How to hide photos on iPhone — and what “hidden” really means.

Option 1 — Apple’s Hidden album

In Photos, select a picture → ⋯ → Hide. It moves to Utilities → Hidden, which asks for Face ID since iOS 16.

Stops: someone scrolling your camera roll for ten seconds.
Does not stop: anyone who knows the album exists (everyone does), anyone with your passcode, iCloud Photos sync showing the same album on your Mac and iPad, and the “Hidden” label itself, which announces there is something to find.

The files are not encrypted separately. They are ordinary photos with a flag.

Option 2 — A locked Note

Paste a photo into Notes and lock the note. Better than the Hidden album because the content is genuinely behind a lock — but Notes is not a photo app: no grid, no video scrubbing, no albums, and large videos are painful.

Option 3 — An encrypted vault app

A vault imports the photo into its own storage, encrypts the file itself, and (optionally) removes the original from Photos. The difference that matters is encrypted file vs locked door: a locked door protects the app; an encrypted file protects the data even if someone gets at it another way — a backup, a cable, a stolen phone.

Questions to ask any vault before you trust it:

• Does it need an email or account? If yes, you have just told a company who you are before hiding anything.
• Is the file encrypted, or just the app locked? Look for AES-256 and a key derived from your password, not a server-held key.
• What happens if you stop paying? Some vaults lock you out of your own photos after a trial ends.
• What does the privacy label say? “Usage data” in a privacy app is a contradiction.
• Can you get everything out? A full export, free, is the difference between a vault and a hostage situation.

Hiding from someone who can make you unlock the phone

Face ID and passcodes fail against a person, not a thief. For that case Hushfold has a decoy vault (a second PIN opens a different, real vault) and optional disguise screens, so the app you open under pressure shows nothing worth demanding. Both are off by default and documented in the App Store listing.

Step by step: hiding a photo with Hushfold

1. Install, set a master password (12+ characters) and, if you like, a 6-digit PIN and Face ID.
2. Tap + → Photos, pick the pictures, tap Add. They are encrypted as they arrive.
3. When asked, turn on Remove originals. iOS moves them to Recently Deleted; empty it if you want them gone now.
4. Optional: Settings → Backup & restore → iCloud backup, so losing the phone does not mean losing the vault.

Measured on a clean install, the first photo is encrypted 14.4 seconds after first launch.