How does Snapchat My Eyes Only work?

My Eyes Only is Snapchat’s locked folder. Many people already use it for photos that have nothing to do with Snapchat, because it is on their phone and it has a passcode. This guide explains how it works, the one risk that catches people out, and when it makes sense. We checked Snapchat’s help center and Snap’s privacy pages on 2026-10-09.

How My Eyes Only works

Snap’s privacy page puts it this way: My Eyes Only “lets you keep your Snaps safe and encrypted, and protected behind a password you choose”. It adds: “Without the password, no one can view these things after they are saved in My Eyes Only.” Snap says that includes Snap itself. Snaps live in Memories, which Snap backs up online, and My Eyes Only is the locked tab inside Memories.

To open it, swipe up from the camera screen to open Memories, swipe left to the My Eyes Only tab, and enter your passcode.

Set it up

You need at least one Snap in Memories, or a photo shared from your camera roll into Snapchat. Then:

1. Swipe up from the camera screen to open Memories.
2. Press and hold a Snap. On iPhone, tap More, then Hide Snap (My Eyes Only). On Android, tap Hide.
3. Tap Quick Setup.
4. Choose a 4-digit passcode and enter it twice. For letters and numbers instead, tap Use Passphrase at the bottom of the screen.
5. Acknowledge that Snapchat cannot recover a forgotten passcode, tap Continue, then Finish.

A passphrase is the better choice. Four digits is 10,000 options, and people around you may guess them.

Move Snaps and photos in

From Memories:

1. Tap the Memories selector icon at the top.
2. Tap the Snaps and Stories you want to move.
3. Tap Hide Snaps (My Eyes Only) at the bottom, then Move.

Snapchat notes that only photo Snaps and video Snaps shorter than 10 seconds can move to My Eyes Only. On iOS, you can also turn on Save to My Eyes Only by Default in Settings, under Memories.

Snapchat says you can move photos and videos from your camera roll too. Its help pages do not say that the original leaves your camera roll. Check Photos or your gallery afterward. On iPhone, a photo you delete stays in Recently Deleted for 30 days, so empty that too if the photo should be gone. Our Recently Deleted guide has the steps.

The risk: a forgotten passcode deletes everything

This is the part to read twice. Snapchat’s help center gives these steps for a forgotten passcode:

1. Swipe left in Memories to My Eyes Only.
2. Tap Options, then Forgot Passcode.
3. Enter your Snapchat account password.
4. Acknowledge that creating a new passcode “will delete all Snaps in My Eyes Only”.
5. Set the new passcode.

Snapchat adds: “To respect your privacy, Snapchat Support cannot recover forgotten My Eyes Only passcodes or deleted Snaps for you.” There is no recovery key and no email reset. The reset gives you a working tab, empty.

That is the price of a lock that Snap cannot open. If you keep important photos there, write the passcode down somewhere safe, and keep a second copy of anything you could not stand to lose.

What My Eyes Only does not protect

• Your camera roll. Copies there open with your phone’s own lock.
• Chats. A Snap you sent lives on in the chat and with the person who got it. See can someone screenshot a view once photo.
• Your Snapchat password. It is what resets My Eyes Only. The reset deletes the Snaps rather than revealing them, so a person who knows your password can empty the tab but not read it.

When a separate vault makes more sense

My Eyes Only is a good fit for Snaps. It is a weaker fit for a whole private photo library, for three reasons. Long videos cannot go in. A forgotten code is final, with no recovery path. And the Snaps live inside a social app.

York Vault keeps photos, videos of any length and files behind its own code. A 12-word recovery key opens your library if you forget the code. Export of everything stays free on every plan. See export everything. It is on iPhone, iPad and Android. Download York Vault.