Keeping private photos hidden on Android Keeping private photos hidden on Android

Don't know about you, but I really hate when other people go through the messages and photos saved on my Android phone. Yes, I do have a pattern lock, so you can't just pick it up and start snooping around, but whenever I show one of my friends a photo saved in my gallery, he never returns it without swiping through a couple more pictures first. This is why, I've learned to hide the photos that I don't want others to see. If you're interested, here's how you can do this too.

As far as I'm concerned, the best way to keep people away from your private photos is to hide them so that they won't even be aware of their existence. Fortunately, you can do this pretty easily on every Android device just by using the native file manager that's installed on the operating system. All you have to do is to open a file manager (either the native one or a third-party app like ES File ExplorerOI File Manager or File Expert - File Manager) and create a new folder where you are going to store the hidden images. Now, navigate to your gallery folder and simply move the sensitive pictures into the folder that you've created; select the photos by long tapping them, open the additional options menu, then select Move and drop them into the soon to be hidden folder. Lastly, navigate to your freshly created folder once more, tap the Rename option and simply add a "." (a dot) in front of the name (Ex: .Hidden Folder). Your phone will automatically hide that folder and the photos stored in it will no longer be displayed in your gallery even if you've set it to display all the images found on your device's storage.

If you want to see the hidden images, launch the file manager application, then go to its settings and instruct it to Show hidden files. Your folder will magically appear, and you can see your photos from there. The downside is that some people may be aware of this little trick, so they can easily check for hidden folders, but if you downplay your ability to use a smartphone, they probably won't think to check.

Another way to keep your private photos away from prying eyes is to password protect them. However, there is a trade-off: while this ensures that no one will see the sensitive images without permission, you will probably be asked about why you have protected pictures and what's in them. If you're interested in trying out this solution, an app like Vaulty can do the trick without putting too much effort into it. Additionally, Vlad has also written an article on keeping your photos safe and his favorite choice for hiding photos is a tool called Photo Locker Pro, which is interesting and powerful, so it's really worth checking out.

Now, when you've read my solutions for keeping the private photos on your Android phone hidden, you may also want to check out some of our other privacy-related stories like: "How To Make Yourself Disappear From The Internet" or "Internet Privacy: Myth Or Reality?".

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