How to Hide Photos on iPhone (Really Hidden) in 2026

To hide photos on iPhone, open the Photos app, touch and hold a photo, tap Hide, and confirm. The photo leaves your main library and moves to the Hidden album, which on iOS 16 and later is locked behind Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. That keeps photos out of casual view, but it does not protect them from anyone who knows your phone passcode.

This guide covers the built-in method step by step for iOS 18 and iOS 26, how to make the Hidden album itself disappear, and what to do if you need photos that stay private even when someone else has your phone unlocked.

How to hide photos with the Hidden album

The steps are the same on iOS 18 and iOS 26.

Hide a single photo or video

1. Open Photos.
2. Touch and hold the photo or video you want to hide.
3. Tap Hide.
4. Confirm by tapping Hide Photo (or Hide Video).

If you already have the photo open full screen, tap the More button (the three dots) and choose Hide instead.

Hide several photos at once

1. In Photos, tap Select at the top of the grid.
2. Tap each photo you want to hide.
3. Tap the More button (three dots) at the bottom right.
4. Tap Hide, then confirm.

Hidden items no longer appear in your library grid, in Memories, in Featured Photos, or in the Photos widget. They are still on the device and still part of your library.

Where to find the Hidden album

• iOS 26: open Photos, tap Collections, scroll down to Utilities, and tap Hidden.
• iOS 18: open Photos and scroll down past your collections to Utilities, then tap Hidden.

Tap View Album and authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. To unhide a photo, touch and hold it inside the album and tap Unhide.

Make the Hidden album itself disappear

By default, the Hidden album is listed under Utilities, which tells anyone looking that you have hidden something. You can remove it from view:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps, then Photos.
3. Turn off Show Hidden Album.

The photos stay hidden; the album just isn't listed anymore. To get back to them, turn the toggle on again. On iOS 17 and earlier, the setting is at Settings > Photos without the Apps step.

While you are in that screen, check that Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID / Use Passcode) is turned on. That is the setting that requires authentication to open the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums. We cover it in detail in how to lock the Hidden album on iPhone.

What the Hidden album does not protect against

The Hidden album is a privacy screen, not a safe. It is useful, and for many people it is enough. But it is worth being clear about what it is.

It uses the same lock as your phone. The Hidden album opens with the same Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode that unlocks the iPhone. If your partner, a family member, or someone at a repair counter knows your passcode, they can open the Hidden album in a few seconds.

It is not separately encrypted. Your iPhone does encrypt its storage, and that encryption is strong. But hidden photos are protected by the same keys as every other photo. There is no second secret that only applies to them. We explain the difference in is the iPhone Hidden album secure?

It syncs. With iCloud Photos turned on, hidden photos upload to iCloud and appear in the Hidden album on your iPad and Mac too. Unless you have Advanced Data Protection enabled, Apple holds the keys to your iCloud Photos. More on that in how to hide photos from iCloud.

It is easy to find. The Hidden album is a well-known feature. Anyone curious about what you keep private knows exactly where to look, and the Show Hidden Album setting is one toggle away.

Photos still carry metadata. Hiding a photo doesn't remove its location or the date it was taken. If you later share it, that data can go with it.

For a vacation photo you'd rather not have pop up in Memories, none of this matters much. For ID scans, medical photos, work documents, or anything you would not want someone with your passcode to see, it does.

A stronger option: move photos into an encrypted vault

If you need photos that stay private even when someone has your phone unlocked, the photos have to leave the Photos app and be encrypted with a secret that is separate from your phone passcode.

That is what sigil. does. It is an iOS vault built around three ideas:

• A separate key. Each vault is encrypted with a 256-bit key that only the sign you draw on a 5×5 grid can unlock. Your phone passcode doesn't open it. See how pattern encryption works.
• No visible list of vaults. You can create several hidden vaults, each opened by its own sign. Nothing in the app shows how many exist.
• No account, no server. Files are encrypted on the device. There is no login and nothing for us to hand over, because we never receive your photos.

How to move photos from the Hidden album into sigil.

1. Install sigil. and draw the sign for your first vault. Write down the 12-word recovery phrase it shows you and keep it somewhere safe and offline.
2. Inside the vault, tap import and select the photos from your library, including the Hidden album.
3. sigil. encrypts the copies and strips location and other EXIF metadata on import.
4. Go back to Photos and delete the originals, then empty Recently Deleted. Until you do this, the unencrypted originals are still in your library and in iCloud.

For new photos, use the app's private camera, so the picture never touches the Camera Roll in the first place.

Other ways people hide photos (and their trade-offs)

• Locked notes. You can add photos to a note and lock it with a separate Notes password. It works, but the photos are awkward to browse and the setup is easy to get wrong. See how to lock notes on iPhone.
• Hiding the Photos app. iOS 18 lets you lock or hide many apps, but Photos is built in and can't be moved to the Hidden folder. See how to hide apps on iPhone.
• Calculator vault apps. Many are a PIN screen in front of files that are not meaningfully encrypted. Read are calculator vault apps safe? before trusting one.

Quick checklist

• Hide casual photos with Hide in Photos.
• Turn off Show Hidden Album and turn on Use Face ID in Settings > Apps > Photos.
• Remember the Hidden album opens with your phone passcode, so don't rely on it for sensitive material if others know that passcode.
• For sensitive photos, use an encrypted vault with a separate secret, and delete the originals from Photos and Recently Deleted.
• Strip location data before sharing with the EXIF remover.

If the reason you're hiding photos is a specific situation, such as lending your phone or a repair shop visit, those pages cover the extra steps worth taking.