How to hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

If you’re anything like us, you love showing off photos you’ve taken with your phone, but there are times when you’ll want to keep certain pictures away from others, because they’re personal or, well, inappropriate. It’s situations like these when the ability to hide photos on your phone becomes invaluable, especially if you have children or friends who use your device often. We’ll detail how to hide your personal images on your iPhone below and even suggest a few apps for some added security. If you’re looking for more helpful iOS tips, we’ve got a guide for that.

HIDING PHOTOS ON YOUR IPHONE USING

BUILT-IN FEATURES

The quickest way to hide photos on your iPhone is also the easiest, as it doesn’t require any additional software. This method works with the iPad and iPod Touch as well. Keep in mind, however, that this only keeps photos from appearing in the Moments, Years, and Collections views. Hidden photos will still be visible when browsing your Albums. If you’re using iCloud Photo Library, any photos hidden on your iPhone will also be hidden on other devices, including the iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, and iCloud.com.

Step 1. Open the Photos app.

Step 2. Next, tap Selectin the upper right corner of your screen and choose which photo(s) you’d like to hide. You can also do this for each photo manually when you are looking at a preview of a single photo.

Step 3. Tap the Share icon in the bottom left corner. On the bottom of the resulting menu, press the Hide button, which looks like two rectangles overlapping slightly with a line through them.

Step 4. Finally, tap Hide Photo to confirm your decision. Hidden photos will be placed in a new Album folder called Hidden.

UNHIDING PHOTOS ON YOUR IPHONE USING BUILT-IN FEATURES

Making photos visible again is just as easy as hiding them, and can be done directly on your iPhone. Doing so also affects your iCloud Photo Library.

Step 1. Open the Photos app and go to Albums.

Step 2. Tap the Hidden folder — depending on how many albums you’ve created, you may need to scroll to find it.

Step 3. Select the photo(s) you want to make visible the same way as before.

Step 4. Tap the Shareicon and select Unhide, which will have replaced the Hide button and looks very similar, but the line is now behind the two rectangles. If you unhide all of the photos in the Hidden folder, the folder will be automatically removed. Hiding photos again will make it reappear.