Are you looking for a way to hide photos from your Android gallery? These are some ways to protect your private photos.
All photos taken with your smartphone end-up in your phone’s photo gallery. Unsuspecting eyes might be able to see images that you do not want.
You might have photos of sensitive information, gift ideas or endless memes that you wish to delete from your main photo gallery. It’s simple to hide photos from your gallery, no matter what reason.
Continue reading if you are interested in learning how to hide photos from Android.
Native Tools to Hide Images
Samsung and LG are two of the most popular phone brands. They have privacy tools that allow you to hide your photos.
Samsung
Samsung’s Secure File feature is available to all Android Nougat 7.0 and above phones. You can keep your private files, images and apps in a separate password protected area.
Go to Settings > Lock screen security > Secure Folder. Sign in with your Samsung account.
Signing in will prompt your device to select your preferred lock method. After you have completed the sign-in process, you will see the Secure Folder in your app drawer.
To hide photos from the Secure Folder, open an app and tap Add Files.
LG
If you own an LG device, the process of hiding photos on Android is slightly different.
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Start by going to Settings > Fingerprints & Security > Content Lock. You will be asked to lock the feature by entering a PIN, password or scanning your fingerprint.
Go to the default gallery app on your phone. Select the photos that you wish to hide, and then tap Menu > > More > Lock. If you want, you can lock entire folders of photos.
After you tap Lock the folders and photos will disappear from your library. Navigate to Menu > Show locked files. The photos will appear again after you enter your security credentials.
Note: The Content Lock is not available for all devices.
To hide photos from the gallery, use a file manager
Don’t worry if you don’t have a Samsung or LG smartphone. There are still options, but it is a bit more complicated.
To perform certain tricks, you can use a file manager or rely on third party tools that specialize in hiding information. This functionality is also available in third party gallery apps. We will first look at two file manager hacks to hide files.
Create a new folder
You must first install a quality file manager on your smartphone before you can start. There are many file managers to choose from. If you don’t know which one to install, we have a guide for the best file mangers in the Play Store.
After you have made your decision and installed a file management app, open the app. Create a new folder that begins with a period (e.g .PrivateFiles, .Secret).
Next, copy all photos that you wish to conceal into the new folder. This method can be done in different apps, but you will get the option by long-pressing the file you wish to move.
The gallery app will not show any files that you have moved. This is because any folder that starts with a period doesn’t get scanned by software on the phone.
Make a “.nomedia.” File
It’s impossible to manually move hundreds of photos if you have a lot. It’s much easier to create a .nomedia folder in the folders that you wish to hide.
If your phone detects a .nomedia folder in your folder, it will not load its contents when scanning your directory.
A third-party file manager application is required to create the file. It will allow you to navigate to the folder that you wish to hide, and then create a new file in the directory .nomedia . You don’t need any files in the filename.
You can reverse this process by deleting the .nomedia files.
Warning: Although both of these methods hide the content from the native library of photos, the images can still be viewed in any file manager. They can be accessed by anyone, even without password protection.
Android Pictures Hided by Third-Party Apps
A third-party app can be used to hide photos if fiddling with a file manager app seems too tedious.
These are the three best:
1. Vaulty
Vaulty is the most popular app for hiding content. Over a hundred thousand users have posted positive reviews on the Google Play Store.
It also comes with a photo gallery. You can only view any photos that you have locked within the gallery. You can also create multiple vaults in the gallery so you can show different sets of photos to different people.
Your content is password protected and even backs it up so you don’t lose it.
2. Keepsafe Vault
Vaulty’s biggest competitor is Keepsafe Vault. It has a similar feature set: all of your photos are password protected and encrypted. You can also back up your photos to the cloud storage.
It also has a hidden icon feature, which means that no one will see your screen and know what you are doing.
It also has a Snapchat-esque self destruction feature that allows you to share photos that self-destruct after 20 seconds with other users.
3. Hide something
Another solid method to hide photos on Android is Hide Something. You can again hide photos using PINs or passwords. All your pictures will be backed-up on Google Drive.
There are a few unique features that the app offers. The share menu allows you to save any file or folder from your phone into the vault. The app will not appear in your list of recently used apps.
4. LockMyPix
LockMyPix employs standard-grade AES encryption technology to conceal unlimited photos and videos from your Android smartphone or tablet.
The app also has some unique features, such as the ability to create a fake vault with a separate pin, support for photos on your SD cards, encrypted backups and support for GIF files.
Android: Hide Photos Easily
We have a variety of ways to hide Android photos. Samsung and LG users can use the native tool on their phones. You will need to use a third-party app if your phone’s gallery app does not support secure folders.
