Privacy and security
How to Back Up Private Photos Without Undoing the Hiding
By the llcloud team 7 min read
Quick answer
Back up private photos only as encrypted copies, so the backup is as locked as the original. Keep one copy on the phone, one on a memory card or USB drive, and one off site, such as an encrypted cloud copy. Velum backs up free to a folder you choose and, with Pro, on its own to a hidden space in your Google Drive, and both restore with your pattern or 9 word recovery phrase.
You hid those photos for a reason, so the last thing you want is a backup that leaves a readable copy somewhere else. That happens more often than people think. A cloud sync that runs in the background, a gallery trash that keeps deleted files for weeks, a backup folder anyone can open on a computer. A good backup for private photos is encrypted, kept in more than one place, and still opens if you forget your lock.
Why can a normal cloud backup undo your hiding?
Hiding a photo on the phone does nothing to copies that already left it. If Google Photos backed up a picture before you hid it, the copy in your account stays there until you deal with it. Google also says photos and videos in Google Photos are not encrypted with your screen lock, unlike some other data in an Android backup.
Three places to check after you hide a photo:
- Your cloud photo backup. Google Photos, Samsung Cloud, OneDrive or whichever service your gallery uses.
- The gallery trash. Many galleries keep deleted photos for around 30 days.
- Chats and shared albums. A photo you sent once lives on in the chat.
When you move a photo into Google Photos Locked Folder, Google says the backup copy of that item is deleted if Locked Folder backup is off. That is helpful, but it also means the photo now exists only on your phone.
Which built-in hiding tools can back up?
Before you add anything, see what your current tool does.
| Built-in tool | Backup | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Google Photos Locked Folder | Optional, to your Google account | Turn on Back up Locked Folder, or the items live only on the phone |
| Samsung Secure Folder | No longer offered | Smart Switch can move it to a new Galaxy, nothing more |
| Files by Google Safe folder | None, no Drive option | Uninstalling, clearing data or a reset loses it |
| Android Private space | Not part of device backup | Only apps that sync to their own cloud come back |
To turn on Locked Folder backup:
- Open Google Photos and tap your profile picture.
- Go to Photos settings > Backup > Back up Locked Folder.
- Unlock Locked Folder with your screen lock and turn the switch on.
Google requires photo backup to be on first. Google also lets you leave Locked Folder backup off and back up single items by hand.
What makes a photo backup encrypted?
An encrypted backup scrambles each file on your phone before it is copied anywhere, using a key only you can produce. The card, drive or cloud then holds data nobody can read without that key. A password on the backup app is something else. If the files underneath are plain photos, anyone who copies the folder gets them.
Three things to look for:
- Encrypted on the phone, before anything is written to the backup.
- A key that comes from you, a pattern, password or phrase, not from an account someone can reset.
- Nothing readable around the files, such as names, thumbnails or a count of what is inside.
Velum encrypts every photo, video, thumbnail and file name on your phone with AES-256-GCM, and its backup copies that encrypted data as it is. The folder holds only encrypted blocks and key files, with no names, no thumbnails and no count of anything. Our post on how Velum encrypts a photo explains each step.
Should you back up private photos locally or to the cloud?
Both, ideally. They protect you from different things.
| Local copy (memory card, USB drive, computer) | Cloud copy (Google Drive) | |
|---|---|---|
| Survives a lost or stolen phone | Yes, if kept apart from the phone | Yes |
| Survives a fire or burglary at home | No | Yes |
| Needs an internet connection | No | Yes |
| Who holds the files | You | Your cloud provider, encrypted if you encrypt first |
| Runs on its own | Only while the card or drive is reachable | Yes |
A memory card that sits in the phone is handy for daily copies, but it is lost with the phone. Copy it to a computer or a USB drive now and then.
What does a recovery phrase protect?
With an encrypted vault and no account, the pattern is the key. Forget it, and no support team can let you back in. A recovery phrase is a second key you write down when you set up the vault.
In Velum, nine words open your vault if you forget the pattern, and they also open your backup on a new phone. Each extra vault has its own phrase. Keep it:
- On paper, not in a note on the same phone.
- Away from the phone, for example with your passport or another important document.
- Somewhere you will remember, because losing both the pattern and the phrase means nobody can recover the photos, including us.
If you prefer a strong password for your computer or drive backups, our passphrase generator makes one you can actually remember.
What is a 3-2-1 backup plan for private photos?
The 3-2-1 rule is an old habit from IT: three copies of your data, on two kinds of storage, with one copy away from home. For private photos, add one more rule: every copy is encrypted.
- Copy one: the vault on your phone. This is the one you use every day.
- Copy two: an encrypted backup on a memory card or USB drive. Kept somewhere other than the phone, at least some of the time.
- Copy three: an encrypted copy off site. An automatic cloud backup that is encrypted before upload, or a second drive kept at a relative's home.
- The key, on paper. Your recovery phrase, stored apart from all three copies.
Once a month, open the backup on another device or check the date of the last backup. A backup you never test can fail without warning.
How do you back up photos with Velum?
Velum has two backup paths, and you can use both.
Free: a folder you choose
- Open Velum and go to Settings > Backup.
- Tap Choose a folder and pick a folder on your phone, a memory card or a USB drive.
- Tap Back up now for the first copy.
After that, Velum copies what changed once a day on Wi-Fi, even while every vault is locked. If the backup does not run on a Galaxy, Samsung's battery settings may be stopping it, and our guide to stop Samsung killing apps shows what to change.
Pro: automatic Google Drive backup
- In Settings > Backup, tap Back up to Google Drive.
- Follow the prompts to pick your Google account and allow the access Velum asks for.
Velum then backs up on its own to a hidden app space in your Drive that only Velum can read. It is the same encrypted data as the folder backup, and it does not show up among your Drive files. Restoring from Drive does not need Pro, so a lapsed subscription never locks a backup away.
Restoring
On a new phone, install Velum, tap I have a Velum backup, pick the folder or Google Drive, and draw your pattern or type your recovery phrase. Each vault in a backup opens with its own pattern. If you turned off Restore with pattern for a vault, only its phrase opens it from a backup. That setting is the stronger choice, because nobody holding a copy of your backup can then try patterns on it. Our guide on moving private photos to a new phone has the full move.
What should you do before sharing or backing up a photo?
Photos carry location data, and a backup keeps it. Velum strips the location from files it shares, but anything you send from your gallery keeps it unless you remove it. Our photo location remover does that in your browser. If you are still picking a vault, our guide on how to choose a photo vault app lists what to check.
Sources
Questions
Are Google Photos backups encrypted with my screen lock?
No. Google says photos and videos in Google Photos are not encrypted with your screen lock, unlike some other parts of an Android backup. Google points to Locked Folder for sensitive photos. If you want a cloud copy that only you can read, encrypt the photos on the phone before they are uploaded, which is what an encrypted vault backup does.
Can I back up hidden photos without using the cloud?
Yes. Copy an encrypted backup to a memory card, a USB drive or a computer, and keep that copy somewhere other than your phone. Velum's free backup works this way. You choose a folder on a memory card or USB drive, and Velum copies what changed once a day on Wi-Fi. A cloud copy is optional.
Does Samsung Secure Folder still back up?
No. Samsung says data backup is no longer available for Secure Folder. You can still move it to a new Galaxy with Smart Switch, and older backups could be restored on versions before One UI 8. For a backup you control, move photos into a vault that makes its own encrypted copy, or keep a separate encrypted copy yourself.
What does a recovery phrase protect against?
A forgotten pattern. In Velum, nine words open your vault and your backup if the pattern is gone, and there is no account to reset. The phrase cannot help if someone else reads it, so write it on paper and keep it away from the phone. Losing both the pattern and the phrase means nobody can open the vault.
Is it safe to keep a private photo backup on Google Drive?
It is safe when the files are encrypted before they upload. Velum Pro backs up automatically to a hidden app space in your Drive that only Velum can read, and what it uploads is already encrypted, with no file names or thumbnails. A plain photo uploaded to a normal Drive folder is readable by anyone who gets into that account.
