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Protect Your Privacy: How to Hide Photos on Your Android Phone or Tablet


We’re a snap-happy bunch nowadays, collectively sharing more than two billion photos every day on Facebook alone. But there are some photos and videos that you don’t want to share. Maybe you prefer to keep pictures of your kids private, you don’t want anyone seeing that video of you on the dance floor, or you have some saucy snaps. We’re not here to judge, but we advise you to take some precautions to protect your privacy. Here’s how to hide photos on your Android device.

How to hide photos on your Android phone

Sadly, there’s no built-in secure function for hiding photos on an Android phone or tablet. However, many Android device manufacturers offer built-in privacy features that help you to hide your photos and other files easily. You can also use the archive function in Google Photos.

How to archive photos in Google Photos

If you use Google Photos on your Android phone, then you can always employ the archive function to hide any photos you’d rather people didn’t accidentally stumble onto from the main feed. It’s important to note that these photos will still be accessible via the Archive, in albums, and in search results. Here’s how to archive snaps:

  • Find the photos you want to archive and tap and hold, then select every photo you want to hide.
  • Tap the three vertical dots at the top right and choose Move to archive from the drop-down menu.
  • If you’re finished, tap Done.

Since this doesn’t securely hide your photos we’re going to look at a couple of alternative methods. You can still access these photos by tapping the hamburger menu (three vertical lines) at the top left and then tapping on Archive. To put them back into the main photo feed, tap and hold to select, then tap the three vertical dots at the top right and choose Unarchive.

How to hide photos on a Samsung phone

If you have a Samsung phone, like the Galaxy S10, then you’re in luck because there’s a robust, secure mode to keep your private photos and videos private.

  • Open the Settings and tap on Biometrics and security then find the Secure Folder option and tap on it.
  • It may prompt you to sign in to your account and agree to the terms.
  • Now you can configure your Secure Folder and decide whether it should appear in the app drawer, how to access it, whether it should lock automatically when the screen turns off, and various other options.
  • We recommend locking it with your fingerprint and setting it to lock automatically when the screen turns off.
  • Open the Gallery app and find a photo you want to hide.
  • Tap and hold to select it and tap the three vertical dots at the top right.
  • Choose Move to Secure Folder from the drop-down list.

If you ever want to unhide photos, simply find them in the Gallery app in the Secure Folder, tap and hold to select, then tap the three vertical dots at the top right and choose.

Best Android apps for hiding photos

If your phone or tablet doesn’t have a built-in security option for hiding photos, then your best bet is to download and install one of the best photo hiding apps. There are a couple that we recommend.

Vaulty

Here’s a great, free photo hiding app for Android with some optional extras available as in-app purchases. You can put photos or videos into your vault and they are only accessible by entering a PIN or password. There’s an optional, automatic, online backup built-in, which encrypts your photos and uploads them to the cloud. You can also set up multiple vaults for different photos and videos, all with different passwords to gain entry. Vaulty has a mugshot feature, too, which snaps a photo of anyone trying to gain access.

Play Store

Gallery Vault

This is a very popular app for hiding photos on Android and it’s easy to use. It’s like a secure locker. You choose what photos and videos to add to it, and you can only access them by using your PIN, passcode, or fingerprint. It encrypts your files, but keeps them on the device — there is no online backup. It also supports Micro SD cards, includes a fake passcode option that takes you to a decoy photo vault, a hidden icon to disguise the app, and break-in alerts.

Play Store

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