Apple’s Photos app offers a built-in feature to hide sensitive or personal photos and videos across its ecosystem, including iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Vision Pro. This feature moves your selected media into a “Hidden” album, removing them from your main library view, other albums, and even the Photos widget. For enhanced privacy, especially in iOS 14 and later, you can even make this Hidden album invisible altogether. Moreover, on iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, macOS Ventura and later, the Hidden album is automatically locked, requiring authentication for access. Ensuring your devices are updated to the latest software versions is crucial to utilize these features effectively on your Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Apple Vision Pro.
If you are an avid user of iCloud Photos, hiding photos on one Apple device will synchronize this action across all your devices connected to the same iCloud account. This ensures consistency in your photo privacy across your Apple ecosystem. But what if you’ve hidden some photos and now need to find them? This guide will walk you through exactly How To Find Hide Photos on all your Apple devices.
How to Find Hidden Photos on iPhone or iPad
Apple makes it straightforward to hide photos on your iPhone and iPad, but equally simple to find them again when needed. Here’s how you can access your Hidden album and manage your hidden photos:
Accessing the Hidden Album on iPhone and iPad
By default, the Hidden album is visible within the Photos app. Follow these steps to find it:
- Open Photos: Launch the Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Navigate to Albums: On an iPhone, scroll down to the bottom of the Albums tab. On an iPad, you might first need to tap the sidebar icon located in the upper-left corner to display the albums list.
- Locate Utilities: Look for the “Utilities” section in the albums list.
- Find Hidden Album: Within Utilities, you will see the “Hidden” album. Tap on it.
- Unlock if Necessary: If you are running iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later, the Hidden album will be locked. Tap “View Album” and use Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to unlock and access your hidden photos and videos.
Steps to hide a photo on iPhone: Tap and hold, then select 'Hide' from the options menu.
Unhiding Photos on iPhone and iPad
Once you’ve found your Hidden album, unhiding photos is just as easy:
- Open Hidden Album: Follow the steps above to access the Hidden album.
- Select Photo/Video: Tap to select the photo or video you wish to unhide. For multiple items, you may need to use the Select option.
- Unhide Option: Tap and hold on the selected photo or video. In the options menu that appears, tap “Unhide”. The photo or video will be moved back to your main library and will be visible in your regular albums and views.
Showing or Hiding the Hidden Album Option
For added privacy, you can choose to hide the Hidden album itself, making it invisible in the Utilities section. Here’s how to toggle the visibility of the Hidden album:
- Open Settings: Go to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Navigate to Photos: Scroll down and tap on “Photos”.
- Toggle Show Hidden Album: Under the “Albums” section, find the “Show Hidden Album” toggle.
- To hide the Hidden album: Turn the toggle off (grey). The Hidden album will no longer appear in the Utilities section of your Photos app.
- To show the Hidden album: Turn the toggle on (green). The Hidden album will be visible in the Utilities section.
When the “Show Hidden Album” option is turned off, the only way to access your hidden photos is to re-enable this setting. This adds an extra layer of security to your hidden media.
Locate the Hidden album in the Utilities section of the Photos app on iPhone.
How to Find Hidden Photos on Your Mac
Finding hidden photos on a Mac is slightly different but still straightforward. Here’s how to access your Hidden album in macOS Photos:
Accessing the Hidden Album on Mac
By default, the Hidden album is not visible in the sidebar of the Photos app on macOS. You need to enable it to view your hidden photos:
- Open Photos: Launch the Photos app on your Mac.
- Show Hidden Photo Album: In the menu bar at the top of your screen, click on “View”.
- Select “Show Hidden Photo Album”: From the dropdown menu, select “Show Hidden Photo Album”. This will make the Hidden album visible in the sidebar.
- Find Hidden in Sidebar: In the sidebar of the Photos app, under the “Albums” section, you will now see the “Hidden” album. Click on it.
- Unlock if Necessary: If prompted, use Touch ID or your login password to unlock the Hidden album and view its contents.
Unhiding Photos on Mac
Unhiding photos on Mac is similar to iPhone and iPad:
- Open Hidden Album: Access the Hidden album following the steps above.
- Select Photo/Video: Select the photo or video you want to unhide.
- Unhide Option: Control-click (right-click) on the selected photo or video. In the context menu, choose “Unhide Photo”. Alternatively, you can go to the menu bar, click “Image”, and select “Unhide Photo”. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command-L. The photo will be moved back to your main library.
Showing or Hiding the Hidden Album Option on Mac
On macOS, the option to show or hide the Hidden album is directly within the View menu of the Photos app, as described in the “Accessing the Hidden Album on Mac” section. Toggling “Show Hidden Photo Album” in the View menu will control whether the Hidden album appears in the sidebar.
Find the Hidden album in the sidebar of the Photos app on macOS.
How to Find Hidden Photos on Apple Vision Pro
The process for finding hidden photos on Apple Vision Pro closely mirrors that of iPhone and iPad, maintaining consistency within the Apple ecosystem:
Accessing the Hidden Album on Apple Vision Pro
- Open Photos App: Open the Photos app on your Apple Vision Pro.
- Tap Collections: In the sidebar, tap on “Collections”.
- Scroll to Utilities: Scroll down through the collections list until you find the “Utilities” section.
- Find Hidden Album: Under Utilities, tap on “Hidden”.
- Unlock if Necessary: Use the appropriate authentication method if prompted to unlock and view the album.
Unhiding Photos on Vision Pro
- Open Hidden Album: Access the Hidden album as described above.
- Select Photo/Video: Tap and hold the photo or video you wish to unhide.
- Unhide Option: In the options that appear, tap “Unhide”. The photo or video will be restored to its original location in your library.
Showing or Hiding the Hidden Album Option on Apple Vision Pro
Similar to iPhone and iPad, you can also hide the Hidden album option on Apple Vision Pro:
- Open Settings: Go to Settings on your Apple Vision Pro.
- Navigate to Photos: Tap on “Apps”, then “Photos”.
- Toggle Show Hidden Album: Scroll down and toggle “Show Hidden Album” to turn it off or on, controlling the visibility of the Hidden album in the Photos app.
By following these steps, you can effectively manage your hidden photos across all your Apple devices. Whether you need to quickly access a hidden photo or ensure your private media remains out of sight, Apple provides robust and user-friendly tools to find hide photos and control your photo privacy.
