All the photos you have with your smartphone end upward in your device's photo gallery. A curious gear up of eyes could easily see images you don't want them to view.

Mayhap you've got snaps of confidential information, gift ideas for a loved i, or merely endless memes you lot want to remove from your main photograph reel. Whatever the reason, information technology'due south piece of cake to hide photos from the gallery.

If you lot want to know how to hibernate photos on Android, keep reading!

2 mainstream phone manufacturers, Samsung and LG, have built-in privacy tools that tin help y'all hibernate photos.

Samsung

If yous take a Samsung phone running Android Nougat 7.0 or higher up, you can take reward of Samsung'south Secure Binder characteristic. Information technology lets yous keep private files, images, and fifty-fifty apps in a separate password-protected expanse.

To set up up Secure Folder for the first fourth dimension, go to Settings > Lock screen and security > Secure Binder. You will need to sign in with your Samsung account.

After signing in, your device volition prompt y'all to choose your preferred lock method. One time complete, the Secure Folder will be accessible from your app drawer.

To hide photos in the Secure Folder, open the app and tap Add Files.

LG

The process to hide pictures on Android if you accept an LG device is slightly different.

This fourth dimension, beginning by heading to Settings > Fingerprints and Security > Content Lock. The phone will ask you to secure the feature using a Pin, password, or fingerprint browse.

Now go to your phone'southward default gallery app. Select all the photos yous desire to hide and tap Menu > More > Lock. You can also lock entire folders of pictures if you wish.

When you've tapped Lock, the photos/folders volition vanish from the library. To view them, navigate to Menu > Show Locked Files. Enter your security credentials, and the photos will reappear.

Note: Content Lock is not available on all devices.

If you don't own a Samsung or LG phone, don't despair. You lot however have options bachelor, just the procedure is slightly more convoluted.

You can either utilize a file manager to perform some tricks or rely on 3rd-party tools that specialize in hiding content. Some third-party gallery apps also have the functionality. Permit'southward investigate two file manager tricks to hide files first.

Create a New Binder

Before you lot can begin, you need to install a high-quality file manager on your phone. In that location are lots to choose from; if you're non sure which one to download, check out our guide to the best file managers in the Play Store.

One time you lot've made a decision and installed a file managing director, fire upwardly the app. You need to create a new folder that starts with a catamenia (for case, .PrivateFiles or .Hole-and-corner).

Next, move all the photos you lot want to hide into the newly created folder. The method for doing this varies from app to app, only typically long-pressing on the file yous want to move will give you the pick.

Any files yous relocate will no longer evidence in the gallery app. Without going into too much detail, this is because any folder that begins with a menstruum does non go scanned by the phone'south software.

Create a ".nomedia" File

If you've got hundreds of photos you desire to hide, it'south impractical to move them all manually. Instead, information technology's easier to create a .nomedia file in the folders you lot want to obscure.

When your telephone sees a .nomedia file in a folder, it won't load the folder'south contents when it scans your directory.

To create the file, you'll still need a 3rd-political party file manager app. Use it to navigate to the binder y'all desire to hide and create a new file in the directory called .nomedia (make certain you lot include the period). The file does non demand to take whatsoever contents—the filename is the important part.

To reverse the process, just delete the .nomedia file.

Alarm: While both these methods hide content from the native photo library, the images will still be visible in any file manager. They are not password-protected.

If fiddling effectually in a file manager app sounds also cumbersome, you tin use a tertiary-party app that specializes in hiding photos.

Here are three of the best:

1. Vaulty

Vaulty has established itself as the leading app for hiding content. Hundreds of thousands of users take left a positive review on the Google Play Store.

It comes with its own photograph gallery. Whatsoever photos you lot lock are only viewable within it. The gallery also lets you create multiple vaults, significant you can have different sets of photos to show to different people.

All your content is countersign-protected, and it even backs up your media and so it'southward prophylactic if you lose your telephone.

Download: Vaulty (Gratuitous, premium version available)

2. Keepsafe Vault

Keepsafe Vault is Vaulty's largest competitor. The characteristic set is very similar; all your photos are password-protected and encrypted, and yous can back up your photos to the app's cloud storage.

The app also comes with a characteristic that hides its onscreen icon, pregnant no 1 who picks up your phone will know you're hiding anything.

Lastly, it has a Snapchat-esque self-destruction characteristic, letting yous share photos that self-delete after 20 seconds with other users of the app.

Download: Keepsafe Vault (Free, premium version available)

3. Hide Something

Hibernate Something is some other solid style to hide pictures on Android. One time again, yous can hide photos behind PINs and passwords, and all your pictures will be backed up on Google Bulldoze.

The app likewise has a couple of unique features. Outset, yous can save any file or folder on your phone into its vault using the share carte du jour. Second, the app won't show upwardly in your recently used apps listing.

Download: Hide Something (Free, premium version available)

4. LockMyPix

LockMyPix uses standard-class AES encryption to hibernate an unlimited number of photos or videos on your Android telephone or tablet.

Some of the app's other features that help it stand out include a mode to create a fake decoy vault with a separate PIN, support for photos on your SD carte du jour, encrypted backups, and back up for GIF files.

Download: LockMyPix (Costless, premium version available)

We've walked you through an array of tricks for anyone who wants to hibernate photos on Android. Samsung and LG owners tin can probably stick with their phone's native tool. If your phone'due south gallery app doesn't have support for secure folders, you will need to turn to a 3rd-party app instead.

Prototype Credit: GaudiLab/Depositphotos

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