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Hidden folders: The secret hoarders of your phone

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You deleted that weird photo of your ex’s mom from your vacation three summers ago … or did you? Hidden folders on your phone are holding your “deleted” pictures and videos hostage, quietly clogging your storage and embarrassing you long past their expiration date.

Time to go folder spelunking and clear out these digital cobwebs.

📷 Android: The archive and trash trap

If you use Google Photos (and most Android users do, plus a lot of iPhone folks, too), you have two sneaky folders: Archive and Trash.

Archive is where you stash photos you don’t want cluttering your main feed but still want to keep.
Trash is where deleted photos go to hang out for 30 to 60 days before they’re permanently erased.

How to check them:

Open Google Photos. Tap Collections at the bottom.
Tap Archive to see hidden photos. Tap Trash to see what’s waiting to disappear (or secretly stick around).

👉 Pro tip: If you accidentally deleted something important, you can still recover it from Trash, but only if you catch it before the auto-delete timer runs out.

📱 iPhone: Recently deleted isn’t deleted

Think you’ve cleared that shameful live photo of you fake laughing at brunch? Nope. Apple’s got it chilling in the Recently Deleted album, sipping a mimosa while taking up your storage for 30 days before vanishing for good.

How to check it:

Open your Photos app.
Scroll down to Utilities and tap Recently Deleted.

Continue reading →

Hold the phone

📞 Don’t hang up. Here are cool tools to keep your phone in place.

Bump your tunes with a speaker & phone stand combo (48% off).
Take underwater photos with these waterproof pouches (5% off).
Long flight? Clip this phone holder ($17) to your tray table.
Shoot smooth videos and pics with a gimbal tripod (20% off).
This bike mount (38% off) locks down your phone while you ride.

📱 Pop this on: PopSockets’ new magnetic Kick-Out Grip ($40) can finally stand upright. You take video calls or scroll on social media, all hands-free. Plus, it comes with an adapter for Android folks. So wonderful!

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

🎤 Going viral: “Pretty Little Baby” is everywhere on TikTok, with over 17 million videos using the song Connie Francis sang in 1962. Now 87 years young, Connie made her first TikTok to thank her fans. Go ahead, listen to the song and remember, “You can ask the flowers, I sit for hours, Tellin’ all the bluebirds, the bill and coo birds, Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you!”

$50,000

That’s how much a 20-year-old makes monthly on TikTok Shop. Grayson Finks treats TikTok like a 9-to-5, but with better lighting and fewer naggy coworkers in 10 videos a day. She’s made more than $3 million in revenue, with 176,000 followers.

📚 Keep their brains busy: Want your kids to stay sharp in math or science this summer? Check out Khan Academy. Free lessons include short videos, practice exercises and hints. There’s even an AI tutor they can chat with when they’re stuck (it’s $4/month). Pro tip: Track their progress with a parent account.

Facebook on mute: Whether you’re sneaking a scroll at work or just want things silenced, it’s easy to stop videos from auto-playing with sound. On your phone, go to Menu > Settings & privacy > Settings > Media and toggle Videos Start with Sound off. Ah, much better.

Lies, but with filters: Misinformation is mutating harder than Chernobyl deer. AI-made photos, videos and text are now scary good, blurring reality at scale. Nobody knows what’s real … except that picture of aliens in the White House your uncle reposted, saying he told you so.

🎞️ Compress videos: Is your 10-minute clip 2GB? Use HandBrake to shrink the size. Drag and drop the file, pick a save location, choose a preset like Very Fast 1080p30 and click Start Encode. Be sure to check out this tutorial.

📺 Rated B for bogus: That $7.99/month YouTube Premium Lite plan is about to get a lot less ad-free. Starting June 30, you’ll see ads on Shorts, music videos and while browsing or searching. It’s all part of the push to get folks on full Premium for $13.99/month with no ads or background play.

Gemini is watching: Google’s Gemini AI can now watch videos you dump in Drive and give you notes like a nerdy intern who doesn’t sleep. It’ll spit out meeting takeaways or product updates, but only if the captions are on. Congrats, even your AI thinks your all-hands meeting was boring.

🚨 Don’t fall for it: Scammers are posting AI videos on TikTok promising free versions of Microsoft Office and Spotify. All you had to do? Run a short line of code. Plot twist: It installed malware that could steal your passwords and credit card info. And with no links involved, it was harder to detect.

Better iPhone videos: Head to Settings > Camera > Record Video and pick 4K at 60 fps. Then go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose High Efficiency. For better framing, go to Camera > Composition and turn on Grid and Level. Your shots will look way better.

🐾 Paw-prepared: Pet parents, the free Pet First Aid app (iOS, Android) from the American Red Cross could be a lifesaver. Get step-by-step instructions, how-to videos and images to guide you through over 25 common pet emergencies. There are even quizzes to test your know-how.

Have a YouTube channel? The algorithm might not know who to show your videos to. Give it a nudge by adding channel tags. Click your profile picture > YouTube Studio > Settings > Channel, fill in your Keywords (like “travel”) and hit Save. It’s a small step toward building your audience.

🎶 Rockin’ votes: Planning a road trip? YouTube now lets your friends add and vote on songs in shared playlists. Here’s how to create one. Then, click the three-dot menu > Collaborate > toggle on Collaborators can add songs and videos. Hit Share to send the link to your pals. No arguing over who gets to DJ.

🐶 Streaming that wags: Want dog or cat videos on a loop? If you have a Roku device (now 28% off), check out their lineup of free channels for pet and animal lovers. Sure, there are ads, but free is still free. Perfect background noise for you or your furry friend.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Cavemen love rock music: Have a teen? Know that TikTok viral videos are telling teens to do absolutely nothing to their face. No products, not even water. The idea? Let the skin barrier heal naturally. But dermatologists say it leads to acne, clogged pores and infections. Cavemen also didn’t have mirrors. Just saying. Can a joke about dinosaurs make you laugh? You bet jurassic can.

TikTok’s got a pulse: TikTok just dropped its “AI Alive” feature, which animates photos into surreal little videos with sound, motion and vibes. Your beach pic now sighs wistfully, your group selfie smiles mid-scroll. It’ll be labeled AI-generated. Here’s to hoping it can also animate my will to fold laundry.

Fake AI video generators: Hackers have a new trick: websites that promise to turn your images into videos. But once you upload a file, they send back a ZIP named something like “VideoDreamMachineAI.mp4.exe.” The twist? It’s actually malware that steals your personal info. Watch out for them in Facebook groups especially.

🔞 Sick social media trend: Awful accounts are using AI filters to make the women in overly sexual TikTok and IG gym videos look as if they have Down syndrome. They’re adding captions like “Syndrome is down but your d is up.” Why? It goes viral, and they try to redirect people to adult sites. And yes, the original clips are stolen.