AlbumVault vs Apple’s Hidden album

Most people who want to hide a few photos on an iPhone don’t need to install anything. Apple’s Hidden album is free, already on your phone, and locked by default. It has two limits that decide whether it is enough for you: it opens with your iPhone passcode, and if you use iCloud Photos, it syncs on Apple’s terms.

What the Hidden album does well

• It costs nothing and is already there. It is part of the Photos app on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro.
• It takes two taps. Touch and hold a photo or video, tap Hide, then confirm.
• Hidden items really leave the main views. They move to the Hidden album and no longer appear in your Library, other albums or the Photos widget on your Home Screen.
• It is locked by default. Since iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura, the Hidden album needs Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode to open.
• You can hide the album too. Turn off Show Hidden Album and hidden items are not visible anywhere in the Photos app.
• It follows you across devices. With iCloud Photos, a photo you hide on one device is hidden on your other devices too.

How to set it up properly

These steps follow Apple’s Hidden album support article and its iPhone User Guide for iOS 27.

1. Hide a photo. In Photos, touch and hold the photo or video, tap Hide, and confirm.
2. Keep the lock on. Go to Settings > Apps > Photos and leave Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID, or Use Passcode) turned on.
3. Hide the album from view. In the same screen, turn off Show Hidden Album.
4. Unhide later. In Photos, scroll to Utilities and tap Hidden, tap View Album, unlock it, then touch and hold the item and tap Unhide. If you turned off Show Hidden Album, turn it back on first.
5. Consider Advanced Data Protection. It makes iCloud Photos end-⁠to-⁠end encrypted. It has been available since iOS 16.2.

When the Hidden album is enough

The Hidden album is a good fit when your concern is photos popping up while someone scrolls your library, looks at your widget or borrows your unlocked phone for a moment. It works best when:

• Nobody else knows your iPhone passcode.
• If you use iCloud Photos, you are fine with hidden photos syncing to your other Apple devices.
• You either accept Apple’s standard protection or turn on Advanced Data Protection.

Advanced Data Protection has trade-⁠offs worth knowing. Apple cannot help you recover end-⁠to-⁠end encrypted data, so you need your device passcode, a recovery contact or a recovery key. Managed Apple Accounts and child accounts cannot use it. Apple’s UK notice, the latest found, dated 22 September 2025, says users in the UK who have not already turned it on no longer have the option.

Where they differ

Who can open it

The Hidden album and Recently Deleted open with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Apple’s documentation does not describe a separate passcode for the Hidden album, so anyone who knows your phone’s passcode can open it.

AlbumVault Every pattern or PIN leads to exactly one vault, and a vault can have more than one way in. A pattern that belongs to no vault opens nothing. Face ID or fingerprint can open at most one vault. Your other vaults always need their pattern.

What iCloud holds

Under standard data protection, the default, iCloud Photos is encrypted in transit and on Apple’s servers, and Apple holds the keys, so it can decrypt your data on your behalf, for example when you sign in on a new device, restore from a backup or recover your data after forgetting your password. With Advanced Data Protection, Photos becomes end-⁠to-⁠end encrypted with keys on your trusted devices. Even then, whether an item is marked hidden, a favorite or deleted stays under standard protection.

AlbumVault Vault files are left out of your phone’s own iCloud or Google device backup. Backing up a vault is a separate, encrypted step you control. Thumbnails, album names and the album index are encrypted like the photos. Nothing about a vault is kept outside its encrypted files: no names, counts, recents or search index.

Whether anyone can tell it exists

On iPhone and iPad, the Hidden album is visible by default until you turn it off. Apple does not describe a decoy album, break-⁠in photos or a disguise.

AlbumVault AlbumVault keeps no list and no count of your vaults, and each vault’s files look alike. A guest vault (Pro) is a second pattern that opens a separate vault with only what you put there. Draw your emergency pattern and AlbumVault opens your chosen vault and permanently removes access to every other vault on this phone, with no prompt. It needs a second vault, which is part of Pro.

What other apps can see

In Apple’s developer tools, “hidden” is a property of each photo. Photo requests leave hidden photos out by default, but an app with photo access can ask to include them. Apple’s documentation does not say whether locking the Hidden album changes that.

AlbumVault Every photo and video is encrypted on your phone before it is saved.

Platforms

The Hidden album works across Apple devices only.

AlbumVault AlbumVault is built for iPhone and Android. Move a vault between them with an encrypted transfer file and its recovery phrase.

Prices

The Hidden album has no price of its own; iCloud includes 5 GB free. As seen on 24 October 2026 in the US:

• iCloud+: $0.99 a month for 50 GB, $2.99 for 200 GB, $9.99 for 2 TB, $29.99 for 6 TB, $59.99 for 12 TB.

AlbumVault Free: 1 vault, up to 100 photos and 10 videos, encrypted backup file included. Pro: as many vaults as you want, including the guest vault, with no limit on photos and videos.

Which to choose

Stay with the Hidden album if:

1. You want something free that is already on your iPhone.
2. Nobody else knows your passcode.
3. You use iCloud Photos and want hidden photos on all your Apple devices.
4. You are comfortable with Apple’s protection, or you turn on Advanced Data Protection.

Consider AlbumVault if:

1. Someone else knows your passcode, such as a partner, a child or a family member.
2. You want a separate vault to show when you hand your phone over (a Pro feature).
3. You use Android as well as an iPhone.
4. You want your private photos kept out of iCloud Photos and your device backup.

Limits to know on the AlbumVault side

AlbumVault does not hide that some private data exists: your phone’s storage settings, and a forensic examiner, can still show that. Deleting is not shredding: a lab that images the phone may recover deleted bytes. Use AlbumVault to keep people out of your photos, not to beat a forensics lab.

The hardware key cannot move to a new phone, so on a new phone, or a phone restored from a backup, a vault opens only with its recovery phrase. Keep the phrase safe before you switch phones.

AlbumVault cannot protect against malware or a jailbroken or rooted phone running code while the vault is open, against what is on screen or shared out once decrypted, or against someone deleting files they can reach (they can destroy data, not read it).