How to Hide Photos on iPhone (2026): Hidden Album vs a Real Vault

There are four realistic ways to hide a photo on an iPhone. They range from “out of sight” to “encrypted behind a lock nobody else has”, and the right one depends on who you are hiding it from. This guide walks through each, in order of how much protection it gives you.

Method 1: The built-in Hidden Album

This is the one Apple built in, and it is the right starting point for photos that are merely clutter.

1. Open Photos and tap Select.
2. Tap the photos or videos you want to hide.
3. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow), scroll the sheet and tap Hide.
4. Confirm. The items disappear from your main library, search, Memories and widgets.
5. Check Settings → Photos and make sure Use Face ID is on. In iOS 18 it is on by default; in iOS 16 and 17 it is worth checking.

Hidden photos live in Albums → Utilities → Hidden. In iOS 18 Utilities sits near the bottom of the Collections view rather than in a separate Albums tab.

What this protects against: someone scrolling your camera roll. The Face ID lock also stops them opening the album if they do not have your face or your passcode.

What it does not protect against:

• Your passcode. Face ID falls back to the device passcode, and the Face ID toggle itself can be switched off by anyone who knows it. There is no second lock.
• iCloud. Hidden is a flag on the photo, not a separate container. With iCloud Photos on, hidden photos sync to your iPad, your Mac and iCloud.com — including a family iPad signed into your Apple ID.
• A cable. Connect the phone to a Mac, open Image Capture or Finder’s device view, and the library is listed as plain image files, hidden ones included.
• Recently Deleted. If you later delete a hidden photo, it sits in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days, where it is visible again (behind the same Face ID prompt).

Method 2: Lock photos inside a Note

The Notes app can lock a note with a password or your device passcode, and locked notes are end-to-end encrypted. Attach photos to a note, lock it, then delete the photos from your library.

1. Create a note and tap the camera icon to add photos from your library.
2. Tap the three-dot menu and choose Lock.
3. Delete the originals from Photos and from Recently Deleted.

Protects against: casual scrolling and, if you set a separate note password rather than using the device passcode, someone who knows your passcode.

Falls short on: convenience and scale. Notes are not a photo browser, the note title stays visible in the list, and if you chose “use device passcode” the lock is no stronger than Method 1.

Method 3: Lock the Photos app with Face ID (iOS 18)

iOS 18 lets you require Face ID for any app: long-press the app icon and choose Require Face ID. You can also choose Hide and Require Face ID, which moves the app into a hidden folder in the App Library.

Protects against: someone opening Photos on your unlocked phone.

Falls short on: the same passcode fallback as Method 1, and it does nothing about iCloud sync or the cable. It locks the door to the app; the photos behind it are unchanged.

Method 4: Move photos into a vault app

A vault app takes photos out of the Photos library entirely. TuckVault copies the photos you choose into the vault, encrypts them on the device with AES encryption and opens only with a PIN or pattern that is separate from your phone passcode. Once you delete the originals, the only copy is the encrypted one.

1. Install TuckVault and open the vault. Set a PIN or pattern that is not your phone passcode.
2. Tap Add and select the photos to protect. Import them.
3. Delete the originals from Photos, then open Albums → Utilities → Recently Deleted and delete them there too.
4. If iCloud Photos is on, open iCloud.com → Photos → Recently Deleted and clear it as well, in case the originals uploaded before you deleted them.
5. Lock the vault.

Protects against: casual scrolling, someone who knows your passcode, iCloud Photos sync, and the Finder/Image Capture list, because the files are not in the library and are not stored as readable images.

Falls short on: anything that happens while the vault is open and the phone is in someone else’s hands, and a PIN or pattern you have shared or written on the back of the phone. TuckVault also does not currently back the vault up to the cloud, so keep an off-phone copy of anything irreplaceable somewhere equally private.

Which method should you use?

A reasonable setup for most people: use the Hidden Album for harmless clutter you want out of the grid, and TuckVault for the photos that would actually matter — IDs, medical images, intimate photos, screenshots of private conversations.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the originals behind. Importing into a vault copies the photo; the original is still in Photos until you delete it, and still in Recently Deleted for 30 days after that.
• Reusing your phone passcode as the vault PIN. Anyone who knows one then knows both. Choose something unrelated.
• Forgetting iCloud. If the photo uploaded before you deleted it, clear Recently Deleted at iCloud.com too.
• Assuming hidden means encrypted. It does not. Hidden photos are ordinary files with a flag on them.

For the Android version of this guide, see how to hide photos on Android. If you are deciding between the built-in album and a vault, Hidden Album vs photo vault goes deeper.