The last revolutionary decade we are living in has turned our memories into digital memories through saving every moment as a photo. Whether by saving photos on your camera storage, laptops, or mobile phones. And for the last one, the more photos you have, the more concerns you get. You probably keep a lot of pictures on your smartphone or tablet. So you need to hide your photos an your Android phone.
This is not only because your mobile phone would be hacked or stolen. But also, because of your friends and relatives who give themselves the permission to swap the mobile phone from your hand. Or open your gallery, and start exploring your photos. The problem is that your phone may contain private sessions or any type of content that you do not want to share with anyone.
However, if you are serious about preventing others from seeing your pictures when they use your phone, you’re advised to take some precautions. Fortunately, there are several ways you can employ to hide photos on Android. One involves taking advantage of the phone’s built-in private mode, while another relies on third-party private pictures app do so.
Below we will show you different methods that will help you hide photos on Android.
How to Hide Photos on Android Device?
1. Native Tools
Samsung
If you have a Samsung phone running Android Nougat 7.0 or above, you can take advantage of Samsung’s Secure Folder feature. It lets you keep private files, images, and even apps in a separate password-protected area.
To set up Secure Folder for the first time, go to Apps > Settings > Lock screen and security > Secure Folder. You will need to sign in with your Samsung account.
After signing in, your device will prompt you to choose your preferred lock method. Once complete, the Secure Folder will be accessible from your Home and Apps screen.
To hide photos in the Secure Folder, open the app and tap Add Files.
LG
The process to hide pictures on Android if you have an LG device is slightly different.
This time, start by heading to Settings > Fingerprints and Security > Content Lock. The phone will ask you to secure the feature using a PIN, password, or fingerprint scan.
Now go to your phone’s default gallery app. Select all the photos you want to hide and tap Menu > More > Lock. You can also lock entire folders of pictures if you wish.
When you’ve tapped Lock, the photos/folders will vanish from the library. To view them, navigate to Menu > Show Locked Files. Enter your security credentials, and the photos will reappear.
Note: Content Lock is not available on all devices.
2. Use a File Manager
If you don’t own a Samsung or LG phone, don’t despair. You still have options available, but the process is slightly more convoluted.
You can either use a file manager to perform some tricks or rely on third-party tools that specialize in hiding content. Let’s investigate two file manager tricks to hide files first.
Create a New Folder
Before you can begin, you need to install a high-quality file manager on your phone. There are lots to choose from; if you’re not sure which one to download, check out our guide to the best file managers in the Play Store.
Once you’ve made a decision and installed a file manager, fire up the app. You need to create a new folder that starts with a period (for example, .PrivateFiles or .Secret).
Next, move all the photos you want to hide into the newly created folder. The method for doing this varies from app to app, but typically long-pressing on the file you want to move will give you the option.
Any files you relocate will no longer show in the gallery app. Without going into too much detail, this is because any folder that begins with a period does not get scanned by the phone’s software.
Create a “.nomedia” File
If you’ve got hundreds of photos you want to hide, it’s impractical to move them all manually. Instead, it’s easier to create a .nomedia file in the folders you want to obscure.
When your phone sees a .nomedia file in a folder, it won’t load the folder’s contents when it scans your directory.
To create the file, you’ll still need a third-party file manager app. Use it to navigate to the folder you want to hide and create a new file in the directory called .nomedia (make sure you include the period). The file does not need to have any contents—the filename is the important part.
To reverse the process, just delete the .nomedia file.
Warning: While both these methods hide content from the native photo library, the images will still be visible in any file manager. They are not password-protected.
3. Use Third Party Apps
If fiddling around in a file manager app sounds too cumbersome, you can use a third-party app that specializes in hiding photos.
Here are some of the best:
Keepsafe Photo Vault
Keepsafe Vault is Vaulty’s largest competitor. This is another popular app for hiding your photos on android. The feature set is very similar. It secures your photos with a password or a fingerprint. You can also keep an encrypted backup of your photos on cloud. Keepsafe also allows you to share the pictures security from within the app.
The app also comes with a feature that hides its onscreen icon, meaning no one who picks up your phone will know you’re hiding anything.
Lastly, it has a Snapchat-esque self-destruction feature, letting you share photos that self-delete after 20 seconds with other users of the app.
Vaulty
Vaulty is another best application to hide your media on the device. With the application, you can create multiple vaults and thus can limit access of different users. It protects your photos and videos and can also take backup of your data on cloud. This app also clicks the photograph of any intruder that tries to access the information in-authentically.
Vaulty has established itself as the leading app for hiding content. Hundreds of thousands of users have left a positive review on the Google Play Store.
It comes with its own photo gallery. Any photos you lock are only viewable within it. The gallery also lets you create multiple vaults, meaning you can have different sets of photos to show to different people.
All your content is password-protected, and it even backs up your media. So it’s safe if you lose your phone.
Hide Something
Hide Something is another solid way to hide pictures on Android. Once again, you can hide photos behind PINs and passwords, and all your pictures will be backed up on Google Drive.
The app also has a couple of unique features. First, you can save any file or folder on your phone into its vault using the share menu. Second, the app won’t show up in your recently used apps list.
Gallery Lock
Gallery lock provides you user friendly interface. It is the application which supports password and pin lock. The application hides itself from the list of recent apps and also disappears from launch pad in stealth mode.
LockMyPix
LockMyPix uses standard-grade AES encryption to hide an unlimited number of photos or videos on your Android phone or tablet.
Some of the app’s other features that help it stand out include a way to create a fake decoy vault with a separate PIN, support for photos on your SD card, encrypted backups, and support for GIF files.
More Useful Tips Not to be Missed
Photographs are the most precious treasure in our lives. Although the time can’t be kept, photos can help us record every wonderful moment in our lives. Such as the people we met, the things we experienced, the scenery we have enjoyed, the delicacies we tasted, the novelties we have seen, etc. its importance is self-evident!
However, small accidents will inevitably occur in life. In addition to protecting our privacy photos from being snooped, we also need to know how to quickly retrieve these important photos from your phone if they have been lost or deleted by accident.
Well, here I recommend a powerful data recovery software for you in case of a rainy day!
iReparo for Android, a professional Android data recovery software specializing in helping users recover various kinds of deleted files. Such as contacts, messages, call logs, photos, music, videos, WhatsApp and Viber chats, etc from Android phones and tablets. It works perfectly with Samsung Huawei, HTC, LG, Google Pixel, Motorola, OnePlus and other brands of devices. No matter your photos are lost or deleted for whatever reasons, you can quickly recover deleted photos from Android phone with this freeware.
In Conclusion
We’ve walked you through an array of tricks for anyone who wants to hide photos on Android. Samsung and LG owners can probably stick with their phone’s native tool. Other users will need to turn to a third-party app.
There’s no escape from embarrassing media. We all have some pictures or videos we’re not proud of, but for some reason still want to hold on to. Luckily there’s nothing your Android phone can’t do including acting as a photo locker. And even if you don’t have a modern smartphone, there are apps out there that can provide you with this functionality. If you know a best app to hide pictures for Android, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comment section below. We’d love to know!
