Secretly Hide Your Private Photos on iPhone with iOS 16: The Ultimate Guide to Locking Your Hidden Album!

We all have private photos that we would rather not show to anyone else. Whether it’s a personal picture of your significant other, a risqué selfie, or an embarrassing snapshot that you’d rather keep to yourself, everyone has something they’d like to keep hidden from prying eyes.

Thankfully, with the latest update to iOS 16, Apple has made it easy to do just that. The new Hidden Album feature allows you to secretly store your private photos in a separate folder that only you have access to.

In this article, we’ll be showing you how to use the Hidden Album feature on your iPhone with iOS 16 so that you can keep your personal photos safe and secure.

Step 1: Update Your iPhone to iOS 16

The Hidden Album feature is only available on iPhones that have been updated to iOS 16. Before you can start using this feature, you’ll need to ensure that your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS.

To check if your iPhone is up to date, go to the Settings app, then tap on General > Software Update. If a new update is available, download and install it.

Step 2: Create a Hidden Album

Once your iPhone is updated to iOS 16, it’s time to create a Hidden Album. This is where you’ll be able to store all of your private photos.

To create a Hidden Album, open the Photos app on your iPhone, then select the photos that you’d like to hide. You can do this by tapping on the “Select” button in the top right-hand corner of the screen, then tapping on each photo that you’d like to hide.

Once you’ve selected all of the photos that you’d like to hide, tap on the “Share” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. From here, select the “Hide” option.

Your selected photos will now be moved to a new folder called “Hidden”. You can access this folder at any time by going to the Albums tab in the Photos app, then scrolling down to the “Hidden” folder.

Note: It’s important to keep in mind that the Hidden Album is not password-protected. Anyone who has access to your iPhone will be able to view the Hidden Album if they know where to look. For this reason, it’s important to use other security measures, such as passcodes or biometric authentication, to protect your iPhone.

Step 3: Delete Photos from the “Recently Deleted” Folder

One of the downsides of using the Hidden Album feature is that photos that you’ve deleted will still appear in the “Recently Deleted” folder. This means that anyone who has access to your iPhone will still be able to view these photos for up to 30 days after you’ve deleted them.

To delete photos permanently, open the Photos app and go to the “Recently Deleted” folder. This folder will show you all of the photos that you’ve deleted within the last 30 days.

Select the photos that you’d like to delete permanently, then tap on the “Delete All” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. This will permanently delete the selected photos and remove them from your iPhone.

Step 4: Use Other Security Measures to Protect Your iPhone

As mentioned earlier, the Hidden Album feature is not password-protected. This means that anyone who has access to your iPhone could potentially view your private photos.

To ensure that your private photos remain secure, it’s important to use other security measures to protect your iPhone. This could include setting a passcode or using biometric authentication, such as Face ID or Touch ID.

To set a passcode, go to the Settings app, then tap on Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, depending on which security feature you’re using. From here, you can set a passcode that will be required to unlock your iPhone.

In conclusion, the Hidden Album feature in iOS 16 is a useful way to hide your private photos on your iPhone. However, it’s important to remember that this feature is not fool-proof, and it’s still possible for someone to view your private photos if they have access to your iPhone. To ensure that your private photos remain secure, it’s important to use other security measures, such as passcodes or biometric authentication, to protect your iPhone.

This article explains how to lock the hidden photo album on an iPhone without needing to use a third-party app for your photos.

What to Know

  • Must Do: Settings > Photos > tap Use Face ID or Use Touch ID. To view locked photos: Open the Hidden album in Photos app > tap View Album. Unlock with Face ID/Touch ID.You can also secure the Hidden album using your security passcode.

How to Lock Hidden Photos on iPhone

When you hide photos on your iPhone, they disappear from your camera roll. These photos are still on your phone though, just in the Hidden album. Unless you lock down the Hidden album, anyone who has access to your phone can still view these hidden photos by opening that album. This security feature requires iOS 16 or later, and your device needs to support Face ID or Touch ID if you want to lock the hidden folder using one of those methods.

Here’s how to lock hidden photos on your iPhone:

  • Open Settings and tap Photos.
  • Tap the Use Face ID or Use Touch ID toggle to turn it on.
  • Optionally, you can also tap the Show Hidden Album toggle to turn it off.
  • Use this option if you don’t want to advertise the fact that you even have hidden photos on your phone.

How to Verify and View Locked Hidden Photos on iPhone

You can double check your hidden album is actually locked down by opening the Photos app. The album will still be there as long as you didn’t choose to remove it from the album list, but you’ll need to use Touch ID or Face ID to view the photos.

Open Settings and tap Photos.

Tap the Use Face ID or Use Touch ID toggle to turn it on.

Optionally, you can also tap the Show Hidden Album toggle to turn it off.

Use this option if you don’t want to advertise the fact that you even have hidden photos on your phone.

Here’s how to verify that your hidden album is locked:

After several failed Touch ID or Face ID attempts, you will be prompted to unlock the album using your passcode. If you have shared your passcode with anyone, they’ll be able to view your hidden photos using that method.

  • Open the Photos app, and tap Albums.
  • Look for lock icons next to Hidden and Recently Deleted under Utilities.
  • To view your hidden photos, tap Hidden.
  • Tap View Album, and then use Touch ID or Face ID to unlock the folder.

Why Lock Photos on an iPhone?

Apple has provided an option to hide photos on your iPhone for a while, which removes them from the camera roll and puts them in the Hidden album. That’s fine if you just don’t want a photo in the general camera roll, but it doesn’t actually prevent anyone from seeing the photo. If you hand your phone to someone to check out some photos you’ve taken, there’s nothing to stop that person from switching to your Hidden album and seeing photos you didn’t want anyone to see.

Open the Photos app, and tap Albums.

Look for lock icons next to Hidden and Recently Deleted under Utilities.

To view your hidden photos, tap Hidden.

Tap View Album, and then use Touch ID or Face ID to unlock the folder.

The Photos app has a setting that lets you hide the Hidden album, which prevents it from showing up in your album listing. That’s helpful, as it helps you avoid advertising the fact that you have hidden photos, but it doesn’t actually stop anyone from seeing those photos. If someone knows what they’re doing, they can easily locate and view your Hidden album even if it doesn’t show up with your other albums.

The Hidden album also fails to protect your hidden images in other ways. For example, when selecting images with the image picker in other apps, it will let you pull images from the Hidden folder.

The option to lock your Hidden album, which was introduced with iOS 16, actually protects your hidden photos. When this feature is turned on, it locks your Hidden album behind either Face ID or Touch ID. If someone tries to access the Hidden album without your permission, they are greeted with a blank folder. This feature also locks down your recently deleted images in the same way.

In addition to locking down your hidden images in the default Photos app, this option also protects your hidden images elsewhere. Hidden images won’t show up in the image picker in other apps, and they won’t be accessible in any third-party apps either.

  • How do I delete a photo album on my iPhone?
  • In the Photos app, go to Albums > See all > Edit and tap the red circle on the album to delete it. This does not delete the photos, only the album. The photos remain in the All Photos album.
  • How do I move a photo to an album on my iPhone?
  • To move a photo or video to an album, open it in the Photos app and tap the three dots > Add to Album. Choose an existing album or tap New Album.
  • How do I share a photo album on my iPhone?
  • Turn on iPhone Shared Albums to create albums that you share with other people. When you (or anyone else in the shared album) take a photo, you have the option to place it in the shared album, and everyone receives a notification.

In the Photos app, go to Albums > See all > Edit and tap the red circle on the album to delete it. This does not delete the photos, only the album. The photos remain in the All Photos album.

To move a photo or video to an album, open it in the Photos app and tap the three dots > Add to Album. Choose an existing album or tap New Album.

Turn on iPhone Shared Albums to create albums that you share with other people. When you (or anyone else in the shared album) take a photo, you have the option to place it in the shared album, and everyone receives a notification.

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