How to (Actually) Hide Your Hidden Photos in iOS 14 Beta 5

Photos App iOS 14 on iPhone Credit: Den Photos / Shutterstock
Text Size
- +

Toggle Dark Mode

Apple recently released iOS 14 beta 5 to developers with a handful of smaller changes and one significant change to the way the Photos app handles your photo library.

Unlike previous versions of iOS, where you couldn’t truly hide photos, this latest version allows you to better protect your photos from prying eyes. But first, here’s some background information.

iOS 13’s Faux Hidden Album

The Photos app for iOS has never been all that great at hiding your photos. In iOS 13 and even early beta versions of iOS 14, there’s an option to hide your photos in the Share menu. Though, it’s a farce as the images are only hidden from your main “All Photos” library.

Photos you’ve selected to conceal are then placed in a photo album called Hidden. It’s a misnomer as the album really isn’t hidden.

People can find your hidden photos by merely tapping the Albums tab, finding the album labeled Hidden, and then tapping to open it. Voila, all of your hidden photos are conveniently now in plain sight, all in one place.

Effective Hiding in iOS 14 Beta 5

In iOS 14 beta 5, Apple added a new option to hide the Hidden album further.

  1. Open the Settings app and scroll until you find “Photos.”
  2. Tap on Photos, and you will see a new toggle for the Hidden album.
  3. When it is disabled, the Hidden album will be removed from the Photos app’s albums tab. People snooping through your photos will no longer be able to find your Hidden album and all the images hidden within it.

If you want to view your hidden photos, you simply return to Settings > Photos and re-enable the toggle.

More Is Needed

This new feature is a step in the right direction, but Apple needs to do more to conceal hidden photos.

A savvy user could open the Settings app, change the Hidden Album toggle, and make the private album re-appear. It would be better if we could lock the hidden album behind a passcode or Face/Touch ID.

Of course, there is no guarantee Apple will improve this feature or even keep it in iOS 14. iOS 14 is still in its beta version, and Apple is continuously making alterations.

Sponsored
Social Sharing