If you want to hide photos and videos on your phone, you install an application and then you set a password for it, and if somebody uninstalls that app, your hidden data will automatically come out. But what if you can hide them more safely in the app that already exists on your phone? It is possible, by using the features of Google Photos. No matter which smartphone you have, the Google photos app is commonly available on every smartphone.
Hide your photos and videos by setting up a Locked Folder
With the help of a Locked Folder, you can hide sensitive content like videos and photos in Google Photos. This folder will allow you to set a password. And without a password, no one can access those videos and photos. The data will not appear in search of Google Photos, as well as not anywhere on your device. Also, it cannot be transferred through a USB-to-USB data transfer. However, your data can be taken out of the folder or can be deleted permanently. But, if you format your phone, Google cannot retrieve your data from this folder.
They introduced this feature in 2021. Formerly, it was only accessible to Google Pixel phones. But, at the end of October 2021, they announced to roll it out for Android users. Soon, this feature would be available for iOS users too.
Currently, this feature can be accessible for Google Pixel phones, from Google Pixel 3 onwards. And soon old Google Pixel phones and Android users, with OS Android 6 onwards, can use this feature. But, for using this feature, you must have an updated version of Google Photos on your device.
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So, let’s see the steps of setting up a locked folder.
Step 1: Open the latest version of Google Photos.
Step 2: Go to Library, then select Utilities
Step 3: Click on Set up Locked Folder
Step 4: Set a strong Password
You can set a pattern, alphanumeric, fingerprint or PIN as a password to set up a Locked Folder.
Step 5: Now, select photos and videos from your gallery and add them to your Locked Folder.
After setting up, you can move any video or photo from your gallery by just tapping on the Move items option. It will show you all the content available on your device so that you can choose and move desired items to Locked Folder.
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Move your photos and videos to archive
Another way of hiding your photos and videos in Google Photos is to move them to the archive. Although there will be no password, still it is quite helpful. It is one of the easiest ways to hide photos and videos from the Google Photos view. And the best thing, it is available on the web version of Google Photos and also accessible to Android and iOS users.
Archive photos and videos in Google Photos on Android and iOS
Open a photo or video that you want to hide. Click on the three dots that are in the top right corner or just swipe up. There you’ll see “Archive” or “Move to Archive“, select it. Press the back button and your photo or video will disappear from the Google Photos’ view. You can access them by directly going to the archive folder.
Archive in Google Photos web version
Open Google Photos on your computer. And then, click on the photo or video you want to hide. Now, click on the three-dot icon to open up the options. Then, select archive. You can also use keyboard shortcuts in Google Photos and for archiving any photo or video, by just pressing Shift+A.
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