How to find the Hidden album on iPhone (and why it may be missing)

In the Photos app, the Hidden album lives in the Utilities section. Depending on your iOS version, open the Albums tab or the Collections tab and scroll down to Utilities. Tap Hidden, then tap View Album and unlock it with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.

Hidden photos are kept out of your main Library, Memories and widgets. They only show in this one album, which is why a hidden photo can look like it has been deleted.

• Show Hidden Album is switched off. When it is off, the album is not listed under Utilities at all, but your hidden photos are still on the iPhone. Someone may have turned it off on purpose, or you may have done it yourself a while ago.
• You are looking in the wrong place. The album is under Utilities, not at the top of your albums. Scroll to the bottom.
• You are signed in to a different Apple Account, or iCloud Photos is off on this iPhone, so you are seeing a different library than the one where you hid the photo.

1. 1Open Settings and go to Photos. On newer iOS versions it is under Apps, then Photos.
2. 2Turn on Show Hidden Album.
3. 3Open the Photos app, go to Albums or Collections and scroll to Utilities.
4. 4Tap Hidden and unlock it.

If you cannot find the switch, search for Photos in the Settings search field. The wording and position of the option differ a little between iOS versions.

1. 1Open the Hidden album and unlock it.
2. 2Tap Select, then tap the photos you want back.
3. 3Tap the More button (three dots) and choose Unhide. You can also touch and hold a single photo and choose Unhide.

The photo returns to your main Library, and it can show up again in Memories and widgets.

• Check Recently Deleted. A photo you deleted, including one that was hidden, stays there for up to 30 days. Recently Deleted can ask for Face ID too.
• If you use iCloud Photos, give it time to finish syncing, and check that you are on Wi-Fi with enough iCloud storage.
• Make sure it was hidden on this account. If you hid the photo on a different iPhone, iPad or Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, it appears here once iCloud Photos has synced.
• Apple's own page for missing photos suggests checking the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums first, and restoring from a backup only if both are empty.

If a photo was permanently deleted more than 30 days ago and is in no backup, it cannot be brought back from inside Photos.

It is a good tidy-up tool and, with Face ID turned on, it keeps casual snoopers out. It does not hide the photos from anyone who knows your iPhone passcode, because the passcode is always accepted as a fallback. Hidden photos also remain in the same library and sync through iCloud Photos if you use it. See how to hide photos on iPhone for the settings, and Lockboxy vs the Hidden album for an honest comparison.

If you want some photos to live outside the Photos library, with a passcode that is not your iPhone passcode, Lockboxy is a private, encrypted vault for iPhone built for that.

1. 1Open Lockboxy with its passcode and go to the Media tab.
2. 2Use the import button and pick photos in the iOS photo picker. Only the photos you pick are imported.
3. 3Lockboxy can then offer to delete the originals from your library. iOS asks you to confirm, and deleted photos still sit in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days. See how to permanently delete photos on iPhone.

Photos in Lockboxy are encrypted with AES-256 on your device. There is no account and no server holding a copy.

• Photos in Lockboxy do not sync to your iPad or Mac. Encrypted backup and Wi-Fi transfer between your own devices are Premium features.
• The vault key comes from your passcode. If you forget it, nobody, including us, can open the vault, unless you made a Recovery Key (Premium) beforehand.
• The free plan has room for up to 30 photos or videos and 10 files. The price of Premium is shown in the app before you buy; see the Premium page.