How to hide photos on Android

On an Android device, almost all the photos and videos you capture or receive via messaging apps like WhatsApp are stored in Google Photos. It is the complete organizer of all your photos, as you can create collages, albums, edit media files and share them with your contacts. As a guarantor of our privacy, Google earlier this year launched the locked folder to hide Android photos in one place in Google Photos. While this feature is only available on Google Pixel 3 and later devices, the company plans to roll it out for all Android phones and tablets in some time. Until then, you can keep using the best apps to hide photos on Android.

The 3 best apps to hide Android photos

Read also: Trim video on iPhone, Android and PC

1. File Hide Expert does what the name says, hides files on Android. It works very easily, you just have to launch it and click on the folder icon in the upper right corner to start hiding the photos or files. You can hide photos, videos, music or any other files from the gallery. After you’re done hiding items, you can set a password to temporarily re-enable them. This is a free ad supported app, there is a paid version that removes the ads and adds 12 new languages.

2. Keepsafe is a great choice for hiding Android photos, especially those photos or videos that we want to keep just for us. The app works as a virtual vault where you can store the images on a private cloud, these images are hidden from your phone but you can watch them anytime and anywhere if you have the app. You just need to create an account (or if you already have one, log in) and you can start uploading photos and videos. The basic plan is free but, for € 4.99 you can get access to premium options, such as a cloud storage limit of 5000 items, no ads and space saving features, as well as a secret door feature (disguising itself as a ‘ other app) and a fake pin.

3. Nova Launcher. The latest apps are great, not only do they get the job done, but they do it great too, but there is something missing for both of them, and that is app cover-up. For those who want to hide android apps, there is Nova Launcher. The eternal king of third-party Android launchers, Nova Launcher brings to the table the function of hiding apps through a very simple process, just go to the launcher, in its settings there is the option to hide apps, select the app you just want to hide! As a bonus, Nova Launcher gives you the ability to get rid (at least visually) of applications you don’t need, such as those installed by your carrier, making your App Drawer leaner and easier to navigate.

Read also: Block an Android phone number

How to hide photos on Android without app?

Have you ever used Ubuntu? Android and Ubuntu are distant relatives (Android is Linux based and Ubuntu is Debian based, which is Linux based) being from the same family is advantageous in this case, as they share how files and folders can be hidden, just rename a folder or file with a ” . “First of all, eg. “.Images”. This is really useful, as it can be used to hide anything and to see these hidden files and folders you just have to go to your file manager and select “Show hidden files“, But be careful, as there are some important files for your system, so remember what you named your files and folders and don’t touch the others. If you want to be more sneaky, you can rename any file or folder to what should be a system folder, for example “.siminfo” (it doesn’t exist, that’s why it’s safe). Using this way you can hide photos on android without app.

Use Guest mode

This option only works if your phone has Android 5.0 or later and it works for our photos, videos, text messages and contacts. This feature was created for the kind of nosy people you don’t want them to put their eyes on your gallery, and it makes sense to use this technique, as it’s somewhat suspicious to have an Android photo hiding app installed on your phone.

Then choose guest mode. Once activated, you can lend your phone without fear. All your photos and videos, your text messages but also your contacts are then hidden from curious eyes. Getting started is quite simple, just bring up the notification bar and click on the little blue man in the top right. To return to normal mode, all you have to do is select your account. Note that this option is not available on all smartphones, some LG or Samsung models do not have this feature enabled, even if they have 5.0+.