Hide your sensitive photos and videos

You can save sensitive photos and videos to a folder protected by your device screen lock in the Google Photos app. Items in locked folder won’t appear in the Photos grid, memories, search or albums and won’t be available to other apps on your device that have access to your photos and videos. 

Locked Folder is protected by Google Photos' standard encryption practices. Learn how Google Photos keeps your data private and secure.

Set up a locked folder

The first time that you try to move photos and videos to Locked Folder, you'll be prompted to set it up.

Important:

• Locked Folder is available on iOS versions 15 and later.
• People who have access to the Face ID®, Touch ID® or device passcode can unlock Locked Folder.
• You can also choose to turn on backup for Locked Folder at this time.
• If you don't have a Face ID®, Touch ID® or passcode set up for your device, you'll need to set one up to use Locked Folder. Learn how to set or change a passcode on your iOS device.
• Your Locked Folder password is the same as your Face ID®, Touch ID® or device passcode.
  • You can't use a different Locked Folder password.

1. Open the Google Photos app .
2. At the bottom, tap Collections.
3. At the bottom, tap Locked.
4. Select Set up Locked Folder.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to unlock your device. If your folder is empty, you'll find 'Nothing here yet'.

Back up your Locked Folder

You can turn on automatic backup for your Locked Folder.

When you turn on backup for Locked Folder, you can access your Locked Folder from other devices when you're signed in with your Google Account.

Important:

• To automatically back up your Locked Folder, you must first turn on backup in Google Photos for the rest of your photos and videos. Turn on backup.
• You can keep backup for Locked Folder off but still manually back up items in Locked Folder.
• Items in Locked Folder that you don't back up will only be stored on that device. You can't see these items from other devices that you're signed in to with Locked Folder.
• You'll lose Locked Folder items that you haven't backed up if:
  • You uninstall the Google Photos app
  • Your device is damaged or lost

Turn backup on and off for Locked Folder

1. Open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in to your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your Profile picture or Initial.
4. Tap the Google Photos settings Backup Back up Locked Folder.
5. Open Locked Folder.
6. Use your Face ID®, Touch ID® or device passcode when prompted.
7. Turn Back up Locked Folder on or off.

Tip: Learn more about the benefits of backup.

Manually back up your Locked Folder

You can choose to manually back up individual photos and videos in your Locked Folder.

1. Open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in to your Google Account.
3. At the bottom, tap Collections.
4. At the bottom, tap Locked.
5. Use your Face ID®, Touch ID® or device passcode when prompted.
6. Select the photos or videos that you want to back up with a long press.
7. At the top, tap Backup .

Move photos or videos to locked folder

Important:

• Google Photos backups of these items will be deleted if backup for Locked Folder is not turned on.
• When you move photos and videos to Locked Folder, related items aren't moved. This includes copies, edited versions, and shared photos and videos saved by others.

1. From the Photos app, tap Photos.
2. Select the photos and videos that you want in Locked Folder.
3. At the top, tap More Move to Locked Folder.
4. Tap Move.

Tip: To move photos and videos from Bin to locked folder, first restore the content from Bin.

Learn more about locked folder

The difference between Locked Folder and Archive

Locked Folder keeps items hidden and protected by your device screen lock or Google Account password. Archived items can still be accessible.

Locked Folder items won't show up when you search in Google Photos, while archived items will show up.

What you can do with items in your Locked Folder

You can:

• Move them out of Locked Folder
• Permanently delete them
• Find them within Locked Folder after unlocking it

What you can't do with items in Locked Folder

To prevent accidental exposure of your sensitive photos and videos, you can't do the following with your Locked Folder content:

• Add items to an album or photo book
• Edit items or revert changes made before an item was moved to Locked Folder
• Share items in Google Photos or with other apps like Instagram or Facebook
• Move items to the bin
• View photos or videos that your device can't display in original format or resolution

Important:

• If backup is off, Locked Folder items that are saved locally to your device aren't transferred in USB to USB device transfers or cloud data transfers.
• If backup is off, Locked Folder items are deleted if you:
  • Factory reset your device
  • Clear app data
  • Delete the Photos app
• To keep your Locked Folder items, turn on Locked Folder backup or individually back up items in your Locked Folder.

How Locked Folder items count towards your storage quota

Locked Folder items that are backed up do count towards your storage quota. Learn more about how storage works.

Where you can access items in Locked Folder

To find items that you've moved to Locked Folder:

• On your computer: Click Locked Folder.
• On your mobile device:
  1. At the bottom, tap Collections.
  2. At the bottom, tap Locked.

Where you can't access items in Locked Folder

To keep your sensitive photos and videos private, items in Locked Folder:

• Won't appear in search results, albums, shared items or any new memories.
• Are removed from existing memories and draft print orders.
• Aren't available to share through third-party apps.

Important: Your sensitive photos and videos won’t be shown on Google smart displays, such as Nest Hub or via Chromecast, although it may take up to an hour for items to disappear.

Why you may find copies of Locked Folder items in other areas of Photos

When you move a photo or video to Locked Folder, only the original item gets moved from wherever it appears in Google Photos. After an item is moved to Locked Folder, any new copies or copies that you created or edited previously stay where they are stored, including items in the bin, unless you move or delete them too.

Why a sharing recipient may still have access

If a shared photo is auto-saved or saved by the user who you shared it with, anything that you do to your version of the shared photo won't be applied to the copy that's saved by the other user. This includes any edits, deletions or transfers to your Locked Folder.

Learn about your eligibility for Locked Folder

Locked folder is currently unavailable on fully managed devices and for certain account types. Please contact your device's admin or your account’s admin for more information.

Related resources

• Back up photos and videos
• Choose the backup quality of your photos and videos
• Find lost photos and videos
• Move photos to the archive