, go to the "Albums" tab of the Photos app. Then scroll all the way down until you see "Hide" listed under "Utilities".

How to hide hidden albums in the Pictures app

Once you've moved a photo to a hidden album, you can hide the album, removing it from the Photos app. Here's how to do it:

Open the Settings app .
Scroll down until you see the " Photos " app listed and select it.

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Scroll down and swipe the "Hidden albums" switch to the left, turning it from green to gray.

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Now, hidden albums will no longer appear in the "Utilities" section of the Photos application. To show the album again, just go back to Settings and turn the "Hidden albums" switch back on.
How to lock photos on your iPhone in Notes app

If you want to hide your picture completely outside of the Photos app, you can do so with the Notes app. Here's how to do it:

Open the image that needs security, then click on the "Share" icon.
On the list of apps, scroll right until you see the Notes app icon and tap it. Draft Notes will appear with the image in them - choose a Notes folder to save and hit "Save" in the upper right corner.

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Open the Notes app, then open the note with the picture in it. Tap the three-dot icon in the upper right corner of the note.

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In the pop-up menu, select " Lock ".

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Then enter the password, verify the password and create a hint in case you forget it. Click "Done" in the upper right corner. If you've locked notes before, Notes will only ask you for the password you used to lock the note.

Now a padlock will appear in the top right corner of your note. To lock the note, tap the padlock icon and the note will disappear, with the message "This note is locked". Click on "View note" and enter your password any time you want to view notes. Whenever you finish viewing the note, be sure to tap the padlock icon again to seal the padlock.

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Finally, make sure that you removed the original photo from the Photos app so that it's only in the Notes app for now.

How to hide photos in messages on your iPhone

If you don't want someone to find the image in the Photos and Notes app, send yourself the photo or make a note via text message, then remove it from your photo.

Unless someone steals your messages, it's hard to see.

Note: It's recommended to sync Photos and Notes when you switch to a new iPhone to avoid losing hidden pictures.

Lesley Montoya

Update 20 March 2021