Learn 5 Simple Methods To Hide Pictures On Android Without Any App!
Overview: Do you want to hide photos on your Android phone or tablet without the use of any app? If “Yes”, then you have landed on the right webpage. In this post, you will know some effective tips and tricks to hide photos on Android without app.
Here we go!
Hide Photos On Android Without Using Any Apps
Every user keep lots of photos, videos and other personal files on their Android device.
Since, those are personal files, we do not want those files to be accessed or viewed by any third person. Hence, we need an option to hide personal data, particularly our personal photos to protect our privacy.
Well, there are several ways to do that.
Some of the effective tips and tricks are mentioned below. Just go through them.
Also Read: Vault App Photo Recovery: Recover Deleted Photos From Vault App
Method 1: Hide Photos On Android Using File Manager [Android Jellybean or Older Versions]
You can take the help of File Manager to hide photos, videos or any other files on your Android phone or tablet without the use of any apps.
Though this method is useful, but it is not a good experience for seamless hiding and viewing option.
Anyway, here are the steps.
Step 1: Go to “File Manager” and create a new folder. Now transfer the photos in the newly created folder that you want to hide.
Step 2: Now tap on File Manager settings and then tap on “Show hidden files/folders”.
Step 3: Here you have to rename the newly created folder that has all the images that you want to hide. While renaming, just add dot “.” before all the character and save it. For example, if your folder name is ‘My Folder’ then rename it to ‘.My Folder’.
Step 4: Go back and again tap on File Manager settings and then tap on “Hide hidden files/folders”.
Step 5: That’s it! Your folder is hidden now. Those images will not be shown in the gallery. If you want to unhide, simply enable “Show hidden files/folders” and rename the folder by just removing the dot “.”
Also Read: How To Find and Retrieve Hidden Files or Folders on Android
Method 2: Hide Photos On Android Using File Manager [Android Kitkat or Newer Version]
The above methods, may or may not work on newer smartphone, particularly on phone running KitKat or later versions.
For them, they can try this method.
Here, you have to just rename the file by simply adding “.nomedia” to the folder where we are hiding the pictures. And hence, the photos within the folder with ‘.nomedia’ will get hidden from the gallery.
Now, you would like to know – What is “nomedia” file?
Well, nomedia file is just another file extension just like “.mp4”, “.mp3” or “.mkv” extension.
Step 1: Just like above steps, simply move the photos, videos or any other files that you want to hide to a newly created folder. Here is the trick – this time just move one more unwanted image with them too.
Here I have taken unwanted image named as “blaa file.jpg” with the images that I want to hide.
Step 2: Now, rename the unwanted image from “blaa file.jpg” to “.nomedia” and save it. File manager will then ask to change the file extension, simply tap on “OK”. See the example, in the screenshot below.
Step 3: That’s it. Your pictures are hidden, go check your gallery. If photos are still visible. Then just restart your device. If you want to unhide your photos, then just rename the “.nomedia” file to some other file extension or simply delete the file.
Also Read: How To Recover Deleted Hidden Photos On Android?
Method 3: Hide Photos On Samsung Galaxy Phone
New Samsung phones that run on Android Nougat and newer version comes with a new feature known as “Secure Folder”. Earlier, this was known as “Private Mode”.
Here follow the steps to hide pictures on Samsung devices via Samsung folder.
Step 1: On your phone, go to Settings > Lock screen and security or Biometrics and security.
Step 2: Tap on “Secure Folder”.
Step 3: Sign-in to your Samsung account. If you do not have Samsung account, then you will have to create one. Once, created, tap on “Continue” to proceed.
Step 4: Here select the lock options – Pattern, PIN or Password, in addition to Fingerprint and Iris.
Step 5: Again, confirm the lock option and tap on “Continue”.
Step 6: You will then see the “Secure Folder” icon in your Home screen and in your app drawer.
Step 7: You can now start adding photos to the Secure folder to hide them. Open Gallery app, select the photos that you wish to hide and then tap on “More” at the bottom and select the option “Move to Secure Folder”.
That’s it! Your photos are hidden, check your Gallery.
If you want to access your hidden images, then open the Secure Folder from the home screen or app drawer, enter the PIN and select the Gallery app.
Also Read: Huawei Safe Folder Recovery – Recover Hidden Files From Safe Folder
Method 4: Hide Photos On LG Phone
LG phones also has the inbuilt features that allows users to hide photos and other files.
Here follow the steps:
Step 1: On your LG phone open, go to Settings, scroll down and tap on Fingerprints & Security and tap on Content lock.
Step 2: Choose the type of lock method that you wish to use such as PIN or Password. Once selected, you can also toggle to use Fingerprints.
Step 3: Next, go to Gallery app and go to Media folder that you wish to hide.
Step 4: Tap on 3 dots located at top right corner and select Lock from the available options.
Step 5: Now, select the photos that you wish to hide (you can select the multiple photos) and then tap on “Lock”.
Now, go check your gallery, all those pictures are hidden now.
If you want to unhide the photos, tap on 3 dots and tap on Show Locked Files. Enter the PIN, password or fingerprint and thereafter, you can access the hidden pictures.
Method 5: Hide Photos On Android Using Google Photos
Most of the Android smartphones has Google Photos which is used as default gallery app. The app has a feature Locked Folder that can be used to hide photos and videos and it is very simple to use.
Here how to do it:
- On your phone, open Google Photos.
- Tap Library at the bottom.
- Tap Utilities.
- From the following menu, tap on “Set up Locked Folder”.
- Tap on “Get Started” and you can select phone’s PIN, Password or fingerprint to access the Locked Folder.
Now, once you have set-up locked folder, now you can add media files to hide them.
Basically, there two ways that you can follow to add photos and videos to the Locked Folder.
You can either add multiple photos from media library or add single photos.
Here are those two ways:
Way 1
Step 1: Open Google Photos and tap on “Photos” tab.
Step 2: Just long tap on an image and then select multiple photos that you want to hide.
Step 3: Once selected, tap on 3 dot menu at the top and then select “Move to Locked Folder” and confirm your decision.
Way 2
If you only want to add one photo or video, then simply tap on one media file, swipe up and then tap on “Move to Locked Folder” to hide it.
Now, once they are hidden, you can’t see them on Gallery.
In order to unhide them, open Google Photos, tap on Library > Utilities. Under organize your library menu, tap on Locked Folder.
Enter your PIN, password or fingerprint to authenticate your identity and then you can check your hidden files.
Wrap Up
So, that’s it. These are the four simplest ways to hide photos on Android without using any apps. You can follow any of the above-mentioned methods as per your needs.
You can use “.nomedia” methods using file manager or, you can use Samsung inbuilt secure folder feature or LG phone built-in Content lock features.
If you are using Google Photos, then you can set-up lock folder and hide photos in it.
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