Protect Your Hidden and Recently Deleted Albums in Photos

Torn paper revealing the words Private and Confidential

Photos has long provided a hidden album you could use to hold images you wanted to keep a little more private. Until this year, however, it was security through obscurity: anyone in-the-know could tap a few buttons to see its contents, presuming they have access to your device. Now you can protect it—as well as the Recently Deleted album—with Face ID or Touch ID on an iPhone or iPad, or Touch ID or your password on a Mac. You can enable this feature in iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 using Settings > Photos > Use Face ID/Touch ID; in macOS 13 Ventura, choose Photos > Settings > General and select “Use Touch ID or password.” From then on, opening those albums will require authentication.

Mac Photos Hidden album with a lock and the Photos privacy prompt

(Featured image by iStock.com/Kenishirotie)

Image viewer