Vaultumi

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

By Vaultumi. Published .

“Hide” can mean three different things: keep a photo out of the grid when someone scrolls, keep it away from other apps and devices, or keep it unreadable if someone has your phone. The method that fits depends on which one you need.

Method 1: the Hidden album in Photos

This is the built-in way and it costs nothing. Open the photo, tap the more button (the three dots), choose Hide and confirm. The photo leaves your main library view and appears in the Hidden album, which you find under Utilities in the Photos app.

Know what it is: a visibility setting inside your photo library, not a separate store. If you use iCloud Photos, the photo is still part of that library and still syncs to your other devices. Recent versions of iOS lock the Hidden album behind Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode, and Settings > Photos shows how yours is set up. That lock is tied to your device passcode, so anyone who knows the passcode can look.

It is a good fit when the goal is simply not to see a photo while scrolling, or not to have it pop up when you hand someone your phone to show them a holiday picture.

Method 2: lock the whole app

On iOS 18 and later you can press and hold an app icon and require Face ID to open that app. If you do this for Photos, nobody gets in without your face or passcode. This is a handy extra layer and it is also free.

The limit is that it protects the whole app, not individual pictures. Once Photos is open, everything is there. It also does nothing for the other places a photo can turn up: shared albums, messages you sent, or an iCloud Photos copy on another device.

Method 3: move the photos into a vault app

A vault app takes the photos out of your Photos library and keeps them in its own storage behind its own lock. That is a different thing from hiding: the pictures are no longer part of the library at all.

With Vaultumi the steps are:

  1. Create your vault and choose a 6-digit PIN. Vaultumi shows a recovery code once. Write it on paper and keep it offline. Add Face ID if you like.
  2. Pick photos and videos from your Photos library, or choose Vaultumi in the share sheet from Photos or Files (this is called Vault Drop).
  3. Each item is encrypted on your iPhone with AES-256-GCM, under its own key, and checked before Vaultumi offers to remove the original from Photos. iOS asks you to confirm.

There is no account to create and the app makes no network requests of its own. The free plan holds up to 20 items and 2 albums; Premium removes those limits. Details are on the pricing section of the home page.

The step people forget: the originals

Whichever vault you use, importing a photo does not remove it from Photos unless you also delete the original. When you do delete it, iOS moves it to Recently Deleted, where it stays for about 30 days. Copies synced through iCloud Photos or kept on another device may still exist after that.

Vaultumi does not erase those copies securely, and neither can any app that works through the Photos library. If you need every trace gone, empty Recently Deleted and check your other devices yourself.

One more detail: if you edited a photo, deleting “the original” removes the original file, so the edit is not what was imported. Look at the photo in the vault before you delete anything.

Screenshots are a related leak. iOS does not let any app block them, and a screenshot you take is saved to your Photos library, outside the vault.

Which method fits which situation

  • You just want a photo out of the grid. The Hidden album is enough.
  • You are worried about someone borrowing your phone. Lock the Photos app, and use the Hidden album for the sensitive pictures.
  • You want the photos out of the library, unsynced, behind a separate lock. Use a vault. The hidden album versus vault app guide goes through the trade-offs.
  • You want the vault to work without any account or cloud. That is how Vaultumi is built, and it is also why you carry the recovery responsibility yourself.

What none of these methods fixes

Hiding is not the same as being safe from every kind of person. A compromised or jailbroken iPhone, malware on it, someone watching you type your PIN, or someone who forces you to unlock it will defeat a vault as well as a Hidden album. Exported copies are plain files that Vaultumi no longer protects.

Vaultumi has not been independently reviewed or audited. It uses standard Apple encryption primitives, and the security page lists exactly what is and is not protected. Treat any hiding method as one sensible layer, and read how to keep private photos safe for the habits that go with it.

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