Daily TipsiPadiPhone

How to hide photos on your iPhone and iPad

With Photos on an iPhone and iPad, you can control which photos and videos are visible and what’s hidden.

When you hide photos and videos, they move to the Hidden album, so they don’t appear in your Library, in other albums, or in the Photos widget on your Home Screen. With iOS and iPadOS 14/15, you can turn off the Hidden album, so the photos are completely hidden. You can unhide photos and videos and turn the Hidden album back on whenever you want.

How to hide photos:

° Open Photos.

° Select the photo or video that you want to hide.

° Tap the Share button, then tap Hide.

° Confirm that you want to hide the photo or video.

How to unhide photos:

On an iPhone:

° Open Photos and tap the Albums tab.

° Scroll down and tap Hidden under Utilities.

° Tap the photo or video that you want to unhide.

° Tap the Share button, then tap Unhide.

On an iPad:

° Open Photos. If the sidebar is hidden, tap the sidebar icon in the upper-left corner.

° Scroll down until you see Hidden under Utilities.

° Tap the photo or video that you want to unhide.

° Tap the Share button, then tap Unhide.

How to find the Hidden album

On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the Hidden album is on by default, but you can turn it off. When you turn off the Hidden album, any photos or videos that you’ve hidden won’t be visible in the Photos app. To find the Hidden album:

° Open Photos and tap the Albums tab.

° Scroll down and look for the Hidden album under Utilities. If you’re on an iPad, you might need to tap the sidebar icon in the upper-left corner, then scroll down until you see the Hidden album under Utilities.

To turn off the Hidden album:

° Go to Settings and tap Photos. 

° Scroll down and turn off Hidden Album.

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(This how-to is based on my experiences and info on Apple’s support pages — where the images sometimes come from.)

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.