Many of us love to show off our snaps, but there are times when you want to keep certain pictures from others, perhaps because they’re personal or inappropriate. It’s in situations like this when the ability to hide photos on your iPhone becomes invaluable, especially if you have children who often use your phone or friends who are known to snoop.
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Here, we’ll detail how to hide your personal images on your iPhone, and recommend a couple of apps that add more security to the media you’ve decided to lock away.
Hiding photos on your iPhone using built-in features
The quickest way to hide photos on your iPhone is also the easiest, namely because it doesn’t require any additional software. The method outlined below comes directly from Apple, and 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.
Open the Photos app.
Tap the photo(s) you want to hide.
Tap the Share icon in the bottom-left corner and select Hide.
Tap Hide Photo to confirm your decision. Hidden photos will be placed in a new Album folder called Hidden.
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.
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.
Open the Photos app and go to the Albums.
Tap the Hidden folder — you may need to scroll to find it.
Select the photo you want to make visible again.
Tap the Share icon and select Unhide.
If you unhide all photos in the Hidden folder, the folder will automatically be removed.
