What is Google Photos Locked Folder, and how do you use it?

Locked Folder is Google’s answer to the Hidden album on iPhone. It is free, it comes with the Google Photos app, and it works on most Android phones. It also has two rules that surprise people: it has no password of its own, and its backup is off unless you turn it on. This guide covers both, with the steps from Google’s own help pages for Android, the web and iPhone.

What Locked Folder does

Locked Folder is a space inside Google Photos that your screen lock protects. Google says items in it:

• Do not show in the Photos grid, memories, search or albums.
• Are not available to other apps on your phone that can read your photos and videos.
• Are not shown on Google smart displays such as Nest Hub, or through Chromecast. Google says it can take up to an hour for items to disappear there.
• Are removed from existing memories and draft print orders.

Locked Folder works on Android 6 and later. Google says it is not available on fully managed devices or for some account types.

How to set up Locked Folder

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. At the bottom, tap Collections, then tap Locked.
3. Select Set up Locked Folder.
4. Follow the steps on the screen to unlock your device.

If your phone has no screen lock, Google Photos asks you to set one first. Locked Folder cannot work without it. Google also asks you the first time you move an item, so you can start from either place.

How to move photos into Locked Folder

1. In Google Photos, tap Photos.
2. Select the photo or video you want to move.
3. At the bottom, tap Add to, then tap Move to Locked Folder.
4. Tap Move.

To move an item from Trash, restore it first. On a Pixel 4 or later, you can also send a new photo straight from the camera. Open the Pixel camera app, touch and hold the preview of the last photo next to the shutter, then tap Locked Folder.

The move takes only the original. Google says copies, edited versions and photos that other people saved stay where they are. Search your library for copies after you move something.

Turn on the Locked Folder backup

This is the step most people miss. Locked Folder has its own backup switch.

1. Open Google Photos and tap your profile picture or initial at the top.
2. Tap Photos settings, then Backup, then Back up Locked Folder.
3. Open Locked Folder and use your screen lock.
4. Turn on Back up Locked Folder.

Google Photos backup must be on for the rest of your library before the Locked Folder backup can run on its own. You can also keep it off and back up single items: open Locked Folder, long press the items, then select Back up at the bottom.

What happens if the backup is off

Google lists the cases plainly. Items that are not backed up stay only on that phone. You lose them if you:

• Uninstall the Google Photos app.
• Clear the Google Photos app data.
• Factory reset the phone.
• Lose or damage the phone.

Items that are not backed up also do not move in USB or cloud transfers to a new phone. Google also warns about one more case. If the Locked Folder backup is off when you move an item in, Google Photos deletes its existing backup of that item. So a photo that was safe in your Google account can become a photo on one phone only.

Backed-up items count toward your Google storage, which Gmail, Drive and Photos share. A personal Google account has 15 GB at no cost.

Who can open Locked Folder?

Where	What opens it
Android phone	Your device screen lock
iPhone or iPad	Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode
Computer, at photos.google.com	Your Google Account password

Google says you cannot use a different Locked Folder password. So anyone who knows your screen lock can open it on your phone. On the web, anyone who knows your Google Account password can open the backed-up items. If the person you need privacy from knows your screen lock, Locked Folder does not stop them.

What you cannot do inside Locked Folder

Google blocks these actions to keep items private:

• Add items to an album or photo book.
• Edit items, or undo edits made before the move.
• Share items in Google Photos or with other apps.
• Move items to Trash. You delete them for good instead.

To share or edit a photo, move it out of Locked Folder first.

How safe is Locked Folder?

Google says Locked Folder uses Google Photos’ standard encryption. Android Help says some phone backup data is encrypted with your screen lock, and that photos and videos in Google Photos are not. Neither page says that the Locked Folder backup is end-to-end encrypted. For most people that is fine. If it is not fine for you, keep the photos in an app that encrypts them on the phone first.

Locked Folder or a vault app?

Locked Folder is the right first step if you want photos out of view when someone scrolls your gallery. It is free, it is on almost every Android phone, and with the backup on it is hard to lose. A separate code is the main reason to look further. Samsung phones have Secure Folder, and Files by Google has a Safe folder with its own PIN. Our guide to locking photos on Android compares them. To compare vault apps on Google Play, see the best photo vault apps for Android.

York Vault is one of those apps, on Google Play and the App Store. It opens with its own PIN, passcode or pattern, and encrypts each item on your phone before it saves it. It backs up every item, encrypted, to a hidden app folder in your own Google Drive, at no cost. See encrypted backup and how backup works on Android. Viewing, export and restore of your own items stay free on every plan. See pricing for what Plus and Pro add, and download York Vault.