iOS trick: hide photos and hide "hidden" folder

For screen sharing from the home office, when you lend the iPhone to someone, when you don't want to show the family all the pictures, and so on - there are several reasons to want to hide photos on the iPhone. If you want to hide one or more pictures / videos from the Photos app, there is an option integrated in iOS to do so. In the first step you move the selected photos into the hidden folder. In the second step you can hide it as well. And here you can find the instructions for both.

Also useful: Hide home screen (s) for more clarity / privacy

Hide photos on iPhone: Here's how!

Whether memes, private photos that have nothing to do with the screen transfer, screenshots of chat processes or other images that are none of the business of those people who see your iPhone screen - you can ban this content from the general overview of the Photos app . And this can be done very quickly with the following instructions:

Procedure up to iOS 15:

1. Opens the Photos app on the Apple iPhone
2. Selects the photo overview
3. Tap on the photo / video in question (or select several photos / videos)
4. Tap on the share symbol (rectangle with an arrow pointing upwards)
5. Selects "Hide" from the parts overview (crossed-out eye as a symbol)

Procedure from iOS 16:

1. Open Photos app on iPhone
2. Select photo overview (if not already active)
3. Click on “Select” in the upper right corner
4. select the relevant photos and videos
5. Click on the circle with the three dots at the bottom right
6. Select “Hide”.

The selected content is no longer displayed in the general overview. If you want to call them up, you have to open the hidden folder in the Photos app on iOS. If you don't want others to be able to do this, follow the steps in the next section.

Instructions: Hide hidden folder on iOS

If it is not enough for you to be able to hide photos on the iPhone, but if you want to make them disappear completely (but not delete them), then you have to use the iPhone settings. There you have the option to hide the folder named above so that it no longer appears in the folder overview of the Photos app. And this is how it works:

1. Opens the settings on the Apple iPhone
2. Scroll to "Photos" and tap on this menu item
3. Now deactivates the slider for "Hidden album"

Now you can, for example, borrow the iPhone or give it to the children, colleagues, etc. to play with. Especially with people who are inexperienced with regard to iOS tricks, you can be almost sure that they will not go into the settings to make your hidden photos visible.

Hide Pictures on iPhone: Screenshot Guide

Here you can find the whole process again in the form of screenshots. These were done under iOS 14.4.2 on the iPhone 12 Pro. This should also work on other current devices with a version of iOS 14.

Johannes Domke

After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.