How Can I Keep Smartphone Files, Photos Hidden From Prying Eyes?

Then scroll to Show Hidden Album and tap the switch so the green toggle becomes gray. The Hidden album is removed from the Utilities list. Tap the switch in Settings again to resurface the Hidden album.

You’ll have to repeat the way you unlock your phone each time you want to view hidden photos. Be aware that navigation differs some in the Photos app if you haven't updated to iOS 18.

How to hide pictures in Google Photos

If you keep your images in Google Photos on Android or Apple devices, you can create a Locked Folder where pictures and videos are kept under wraps.

To get there, launch Google Photos and tap Collections. Next, scroll to the bottom and tap Locked | Set up Locked Folder and use the same method to unlock this folder as you do to unlock the phone.

During setup, you can choose to back up the Locked Folder, so pictures and videos are kept safe if you change devices or delete the app.

To populate the folder on Android, tap Move items and tap each of the thumbnails representing pictures or videos you want to move. Then tap Move in the upper right corner of the screen and Move again.

To subsequently move other photos to the Locked Folder on Android, tap the image to select it and then the three vertical dots ⋮ in the upper right, then Move to Locked Folder.

Worth noting: On a Google Pixel smartphone, you can arrange for photos you take with the Camera app to be sent directly to the Locked Folder. Images you move to the Locked Folder remain hidden from normal views within Google Photos.

Original photos stored in the Locked Folder cannot be found through a Google search. Nor can pictures in the Locked Folder be added to other photo albums, or photobooks, or third-party apps such as Facebook or Instagram. Of course, to allow sharing would defeat the purpose of putting pics in such an out-of-sight, out-of-mind area in the first place.

You can’t completely hide the existence of the Locked Folder, which appears under Collections in Google Photos. But someone with your phone still would have to unlock the folder to view what’s inside.

You can secure files in a Safe Folder

Google also lets you protect files on a Pixel in what’s dubbed a Safe Folder. To set one up, tap Files | Collections | Safe Folder and choose how to unlock the folder. Enter the PIN or draw the pattern you chose and tap Next. You will have to enter the PIN or pattern a second time.

Once it’s set up, you can move files from the Files by Google app — the icon labels it only as Files — to the Safe Folder in one of two ways, depending upon the view in the app. If files are displayed in a grid, touch and hold an image, tap the three vertical dots ⋮ on the upper right corner of the display, and then Move to Safe folder.

If files appear as a list instead, tap the name of the item you want moved, the three vertical dots ⋮ next to the name, and then Move to Safe folder.

Find Samsung’s hidden Secure Folder

Samsung Galaxy smartphones can stash apps, data, files, photos and videos in what Samsung calls a Secure Folder, the rough equivalent to Pixel’s Safe Folder. Files are encrypted using the Samsung Knox security platform. A PIN or whatever biometric lock you employ protects the folder.

But you must find the Secure Folder first to use it. Open Settings ⚙️ | Security and privacy | More security settings | Secure Folder.

When you first launch the Secure Folder, you must choose whether to use a PIN, password, pattern or your fingerprints to unlock the folder. Tap Confirm after making that choice. Just in case you run into trouble later, you also can enable an Allow lock reset with Samsung account switch.

Inside the Secure Folder you’ll see icons for the Camera app, Internet, Contacts, My Files, Gallery, Calendar and Notes. Tap the plus + to add even more apps.

Samsung lets you log into a copy of an app that is in the Secure Folder using a different account than the original version. But if you want that app only in this private folder, you will need to uninstall the version outside this walled section.

Whether you want to display an icon for the Secure Folder on the main Apps screen is up to you. Toggle on or off the Add Secure Folder to Apps screen when you’ve made up your mind.

You also can turn on an auto sync feature so changes made to Secure Folder data or your accounts on the web will be copied automatically to your phone. And you can determine in Settings when you’d like the Secure Folder to automatically lock.

Bonus tip: Android is readying a new Private Space

Android 15, the next version of Google’s smartphone operating system now in the latter stages of beta testing, is debuting a new feature called Private Space, Google’s answer to Samsung’s Secure Folder. Google describes it as digital safe for apps you don’t want other people to easily find.

You’ll be able to create a dedicated Google Account to use in this private vault, which will prevent notifications or files from showing up elsewhere on your device. If your phone has the Android 15 beta, or later when Android 15 is widely released, you can set up Private Space in the Security & Private section of device Settings ⚙️.