How to Hide and Unhide Photos and Videos on iPhone

We all have some private and memorable photos and videos on our smartphones that we don’t want anyone to access. There are 2 primary ways to keep your content secure and safe;

1. Upload your Photos and Videos to the Cloud and delete them from your smartphones. There are many cloud Storage that you can use, e.g. Google Photos, OneDrive etc.. However, you will have to lock the Cloud app with Password or Remove them from Smartphone, else it will be a dumb idea.
2.  Hide Photos and Videos from Smartphone or protect them with Passcode.

In this article, we will discuss how you can hide selected photos and videos on your iPhone to keep them private and secure. You can hide photos and videos without any third party application, but that’s not very safe. However, we will learn both the methods.

How to hide Photos and Videos on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Method 1 : without any third party application

• Launch Photos application on iPhone.
• Tap on Select option, and select those photos and videos you want to hide.
• Tap on arrow icon (sharing option), hit Hide option, and then confirm it when prompted.

Note : Photos and Videos will be hidden from Moments, Collections and Years, but they will still be visible in Albums. That’s the reason we said it’s not safe.

How to Unhide Hidden Photos and Videos

• Launch Photos app on your device.
• Tap on Album option.
• Tap on Hidden option. Like other album names, you will also find an album named as Hidden.
• Select those photos you want to unhide.
• Tap on arrow icon (sharing option), and then tap Unhide option.

Method 2 : with third party free apps

1. Private Photo Vault – Keep Pictures+Videos Safe

• Get this free app from the App Store.
• Launch the app and set a Passcode. You will get the option to type a recovery email address in case you forget the password, but that’s optional.
• Now select Import option to add import photos and videos to this app, and tap on Photo Library option.
• Tap iTunes Album option, and then select the Photos and videos you want to hide, and then tap Done.

• Now you will see a prompt if you want to delete imported photos and videos from Photos app. You can choose to delete from the given option or do it manually going to Photos app. Make sure you also delete them from Recently Deleted album on your iPhone.
• You can view all the imported Photos and Videos under Private Photo Vault app –> Albums –> iTunes Album.

Note : You can switch from Password to Touch ID. Go to its Settings –> Passcode Settings –> Enable Touch ID.

How to Unhide or Restore Photos and Videos

• Launch Private Photo Vault app.
• Select Albums option, and then tap iTunes Album.
• Tap on Edit option (located on the top right corner).
• Select those photos you want to unhide or restore.
• Tap Export option, and select Camera Roll.

2. Calculator+ To Hide Photos

• Download this free app to your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
• Launch the app, and type a new Passcode for the app. Press % symbol, and type the same password again to confirm. Please note that % symbol works as OK button.
• Tap on + sign to create a new folder, give a name to the folder and press OK.
• Tap on Folder you have just created. Allow Calculator+ app to access Photos when you see the prompt on the screen.
• Tap on Down Arrow icon, then tap From Local Album option.

• Select one or multiple photos you want to hide, and then tap on Down Arrow icon.

• All the selected photos will be imported to this application. Now you can delete these imported photos from Stock Photos app, and also delete them from Recently Deleted folder (located under Photos App –> Album –> Recently Deleted).
• Whenever you need to use of view those photos, you will have to open Calculator+ application, enter the passcode, and then you can view. These locked Photos can also be shared on social media, assign to a contact etc..

How to unhide Hidden Photos or Restore them?

• Launch Calculator+ app.
• Type Passcode, and tap % symbol.
• Tap on the folder where you have put all the photos.
• Tap on Up Arrow icon and select Export to mail option, and then select those photos you want to unhide or restore.
• Now tap on Up Arrow again, and then hit OK option. Selected images will be saved to Stock Photos app.