Under lock and key: How to protect the photos on your iPhone

If you want to leave your iPhone on the table with peace of mind if you need to be in another room for a while, the lock screen of your phone will give you some peace of mind that no one will browse through your photos. But is that enough?

If there are friends or family members in the house who know your PIN, password or pattern, that is of course a different story. You may have just used your iPhone and it is still unlocked for a few minutes. That depends on what you have set yourself.

iPhone under lock and key

In that case, the lock screen is pretty useless and you need something else as a barrier. That’s why it’s handy that Apple has made it possible to lock and key one specific photo folder on the iPhone. This is very useful if you want to keep a certain project or hobby a secret for a while.

A locked folder ensures that your important photos and videos are always safe, wherever you are. Even if you trust your friends, it will give you the necessary peace of mind. Even if you want to show photos of a holiday on your iPhone, for example, you prevent the viewer from seeing this locked folder.

This is how you set it up

While Android users can protect not only photos but also folders with other files, on the iPhone this only works within the Photos app. To access this folder, you must use a PIN, Face ID, or Touch ID on iPhones with iOS 16 or later. As long as the snooper doesn’t have this access, you’re sitting safe.

Select a photo in the gallery on your iPhone and press the three horizontal dots in a circle at the top right of the screen. Choose here Hide. The photo will then be added to the album Hidden justly. You can find this in the tab albums at the very bottom of the list.