How to Hide Photos on Android Phone or Tablet

Although today’s best Android phones are quite secure as long as they remain locked with a password or biometrics like a fingerprint, these default features only protect the front door. If someone picks up your phone while it’s unlocked, there’s usually no barrier to stopping them from exploring everything from your contacts and emails to your photos.

This can be especially difficult when it comes to photos, since these are the things we most like to show off from our phones. We’ve probably all had those moments when we want to show a friend or colleague a funny cat meme, so we hand them our phone and trust that they won’t swipe right and see the photo of the hairy mole that we sent to him. to our doctor that morning.

While avoiding letting other people touch your phone is one solution, the good news is that there’s an even better way to ensure your truly personal photos stay private. Luckily, Google and Samsung both know this, so they’ve come up with a way to bury images even deeper in their respective photos apps to make sure you’re the only one who can see them.

Create a locked folder in Google Photos

Google Photos, an app that usually comes pre-installed on your phone’s hardware, is perfect for hiding photos via a “locked folder” you can create within the app.

Before continuing, it’s worth noting that your locked folder shares the same authentication method as your device’s main lock screen. So this won’t help you hide photos from anyone who can unlock your device: the same password or fingerprint can unlock the locked folder. as easily as they can unlock your phone.

Step 1: Install the Google Photos app from the Play Store if it’s not already on your device.

2nd step: Open the Google Photos app.

Step 3: Select Library from the lower right corner.

Step 4: Select Utilities from the options at the top.

Step 5: Choose To start under “Configure Locked Folder” if the banner appears. Otherwise, scroll down and select Folder locked.

Step 6: Select the Facility button.

Step 7: Follow the instructions to authenticate with your fingerprint or password.

Step 8: If your locked folder is empty, you will be presented with a “Nothing here yet” screen. Choose the Move items to select items from your main library and move them to your locked folder.

Step 9: If you already have photos in your locked folder, you will see them displayed here. You can select the Add Photos button near the upper right corner of the screen to add additional photos to your locked folder. Alternatively, you can also move photos to the locked folder by selecting them from the main gallery and choosing Move to locked folder in the options menu that appears.

Step 10: If you want to securely back up photos in your locked folder, you can enable it by selecting your profile photos in the upper right corner of the Google Photos app and choosing Photo settings > Backup > Back up locked folder. Note that Google only started rolling out this feature on August 29, 2023, so it may not be available to everyone yet.

Step 11: To later access photos in your locked folder, simply open the Google Photos app, select Library > Utilities > Folder locked and authenticate using your fingerprint or password.

Note that to protect your privacy and security, Android will not allow you to capture screenshots in the locked folder. Any screenshots you attempt to take with the Locked Folder open will produce a blank black image. This is expected behavior.

how to Hide Photos on Samsung Phone

Although you can install Google Photos on a Samsung smartphone as easily as on any other Android device, many Samsung users prefer to use Samsung’s Gallery app, which is understandable since it’s a great choice for those who own a Galaxy S23 Ultra or a Galaxy. Z Flip 5 with their unique camera features.

Luckily, Samsung fans also have a way to hide their personal photos in the Samsung Gallery app, using Samsung’s Secure Folder feature.

Step 1: First, you’ll need to enable Secure Folder if you haven’t already. This can be found under Settings > Biometrics and security > Secure folder. You will need to sign in with your Samsung account and choose a preferred lock method to protect your secure folder.

2nd step: Next, launch the Samsung Gallery app on your phone.

Step 3: Select Pictures in the menu bar at the bottom to view all your photos or Albums if you want to select photos from a specific album. You can also choose to move an entire album to your secure folder.

Step 4: Once you look at the photo(s) you want to hide, select the three-dot button in the upper right corner and select To modify in the context menu that appears. Alternatively, you can also enter edit mode by long-pressing the first photo, video, or album you want to hide.

Step 5: Select the photos or videos you want to move to your secure folder. You can also select an entire album in the Albums view.

Step 6: Select the More button at the bottom.

Step 7: Choose Move to Secure Folder and enter your PIN or authenticate with your fingerprint when prompted.

Note that because the Secure Folder is a separate, encrypted storage area, it may take some time to move your items to the Secure Folder. You can check the progress of this by swiping down from the top of the screen to check your notifications.

Step 8: Once the move is complete, the selected items should disappear from your main Samsung Gallery app. To view them, you will need to open the Secure Folder app on your phone and open Samsung Gallery from there.

Please be aware that items in your Secure Folder are not backed up or synced to any cloud services. Although Samsung previously allowed users to backup Secure Folder contents to Samsung Cloud, this feature was discontinued in early 2021. Secure Folder can be transferred to a new Samsung phone using Smart Switch if you are using One UI 5 or a later version, but we would. We strongly recommend that you make a separate backup of your photos in another private location before moving them to your secure folder, as the data stored in this area may not be recoverable if something happens to your phone.

Editors’ Recommendations