Google Photos Locked Folder: setup, backup and risks

The short answer

In Google Photos, open Collections, tap Locked Folder (shown as Locked on some versions) and follow Set up Locked Folder. Then select a photo, tap Add to or More, and choose Move to Locked Folder. On Android the folder opens with your phone’s screen lock, not a separate password. Items inside no longer appear in your photo grid, albums, search or memories, and cannot be shared from Google Photos. The setting that matters most is backup: if Back up Locked Folder is off, the items live only on that phone and are lost if you uninstall Google Photos, clear its data, reset the phone or lose it.

Where to find it and what you need

Google Photos offers Locked Folder on Android 6 and later, on iPhone and iPad in the Google Photos app, and on the web at photos.google.com. The menus have moved between app versions; the current Android path is Collections, then Locked Folder, sometimes listed under Utilities. On older versions it was Library, then Utilities, then Locked Folder.

• Android: you need a screen lock (PIN, pattern, password or biometrics). Google Photos asks you to set one up first if the phone has none.
• iPhone and iPad: Google Photos uses the device’s Face ID, Touch ID or passcode.
• Web: only items that were backed up are visible, and Google asks you to verify your Google Account.

The folder is part of Google Photos, not of the Samsung Gallery or another gallery app. Photos in other apps are not affected.

Set up Locked Folder step by step

1. Open Google Photos and sign in with the Google Account you want to use.
2. Tap Collections, then Locked Folder.
3. Tap Set up Locked Folder and confirm with your screen lock.
4. Choose whether to turn on Back up Locked Folder. Read the backup section below before deciding.
5. Tap Move items to add your first photos, or leave the folder empty for now.

Google also prompts you to set up the folder the first time you try to move a photo into it, so you can start from step 5 of the next section.

Move photos and videos into Locked Folder

1. In Google Photos, open the photo or video, or touch and hold to select several items.
2. Tap Add to (at the bottom) or the More button (three dots).
3. Tap Move to Locked Folder, then Move.

On Pixel phones, Pixel Camera can also save new shots directly into Locked Folder, so they never appear in the main gallery. Google warns about two details. First, related items are not moved: copies, edited versions, and photos that someone else shared with you stay where they are. Second, items in the Trash must be restored before they can be moved. If backup for Locked Folder is off, the cloud backups of the moved items are deleted from your Google Photos library.

Open the folder and move items out

1. Open Collections, then Locked Folder, and unlock with your screen lock.
2. Touch and hold the items you want to take out.
3. Tap Move, then confirm.

Moved items go back to your main library and become visible again in the grid, search and albums. Deleting an item inside Locked Folder is different from deleting it in the main library: check whether it goes to the Trash on your version before relying on a recovery.

Backup on or off: the decision that protects your photos

With Back up Locked Folder on, Google Photos stores the items in your Google Account. You can then open the folder from another device signed in to the same account, and the photos survive a lost or reset phone. To turn it on, open Google Photos settings, then Backup, then Back up Locked Folder. Google notes that backup of your other photos must be on first.

With backup off, items stay only on that device. Google lists what deletes them: uninstalling Google Photos, clearing its data, resetting the phone, or the phone being damaged or lost. You can still back up selected items: open Locked Folder, touch and hold them, then tap Back up.

The trade-off is simple. Backup protects against loss, but the photos are then stored in your Google Account and protected by its password. Leaving it off keeps them off Google’s servers, but makes the phone the only copy.

What Locked Folder hides, and what it does not

Google states that items in Locked Folder do not appear in the photo grid, search results, albums, shared items or new memories, and that they are removed from existing memories and draft print orders. Apps on the phone that can read your photos cannot see them, and you cannot share them to other apps such as Instagram or Facebook.

It does not hide everything:

• copies and edited versions stay in the library unless you move them too;
• photos sent in a messaging app, saved in Downloads or kept in another gallery app are separate files;
• anyone who knows your screen lock, or whose fingerprint is enrolled, can open the folder on that phone;
• with backup on, anyone who can sign in to your Google Account can see the folder on the web after verifying.

Samsung Secure Folder and Android private space

Some Android phones offer a second option outside Google Photos.

• Samsung Secure Folder: on Galaxy phones, select photos in Gallery, tap More, then Move to Secure Folder. Secure Folder can use its own lock type, different from the phone’s. Samsung notes that only files in internal storage or on an SD card can be moved, not files stored in a cloud account. Manage it in Settings, then Security and privacy, then More security settings, then Secure Folder; the menu is called Biometrics and security on older One UI versions.
• Private space on Android 15 and later: Settings, then Security and privacy, then Private space. It is a separate area for apps, with its own lock if you choose one. Google recommends a separate Google Account inside it, and notes that its existence cannot always be hidden from someone who connects the phone to a computer.

These are separate places with their own rules for transfers to a new phone. Read them before moving your only copy of a photo.

Common problems and fixes

• No Locked Folder in Collections: update Google Photos from Google Play, check that the phone runs Android 6 or later, and look under Utilities.
• The folder asks for a lock you do not have: set a screen lock in Android Settings, then try again.
• The folder is empty on a new phone: only backed-up items follow your Google Account. Items that were never backed up stayed on the old phone.
• Photos disappeared after reinstalling Google Photos: if backup was off, Google states that uninstalling or clearing data deletes them, and the app cannot restore them.
• A locked photo still shows in another gallery: it is a different copy, often an original in the camera folder or an edited version. Move or delete it separately.
• You cannot share a locked photo: this is intentional. Move it out of the folder first, knowing that it becomes visible again.

Locked Folder or encrypted vault: which one fits?

Locked Folder is a sound first step if the goal is to keep photos out of the gallery, memories and other apps, and if nobody else knows your screen lock. It is free and built into an app you probably already use.

A separate vault answers a different need: a secret that is not your phone’s screen lock, so that someone who knows your PIN, or who borrows your unlocked phone, still cannot open the photos. Kofrix encrypts each imported photo with AES-256-GCM and its own key, and opens with a pattern drawn on a 5 × 5 grid that is distinct from the screen lock. Each pattern opens its own vault, and the app never shows how many exist; how the encryption works explains the details. There is no cloud backup of an Android vault in the current version, so keep an independent copy of irreplaceable photos and save your recovery phrase. See the Kofrix download page for availability.

Whichever option you choose, do not delete originals before following the checks to do before deleting originals. On iPhone, the equivalent built-in option is the Hidden album.