How to make a secret photo album on iPhone

People who try to make a “secret photo album” in Apple Photos almost always start by tapping the + button, creating a new album called Private, adding twenty photos to it, and then looking for two buttons that do not exist in iOS: “Remove from Recents” and “Lock this album”.

In Apple Photos, custom albums are just playlists pointing to items in your main library, deleting a photo from Recents deletes it from your custom album too, and custom albums have no lock option at all.

To actually hide an album on an iPhone, you have two real choices: Apple’s single built-⁠in Hidden collection (concealed via Settings), or an on-⁠device encrypted vault app that supports multiple locked albums.

Built-⁠in Hidden collection vs Encrypted Vault albums

How to create and conceal a secret album in Apple Photos

If nobody else knows your iPhone passcode and a single flat folder is all you need, use Apple’s built-⁠in Hidden album and turn off its menu entry (Apple Support 104987):

1. Open the Photos app, select the photos and videos you want out of your main camera roll, tap the three-⁠dot More button, tap Hide, and confirm Hide Photos.
2. Open Settings on your iPhone, scroll down and tap Apps, then tap Photos.
3. Make sure Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID) is switched on.
4. Switch Show Hidden Album off so the Hidden album row disappears from Utilities inside the Photos app until you switch it back on in Settings.

Four mistakes that give away a “secret album” on iPhone

Even when you turn off Show Hidden Album, watch out for the four ways people accidentally leave their photos exposed:

1. Someone knows your iPhone passcode: the setting Show Hidden Album sits inside Settings > Apps > Photos without a password prompt, and the Hidden album itself accepts your regular 6-⁠digit iPhone passcode whenever Face ID fails (iPhone User Guide).
2. Leaving originals in Recently Deleted: if you import photos into a separate vault app, delete the originals from Apple Photos, and stop there, those deleted photos remain inside Photos > Utilities > Recently Deleted for 30 days. Always empty Recently Deleted immediately.
3. Syncing to a shared iPad or Mac: with iCloud Photos enabled, every photo in your iPhone’s Hidden album is also copied into the Hidden album on any iPad or Mac signed in to your Apple Account.
4. Apps granted Full Photo Access: third-⁠party apps that have Full Access in Settings > Privacy & Security > Photos can query hidden assets through Apple’s PHFetchOptions.includeHiddenAssets API.

How to organise multiple encrypted secret albums

When you want separate albums for ID scans, medical records, receipts and private travel photos, locked behind a secret that your iPhone passcode cannot bypass, move those photos out of Apple Photos into an on-⁠device encrypted vault app:

• Create named albums inside the vault so documents and personal photos are not jumbled together in one chronological stream.
• Confirm the prompt to Remove from Photos during import, then clear Recently Deleted inside Apple Photos.
• If someone ever asks you to open the vault app in front of them, set up a second guest pattern that opens a separate guest vault containing only harmless everyday albums.