How to hide photos on Samsung: Private album, Secure Folder and more

To hide photos on a Samsung Galaxy phone, open Gallery, select the photos, tap More and choose Move to private album (One UI 8.5) or Move to Secure Folder. If you only want an album out of view, Gallery can also hide whole albums, but that is the weakest option.

Here are all three, with steps, from the weakest to the strongest.

1. Hide an album in Gallery

This takes an album out of the Gallery view. Samsung’s steps (Samsung Australia):

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Tap Albums, then View all.
3. Tap the three-dot menu, then Hide albums.
4. Turn on the albums you want to hide. Turn them off again to unhide them.

Menu names can differ slightly between models and software versions.

What it protects against: someone scrolling through your Gallery.

What it does not: there is no lock, and anyone can unhide the album in the same menu. Samsung itself suggests Secure Folder if you want to remove photos from Gallery completely. As we explain in our guide to hiding photos on Android, hidden albums are still ordinary files on the phone.

2. Move photos to the Private album (One UI 8.5)

Private album is a locked album inside Gallery. Samsung says it is available on select Galaxy devices with One UI 8.5 (Samsung India).

To set it up:

1. Open Gallery and tap the Menu button.
2. Tap Private album and follow the steps on screen.
3. If your phone has no screen lock, you will be asked to set one up.

To move photos into it (Samsung US):

1. Open Gallery and select the photos or videos.
2. Tap More (three vertical dots), then Move to private album.
3. Tap Move.

To open it: in Gallery, tap Menu, then Private Album, and unlock it.

What it protects against: Samsung says moved photos are hidden from the main gallery and from any apps that access your media. Screenshots are blocked inside it (Samsung India).

What it does not: it opens with your fingerprint or your phone’s screen lock. Anyone who knows your screen lock, or who you have unlocked the phone for, can open it. Samsung’s help pages do not say whether the photos in it are encrypted separately. It is also bare-bones: you can share, move out or delete files, and they are sorted only by date (SamMobile).

3. Move photos to Secure Folder

Secure Folder is a separate private space protected by Samsung Knox, which Samsung says encrypts all data stored there (Samsung UK). It has its own PIN, password or pattern, so your screen lock alone does not open it.

To set it up (Samsung US):

1. Go to Settings > Security and privacy > More security settings > Secure Folder.
2. Tap Continue and sign in to your Samsung account if asked.
3. Choose a PIN, password or pattern. You can also turn on fingerprint unlock on supported phones.
4. When asked, consider turning on Reset with Samsung account. Without it, Samsung says you cannot get into Secure Folder if you forget the lock.

To move photos into it (Samsung UAE):

1. Open Gallery and long press a photo or video.
2. Select any others you want to move.
3. Tap More (three dots), then Move to Secure Folder.
4. To see them, open the Secure Folder app and its Gallery.

Only files saved on the phone or SD card can be moved. Files in your cloud account cannot (Samsung US).

To hide Secure Folder itself: swipe down with two fingers to open Quick Settings and tap Secure Folder. You can also change its name and icon.

What it does not: Samsung says backing up Secure Folder is no longer supported. You can still restore older backups and use Smart Switch to move to a new device. And it only exists on Samsung phones; Samsung notes some older models no longer support it (Samsung UK).

Comparison

Feature	Hide album	Private album	Secure Folder
Needs	Samsung Gallery	One UI 8.5, select devices	Samsung Galaxy phone
Lock	None	Your screen lock or fingerprint	Its own PIN, password or pattern
Hidden from other apps	Not stated by Samsung	Yes, per Samsung	Yes, separate space
Encrypted by Samsung	Not stated	Not stated	Yes, by Knox
Backup of the hidden photos	Not stated	Not stated	No longer supported

Which one to use

• To tidy your Gallery, hiding an album is enough.
• To keep photos away from someone who borrows your phone but does not know your screen lock, Private album is the quickest.
• To keep photos away from someone who knows your screen lock, use Secure Folder, or a vault with its own lock.

If you want the same protection on a phone that is not a Samsung, or a backup that Secure Folder no longer offers, see our Secure Folder alternatives. One of them is Lockspeare, which encrypts each photo, has its own PIN or pattern and a decoy vault, and can back up to your own Google Drive, encrypted.

After you hide them: two copies to check

The Trash. If you delete the originals yourself after copying them somewhere private, they can wait in Gallery’s Trash. To empty it, Samsung’s steps are Menu > Trash > More options > Empty > Delete (Samsung US). More in why deleted photos may still be on your phone.

The cloud. Samsung Gallery can sync chosen albums with OneDrive, and photos can also be backed up to Google (Samsung US). Hiding a photo on your phone may not remove a copy that was already uploaded, so check those accounts too.