Privacy and security
How to Hide Photos on Samsung Galaxy: Gallery, Secure Folder and More
By the llcloud team 6 min read
Quick answer
To hide an album, open Gallery, go to Albums, tap the three-dot menu and choose Hide albums. That only takes it out of view, with no lock. To lock photos away, touch and hold them in Gallery, tap More and choose Move to Secure Folder. For real protection, use an encrypted vault such as Velum: it encrypts every photo with AES-256-GCM and a key from your own pattern, recovers with a 9 word phrase and backs up encrypted copies, which Secure Folder no longer does.
Galaxy phones give you more ways to hide photos than most Android phones. Gallery can hide whole albums, and Secure Folder locks photos away behind a separate PIN, pattern or password. They do very different jobs, though, and picking the wrong one can leave your photos either easy to find or hard to get back.
What are the ways to hide photos on a Samsung phone?
| Option | What it does | Lock | Backup | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallery, Hide albums | Takes albums out of view in Gallery | None | Same as your other photos | Tidying, not privacy |
| Secure Folder | Moves photos into a separate locked space | PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint | No longer offered, Smart Switch to move | Locking photos away for free |
| Private space | A locked space for whole apps | Separate lock possible | Not part of device backup | Only if your Galaxy shows it |
| Velum | Encrypts photos with a key from your pattern | Pattern, with a 9 word recovery phrase | Encrypted, to a folder or Google Drive | Encryption, decoys and your own backup |
Samsung notes that screens and settings vary by carrier and software version. If a menu below looks a little different, look for the same words.
How do you hide an album in Samsung Gallery?
This is the quickest way to get photos off the main Gallery screen.
- Open Gallery and tap Albums.
- On some versions, tap View all.
- Tap the three-dot menu and choose Hide albums.
- Turn on the switch next to each album you want to hide.
To bring an album back, follow the same steps and turn its switch off.
Hiding an album has no lock. Anyone who opens that menu sees the list of hidden albums and can show them again. The photos stay on the phone, and other apps that browse your files may still show them. Use it to clear clutter, or to keep a surprise from popping up when you show someone your holiday shots. For anything truly private, use one of the options below.
How do you move photos to Secure Folder?
Secure Folder is Samsung's free locked space. It has its own Gallery and apps, and nothing inside shows in your normal Gallery.
Set it up
- Open Settings > Security and privacy > More security settings > Secure Folder.
- Sign in with your Samsung account if asked, and choose a PIN, password or pattern.
- Turn on Reset with Samsung account if you want a way back in. Samsung says that without it, a forgotten lock means you cannot recover access.
Move photos in
- Open Gallery and touch and hold the photos you want to hide.
- Tap More, then Move to Secure Folder.
Samsung says this works even when you are not signed in to Secure Folder. You can also open Secure Folder, tap More options > Add files and pick photos from there. Files saved only in a cloud account cannot be moved in.
Hide Secure Folder itself
- Swipe down with two fingers and tap the Secure Folder tile in Quick Settings to hide or show it.
- Or turn off Add Secure Folder to Apps screen in Secure Folder settings.
- Under More options > Customize you can change its name, colour and icon.
Two limits are worth knowing. Samsung says data backup is no longer available for Secure Folder, and on One UI 8 the option to restore an old backup is gone too. To move it to a new Galaxy you use Smart Switch. Our Velum vs Samsung Secure Folder comparison goes through the differences in detail.
Can you use Private space on a Samsung phone?
Private space arrived with Android 15. It is a locked area for whole apps, so you could put a gallery or file manager inside and keep photos there. Google says a phone maker can switch it off, and we could not find it on Samsung's own support pages, which cover Secure Folder for that job instead.
Search your Settings for Private space. If it appears, Google's setup path is Settings > Security & privacy > Private space. Google also says private space data is not part of your device backup. If nothing comes up, Secure Folder is the built-in option on your Galaxy.
Why use an encrypted vault instead?
Secure Folder is a good free choice. A vault app makes sense when you want something it does not give you:
- Encryption with a key that comes from your own pattern, not tied to a Samsung account.
- A backup you control, since Secure Folder no longer backs up.
- A way to switch to a phone from another brand without moving everything out first.
- A decoy, or a vault that does not look like a vault.
Velum is our encrypted vault for Android. It works the same on a Galaxy as on any phone with Android 11 or newer.
- Draw a pattern and write down your 9 word recovery phrase on paper.
- Import photos and videos from your Gallery. Each one is encrypted on your phone with AES-256-GCM and checked against its original.
- When Velum offers, remove the originals from your Gallery. Your phone asks once to confirm.
- Empty the Gallery trash, and remove any copies in your cloud photo backup.
Every photo, video, thumbnail and file name is encrypted. "What others see" shows any photo next to the same file as it is stored on your phone: random noise, no name, no type. Photos taken with Velum's private camera never reach your Gallery at all. Read how Velum encrypts a photo for the full picture.
Backup is free to a folder you choose, on the phone, a memory card or a USB drive. With Pro, Velum backs up on its own to your Google Drive, in a hidden app space only Velum can read. Our guide on how to back up private photos shows how to set up both. Velum's daily backup runs in the background, so if it stops on your Galaxy, see how to stop Samsung killing apps.
The free version holds up to 100 photos or files and 10 videos in a vault. Pro, by month or year with a 7-day free trial or once for life, removes the limit and adds more vaults (each with its own pattern, for a decoy), a duress pattern and a disguise as a working calculator, notes or weather icon.
What Velum cannot do
Encryption protects the files, not the phone. Someone who watches you draw your pattern can open the vault. If you lose both the pattern and the recovery phrase, nobody can open it, including us.
Which option should you pick on a Galaxy?
| Hide albums | Secure Folder | Velum | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locks the photos | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shows you each photo as stored, encrypted | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Backs up | ✗ | ✗ (no longer supported) | ✓ Encrypted |
| A recovery phrase, no account needed | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Moves to another brand of phone | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Hide albums tidies the Gallery and Secure Folder adds a lock. For photos that matter, Velum is the better choice on a Galaxy.
Whatever you choose, check where copies of your photos already live. A photo synced to the cloud before you hid it is still there. If you plan to share any of these photos later, our photo location remover strips the GPS position first. For the same question on other phones, read how to hide photos on Android.
Sources
Questions
How do I hide an album in Samsung Gallery?
Open Gallery, tap Albums, then the three-dot menu, and choose Hide albums. Turn on the switch next to each album you want out of view, and turn it off again to bring it back. On some versions you tap View all before the menu. Hiding has no lock, so anyone who opens the same menu can unhide the album.
Where are hidden photos on a Samsung phone?
Hidden albums stay on the phone, just out of view in Gallery. Find them under Albums, the three-dot menu, Hide albums. Photos you moved to Secure Folder are inside the Secure Folder app, in its own Gallery. If you cannot see the Secure Folder icon, swipe down with two fingers and tap the Secure Folder tile in Quick Settings.
Can I hide the Secure Folder icon?
Yes. Samsung lets you turn off Add Secure Folder to Apps screen in Secure Folder settings, or toggle it from the Secure Folder tile in Quick Settings. You can also change its name, colour and icon under More options, Customize. The folder still exists, so anyone who knows to look in Quick Settings can find the tile.
Does Samsung have Private space?
Private space is an Android 15 feature, but Google says a phone maker can switch it off, and we could not find it on Samsung's own help pages, which cover Secure Folder for keeping apps and files private. Search your Settings for Private space. If nothing comes up, Secure Folder is the built-in way to lock photos away on a Galaxy.
What happens to Secure Folder photos if I forget the lock?
It depends on a choice you made during setup. If you turned on Reset with Samsung account, tap Forgot, then Reset, and sign in to set a new lock. Samsung says that without that option you cannot recover access. In Velum, a 9 word recovery phrase plays the same role, with no account involved.
