What is the best way to hide photos on Android?

An encrypted vault app. AlterVault seals each file behind a code your screen lock does not open, and one shake swaps the whole library for an ordinary gallery. The built-in options hide photos from your gallery app. They do not encrypt them, and they open with the PIN everyone around you already knows.

How do I hide photos without an app?

Google Photos Locked Folder is the best built-in option: Collections, Locked, Set up Locked Folder. It keeps photos on the device and away from other apps. It opens with your screen lock, so it protects against a stranger, not against anyone who knows your PIN.

Does a .nomedia file actually hide photos?

Only from the gallery app. Any file manager shows the folder again with one toggle. Nothing is locked or encrypted.

How do I hide photos on a Samsung phone?

Samsung Gallery hides them from the grid, and Secure Folder locks them behind a Knox container tied to a Samsung account. Neither leaves Samsung, and neither gives you anything to hand over. AlterVault runs on any Android, needs no account, and its backup file moves to whatever phone you buy next.

If I hide a photo, is it still in Google Photos?

If backup was on when the photo was taken, yes. The copy on Google's servers is unaffected by anything you do to the local file. Delete it from the cloud as well, then empty the bin.

AlterVault

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How to hide photos on Android

Five methods, in order of how much they actually protect. Only the last one survives someone who knows your PIN.

The AlterVault photo grid running on a phone

Six ways, with the taps

A dot in the folder name: Rename the folder to start with a dot. Hides it from the gallery, nothing else.
Gallery app hide: Select photos, three dots, Hide. Uses your screen lock. Stays with that brand.
Google Photos Locked Folder: Collections, Locked, Set up. Move photos in from the three-dot menu. Opens with your screen lock.
Private Space: Android 15+. Settings, Security and privacy, Private space. Its own lock, needs a Google account.
Samsung Secure Folder: Settings, Biometrics and security, Secure Folder. Knox container, needs a Samsung account.
AlterVault: Install, set a code, add photos. Encrypted, its own code, and a decoy. Free up to ten items.

Where the first five stop

The first five hide photos from the gallery. None of them encrypts the files.

Four open with the PIN the person next to you has already watched you type.

AlterVault, the one that holds up

It protects the files, not the folder, behind a code your phone does not know.

A code your screen lock will not open: Every file is sealed with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before it is written. The key comes from a code you choose, through Argon2id.
Something to hand over: Shake once and the vault becomes an ordinary gallery. Shake again for a code pad nobody else can fill.
Documents too: PDFs and scans go in through the system picker, into the same encrypted store.
Moves with you: One encrypted backup file restores on any Android. No account, nothing on a server.

The same gallery after a shake, holding ordinary photos

The cleanup that decides whether any of it worked

Hiding one copy does nothing if three others sit somewhere you forgot.

01
Check the cloud
If Google Photos backup was on when the photo was taken, it is on Google's servers. Delete it at photos.google.com too.
02
Empty the trash
Deleted photos stay fully viewable in the bin for up to 60 days.
03
Check the other apps
WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram keep their own copies in their own folders.

Questions

Keep reading

Locked Folder vs a vault appFree and good. Four things it does not do.Read Samsung Secure Folder alternativesStrong, but tied to a Samsung account and Samsung phones.Read Are photo vault apps safe?Most store your photos unencrypted. How to check yours.Read

Hidden from the gallery, and from everything else

App Store Google Play

No account. Nothing leaves your phone.