How to hide photos on iPhone

The iPhone's Photos app moves the photos you hide into a separate album, the Hidden album. Hiding doesn't delete anything: the photo only changes place.

1. 1 Open the Photos app.
2. 2 Tap and hold the photo or video you want to hide.
3. 3 Tap Hide, then confirm.

The photo no longer shows in your Library, in your other albums or in the Photos widget on your Home Screen. It's only in the Hidden album.

Apple describes the same steps for every iPhone, whether it's an iPhone 13, 15, 16 or 17: only the iOS version changes some options, such as the album lock (iOS 16 or later).

1. 1 In the Photos app, tap Collections.
2. 2 Scroll down to Utilities, then tap Hidden.
3. 3 Tap View Album, then unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID.

Hidden album not showing?

It's probably turned off in Settings. On iPhone, the album is visible by default, but it can be removed from the Photos app (iOS 14 or later). To bring it back:

1. 1 Open Settings, tap Apps, then Photos.
2. 2 Scroll down and turn on Show Hidden Album.

While this setting is off, your hidden photos don't show anywhere in the Photos app.

Since iOS 16, the Hidden album is locked by default. To open it, tap View Album and unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID, depending on your iPhone.

Unhide a photo

In the Hidden album, tap and hold the photo or video, then tap Unhide: it shows up in your Library again.

To keep a few photos out of your Library, the Hidden album is often enough. Three things are worth knowing before you trust it with sensitive photos.

• The same lock as your iPhone. Apple says the album unlocks with Face ID or Touch ID, so the faces and fingerprints enrolled on the iPhone open it too.
• A visible album. By default, the Hidden album is listed by name under Collections. Turning it off also hides your hidden photos from you, until you turn it back on.
• Synced with iCloud Photos. If you use iCloud Photos, a photo you hide on one device is hidden on your other devices too: worth keeping in mind if other people use one of them.

To give your photos a code of their own, separate from your iPhone's, you can keep them in a vault app such as Vault, our app for iPhone and iPad. It keeps your photos and videos in a secret album, outside the Photos app.

1. 1 Install Vault from the App Store and choose your 4-digit code.
2. 2 Import the photos and videos you want to hide from your photo library.
3. 3 Vault then offers to delete the originals from your photo library: Yes, always, Only this once or No.
4. 4 If you delete them, also empty the Photos app's Recently Deleted album so no copy is left.

Vault never writes to your photo library. If you answer No, the originals stay visible in the Photos app: handy to keep a copy, less so to hide them.

What Vault adds

• A code of its own. Vault opens with a 4-digit code that doesn't depend on your iPhone's. Face ID is optional, and your iPhone passcode never opens Vault.
• Out of Photos. Once you've deleted the originals and emptied Recently Deleted, your photos are no longer in the Photos app or in iCloud Photos. Vault keeps them on your device, or in your own iCloud account if you turn on its sync (Premium).
• Intrusion reports. Every wrong code is recorded with the date, the time and the code entered, plus a front-camera photo if you turn the option on. Viewing them is part of Premium.
• A decoy profile (Premium): a second vault with its own code and its own content, to open if someone forces you to unlock the app.
• Emergency shortcuts (Premium): flip your phone face down, tap the screen four times or shake it to switch to the decoy profile, lock Vault or close it.
• A calculator, if you want one. As an option, Vault opens on a working calculator, and you type your code as a calculation.

Good to know

• Vault is free to download. The free version limits the number of albums and items; Premium removes those limits.
• Vault works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17.4 or later.
• Nobody can reset a forgotten Vault code, not even Vault Studio. If you turned on Face ID, it still opens your main profile; otherwise, keep your code somewhere safe.