Canonical: https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-hide-photos-on-iphone Title: How to hide photos on iPhone Updated: 2026-10-24 Author: Zaniar, Founder of Hideroom (https://hideroom.app/authors/zaniar) Sources: Hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Vision Pro with the Hidden album, Apple Support, checked 2026-10-23 ; Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone, Apple iPhone User Guide, checked 2026-10-23 ; iCloud data security overview, Apple Support, checked 2026-10-23 ; Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection in the United Kingdom to new users, Apple Support, checked 2026-10-23 ; Product security releases (current iOS version), Apple Support, checked 2026-10-23 # How to hide photos on iPhone ## Quick answer Open Photos, touch and hold the photo (or tap the More button while viewing it), then tap Hide. It moves to the Hidden album under Collections > Utilities, which is locked with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode on iOS 16 and later. Hidden isn’t a separate encrypted vault, though: it syncs with iCloud Photos and anyone who knows your passcode can open it. If you want to know how to hide photos on iPhone, the built-in answer is the Hidden album in Apple’s Photos app. It takes a few seconds, it’s free, and on iOS 16 and later the album is locked behind Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. This guide walks through the steps for iOS 27, the current version, then explains honestly what hiding does and doesn’t protect, so you can decide whether it’s enough for what you’re keeping. ## How to hide photos on iPhone, step by step Hiding moves a photo or video out of your library and into the Hidden album. Nothing is deleted. To hide one photo or video: 1. Open the Photos app. 2. Touch and hold the photo or video you want to hide. 3. Tap Hide, then confirm. You can also open the photo, tap the More button (the circle with three dots), then tap Hide. To hide several at once: 1. Open the Photos app and go to your library or an album. 2. Tap Select, then tap each photo and video you want to hide. 3. Tap the More button, then tap Hide. Hiding pictures on iPhone works the same way for screenshots and videos; there’s a separate guide on [hiding videos on iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-hide-videos-on-iphone) if they’re what you’re keeping. Once hidden, they no longer appear in your library, in your other albums or in the Photos widget on your Home Screen. ## Where hidden photos go Everything you hide ends up in one place: the Hidden album. Apple’s own guide calls it the Hidden collection, and it sits near the bottom of the Collections tab under Utilities, next to Recently Deleted. To open it, tap Collections, scroll down to Utilities, tap Hidden, tap View Album, then unlock with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. If you can’t see it at all, the album has probably been switched off; our guide on [how to find hidden photos on iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-find-hidden-photos-on-iphone) covers that and the other usual causes. ## How to lock or turn off the Hidden album On iOS 16 and later, the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums are locked by default. You can check, or change it, here: 1. Open Settings. 2. Tap Apps, then Photos, then Albums. 3. Make sure Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID, or Use Passcode) is turned on. On iOS 18 these switches sit on the Photos page itself, with no Albums step. On older versions, such as iOS 17, Photos sits directly in Settings, so the path is Settings > Photos. You can also remove the album from view entirely. In the same Albums settings, turn off Hidden Album (called Show Hidden Album on iOS 18 and earlier). Your hidden photos stay on the phone, but the album disappears from the Photos app until you switch it back on. This option has been there since iOS 14. If you’d rather lock the whole Photos app, not only the Hidden album, see [how to lock photos on iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-lock-photos-on-iphone). ## How to unhide a photo 1. Open Photos and tap Collections. 2. Scroll to Utilities, tap Hidden, tap View Album, then unlock. 3. Touch and hold the photo, then tap Unhide. For several, tap Select, choose them, tap the More button, then tap Unhide. The photo goes back to its usual place in your library. Want to know the day Hideroom is ready? Hideroom is coming to iPhone. One email when it launches, then we delete your address. ## What the Hidden album doesn’t do > Careful > > The Hidden album is good at one thing: keeping photos out of sight when you’re scrolling or showing someone your library. It’s worth knowing its limits before you trust it with anything sensitive. **It isn’t a separately encrypted vault.** Apple doesn’t describe any extra encryption for hidden photos. They’re part of your normal photo library, protected like every other photo. In iCloud, Photos uses Apple’s standard data protection by default, which means your photos are encrypted but Apple holds the keys. Turning on Advanced Data Protection makes Photos end-to-end encrypted, but Apple no longer offers it to new users in the UK. Even with it on, Apple says whether a photo is marked as hidden is one of the details it keeps under standard protection. **It syncs with iCloud Photos.** If iCloud Photos is on, a photo you hide on your iPhone is hidden on your iPad and Mac too, and it’s still uploaded to iCloud. It shows up in the Hidden section of Photos on iCloud.com. That’s convenient, but it also means every device signed in to your Apple Account can reach it. There’s more on this in [do hidden photos transfer to a new iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/do-hidden-photos-transfer-to-new-iphone). **Your passcode opens it.** The lock uses the same Face ID, Touch ID and passcode as your iPhone. Anyone who knows your passcode, a partner, a child, or someone who watched you type it, can open the Hidden album. There’s no separate password option. **There’s only one, and it can’t keep a decoy.** Every hidden photo lands in the same album, behind the same lock. You can’t make a second hidden album with a different code, so if someone insists you open it, everything in it is visible. **Hiding doesn’t recall copies.** A photo you’ve already sent in Messages, posted or shared to a shared album still exists there. Hiding only changes where it appears in your own Photos app. None of this makes the Hidden album bad. For keeping holiday screenshots or a surprise present out of the main grid, it’s the right tool, and it costs nothing. ## When a vault app makes more sense If you’re hiding things that would really hurt to have seen, such as intimate photos, a scan of your passport or medical letters, it’s reasonable to want more than a lock your passcode can open. That’s what photo vault apps are for: they keep photos in their own encrypted storage, away from your photo library, behind a separate code. > Where Hideroom fits > > The trade-off is that you’re trusting a smaller company with photos that may be your only copies, so check how the app encrypts and, above all, how it backs up. Hideroom, coming to iPhone soon, is our answer to that: each room opens with a pattern you draw, everything is encrypted on the phone with AES-256-GCM, and the encrypted backup in your own iCloud is checked after every upload. A different pattern opens a different room, which is the decoy the Hidden album can’t give you. You can read exactly how it works on our [security page](https://hideroom.app/security). Whichever you choose, if you move photos out of the Photos app, remember to delete the originals and then empty them from Recently Deleted, where Apple keeps deleted items for 30 days. ## Questions ### Can someone else see my hidden photos? Not by scrolling your library, because hidden photos only appear in the Hidden album. But the album opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode, so anyone who knows your passcode can open it. If you use iCloud Photos, they’re also in the Hidden section of your library on your other devices and on iCloud.com. ### Are hidden photos encrypted? They’re protected the same way as the rest of your photo library. Apple doesn’t describe any extra encryption for the Hidden album. In iCloud, your photos use standard data protection, where Apple holds the keys, unless you’ve turned on Advanced Data Protection. ### Do hidden photos still use iCloud storage? Yes. Hiding a photo only changes where it shows up in Photos. With iCloud Photos on, it’s still uploaded and counts towards your iCloud storage like any other photo. ### Can I hide the Hidden album itself? Yes. Go to Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, tap Albums, then turn off Hidden Album. The photos stay on your iPhone, but the album no longer appears in the Photos app until you turn the setting back on. Written by Zaniar with AI research help, and checked against the sources below on 23 October 2026. [How we write guides](https://hideroom.app/editorial-policy) ## Related guides - [Hiding photos · 5 min read](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-find-hidden-photos-on-iphone) ### [How to find hidden photos on iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-find-hidden-photos-on-iphone) [Find the Hidden album on iPhone in four taps, plus what to do if it's missing, won't open, or you meant the hidden apps folder. iPad and Mac too.](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-find-hidden-photos-on-iphone) - [Hiding photos · 5 min read](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-lock-photos-on-iphone) ### [How to lock photos on iPhone](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-lock-photos-on-iphone) [Lock photos on iPhone with Face ID, lock the whole Photos app, or password protect pictures in Notes. Every option for iOS 27, and what each one misses.](https://hideroom.app/guides/how-to-lock-photos-on-iphone) - [Backups and moving phones · 5 min read](https://hideroom.app/guides/do-hidden-photos-transfer-to-new-iphone) ### [Do hidden photos transfer to a new iPhone?](https://hideroom.app/guides/do-hidden-photos-transfer-to-new-iphone) [Yes, hidden photos move with your library. How it works with iCloud Photos, Quick Start, iCloud backup or a computer, and what to check first.](https://hideroom.app/guides/do-hidden-photos-transfer-to-new-iphone) ## Sources 1. [Hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Vision Pro with the Hidden album](https://support.apple.com/en-us/104987), Apple Support, checked 23 October 2026 2. [Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/delete-or-hide-photos-and-videos-iphb4defbde9/ios), Apple iPhone User Guide, checked 23 October 2026 3. [iCloud data security overview](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102651), Apple Support, checked 23 October 2026 4. [Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection in the United Kingdom to new users](https://support.apple.com/en-us/122234), Apple Support, checked 23 October 2026 5. [Product security releases (current iOS version)](https://support.apple.com/en-us/100100), Apple Support, checked 23 October 2026 Spotted something out of date? Email . > Hideroom > > - Encrypted on your phone > - Verified backups > - No account > > [Get notified](#notify)