How to hide photos and videos from your phone’s camera roll

June 22, 2020

By Kim Komando

In the U.S. alone, 230 million people are active social media users. Think about all the posts, photos and videos shared every day.

If you didn’t hear, Adobe finally released a free Photoshop Camera app for both iOS and Android. It uses artificial intelligence to clean up your photos. Tap or click here for a quick video showing how the free Photoshop app works and the direct links to get it for your smartphone.

Maybe you’re finally fed up ad networks and big tech companies collecting data on you. It’s an impossible task to wipe your digital footprint completely, but there are many steps you can take. Tap or click here to see how to delete yourself from the web.

For some privacy on your smartphone, start with your photos and videos. You can keep certain things hidden regardless of what kind of system you have. Here’s how.

How to create hidden folders on iOS

Apple lets you create hidden folders containing photos that are invisible to anyone using your phone but you. They’re removed from your main albums and galleries.

Here’s how you can hide them:

• Launch the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
• Tap the album that you want to see.
• Tap Select in the upper right corner.
• Select the photos and videos you want to hide.
• Tap the Share button.
• Choose Hide from the Share Sheet menu.
• Confirm that you want to hide the photo(s) and video(s).

To find your hidden photos and videos, scroll down to Other Albums and tap Hidden. The photos you’ve hidden from view will be stored here. You can unhide a file by tapping the Share button and selecting Unhide.

This trick gets the photos out of your main albums, but you’ll need a third-party app to lock them using a password. Tap or click here for my pick.

How to create hidden folders on Android

Depending on what model phone you have, instructions will vary. Here’s the most common way to hide your files via Google Photos on the stock version of Android:

• Open the Google Photos app on your smartphone.
• Select the images that you wish to hide.
• Tap the three-dot icon in the top right-hand corner.
• Tap Move to Archive in the drop-down menu.

This hides your photos and videos in a separate folder (called Archive, in this case). You can access this from your main Google Photos menu, but the contents of this folder will not be included in any of your other feeds.

How to create hidden folders on Google Pixel

Google Pixel has a little bit more in-depth process for hiding files. Here’s how to do it:

• Open the Files app on your device.
• Tap the three-line icon in the top left-hand corner.
• Select the name of your device from the menu.
• Tap the three-dot icon in the upper right-hand corner.
• Choose New Folder.
• Enter .nomedia as the folder name.
• Tap OK.

Now, you’ll have a new folder to hide your files. Here’s how to move them:

• Open the Files app on your device.
• Tap the three-line icon in the upper left-hand corner.
• Tap Images from the menu.
• Open the folder where your pictures are stored. This usually falls under Camera.
• Tap and hold on to the photo or video you wish to move, and tap on other items you want to move after choosing the first.
• Tap the three-dot icon in the upper right-hand corner.
• Tap Move to.
• Tap the three-line icon in the upper left-hand corner.
• Select the name of your device in the menu.
• Tap the .nomedia folder that was created.
• Tap the Move button in the bottom right-hand corner.

All the files you select will be moved to this hidden folder that won’t show up in your feeds.

How to create secure folders on Samsung phones

Samsung lets you hide files in secure, password-protected folders.

• Open the Settings app on your device.
• Scroll down and tap on Biometrics and security.
• Tap Secure Folder.
• Follow the instructions that appear and enter your Samsung account information.
• Set up your Secure Folder, including security type, auto-lock and whether you want the folder to be hidden.
• When the Secure Folder is created, open the Gallery app.
• Tap and hold the items you want to move to the Secure Folder.
• Tap the three-dot icon in the top right-hand corner.
• Choose Move to Secure Folder from the drop-down.

Once you’re finished, your secure folder will be in your App Drawer for easy access. You don’t have to keep it hidden since it’s password-protected. Impressive, Samsung.