We make Photo Vault, the app this guide uses. The steps that matter most (deleting the originals, keeping a backup) apply to any vault app.
Apple's Hidden album is free and built in, and for many people it is enough: since iOS 16 it is locked and opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. But a hidden photo is still part of your photo library. If iCloud Photos is on, Apple says photos you hide on one device are hidden on your other devices too, so it is in iCloud as well. And anyone who knows your iPhone passcode can open it.
To keep a photo out of the library entirely, it has to live somewhere else: a vault app that stores it in its own space on the iPhone, behind its own lock.
Step by step
- Install Photo Vault and set its lock. Get Photo Vault from the App Store, open it and choose a passcode; you can add Face ID or Touch ID. There is no account to create.
- Create an album. Make one album per topic. If you want, give an album its own password on top of the app lock, so you can open the vault for someone without opening that album.
- Import the photos. Add photos and videos from your library. Photo Vault copies them into its own storage on the iPhone; nothing is uploaded.
- Delete the originals from Photos. Importing makes a copy, it does not remove the photo from your library. Go back to the Photos app and delete the photos you imported.
- Empty Recently Deleted. Deleted photos stay in Photos, Albums, Recently Deleted for up to 30 days. Open it and delete them there too, or they are still on the phone and, with iCloud Photos on, in iCloud.
- Take new photos inside the vault. Use Photo Vault's camera for anything private from now on: those photos never touch your camera roll, so there is nothing to delete afterwards.
- Hide the app, if you want. Change the home screen icon to Calculator, Notes or Weather, and turn on the face-down lock: turning the phone face down jumps to Safari, Messages or Calendar.
- Export a backup and keep it safe. In Settings, Backup, export the whole vault to one file locked with a password you choose, and keep it in Files, on a computer or in your own iCloud Drive. There is no automatic backup: without this file, the photos are lost with the phone.
What Photo Vault does and does not do
It keeps photos and videos on the iPhone, out of the Photos library, behind Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, with an optional password per album. There is no account, no server and no cloud sync, the vault is excluded from iCloud backups, and its files use iOS Data Protection, so they cannot be read while the iPhone is locked. How it protects your files.
It does not back up on its own: you export the backup file when you choose. It has no decoy PIN, it is iPhone only, and it relies on iOS Data Protection rather than its own per-file encryption. It is free to download and try; a subscription, with a free trial, unlocks unlimited items, and what you saved stays accessible if it ends.
Other ways to do it, compared honestly: the best way to hide photos on iPhone without iCloud and the best photo vault apps for iPhone.
Questions people ask
Does importing a photo into a vault app delete it from Photos?
Not in Photo Vault: importing makes a copy. Delete the original in the Photos app and then empty Recently Deleted, or the photo is still in your library.
Is the Hidden album enough?
For many people, yes. It is locked with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode since iOS 16. But the photos stay in your library, and in iCloud if iCloud Photos is on.
Are photos in Photo Vault uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no account, no server and no cloud sync, and the vault is excluded from iCloud backups.
What happens to my hidden photos if I lose my iPhone?
They are lost unless you exported a backup. Export one from Settings, Backup and keep the file somewhere other than the phone.
How do I move the vault to a new iPhone?
Export a backup on the old iPhone, send the file to the new one with AirDrop or Files, and restore it there with the same password.