Which apps can see all my photos, and how do I limit them?

You installed an app to edit one photo or post one picture, and it asked for your photos. You tapped Allow without much thought. Months later, you wonder how many apps can read every picture on your phone. That includes the ones you hid. The answer is in your settings, and it takes a few minutes to check. This page shows what full photo access gives an app and how to find the apps that have it. It also shows how to cut it back on iPhone and Android. We checked each step against Apple’s and Google’s own pages on 2026-10-08.

What full access lets an app do

An app with full access to your photo library can read every photo and video in it. That includes the ones you take later. That includes the details inside each file. Apple’s safety guide notes that photos carry location coordinates “so that you can later search for them in the Photos app based on the location they were taken.” An app with full access can read those too.

The Hidden album is not hidden from apps. Apple’s developer documentation describes an option for apps that read your library. By default, the read leaves out hidden photos. But “if the value is true, fetches include all assets regardless of their hidden state.” The Hidden album keeps photos off your own screens. It does not keep them from an app you trusted with full access. Our Hidden album guide covers what else it does and does not do.

Locked Folder is different. Google says items in Google Photos Locked Folder “won’t be available to other apps on your device that have access to your photos and videos.” See our Locked Folder guide.

Check which apps have access on iPhone

1. Go to Settings, then tap Privacy & Security.
2. Tap Photos. You see each app that asked for access.
3. Tap an app and change what it can see. Apple’s safety guide says “for photos you can also change access given to apps”, not only turn it on or off.

An app does not appear on that list until it asks. Apple notes one more reason to check. Someone else may have set up your phone or known your passcode, and “you want to make sure they haven’t changed your settings.”

Since iOS 14, iPhone has a limited Photos library. Apple says it “lets users select specific assets and resources to share with an app.” For most apps, that is all they need.

See how often apps use what you gave them

1. Go to Settings, then Privacy & Security.
2. Scroll down and tap App Privacy Report, then turn it on.

The report shows how many times each app used privacy-sensitive data or sensors in the past 7 days, and when. It starts to collect only after you turn it on, so check back in a few days. The data stays encrypted on your device.

Check which apps have access on Android

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Security & privacy, then Privacy, then Permission manager.
3. Tap Photos and videos. Tap an app, then choose its setting.

To check one app at a time, open Settings, tap Apps, tap the app, then tap Permissions. Menu names differ on Samsung and other phones. Under Unused app settings, turn on Pause app activity if unused to remove permissions from apps you stopped using.

Android 14 added Selected Photos Access. Android Developers says it “allows users to grant apps access to specific images and videos in their library, rather than granting access to all media of a given type.” The permission dialog offers it next to full access and no access.

Prefer the photo picker

Most apps do not need your library at all. They need one photo, once.

• On iPhone, Apple’s photo picker “is private by default”. Apple says “the user doesn’t need to explicitly authorize your app to select photos.”
• On Android, the photo picker gives an app access to “only selected images and videos, instead of their entire media library.”

So if an app asks for full access to post a single picture, choose selected photos or pick through the system picker. Taking access away later stops new reads. It does not delete copies the app already uploaded to its servers.

Where York Vault fits

York Vault asks for each permission only when a feature needs it, with a plain screen that says why. To add photos by hand, it uses the system photo picker, which needs no access to your whole library. Full access is only for the sensitive photo scan, suggestions and removing originals from Photos. If you say no, York Vault tells you what still works.

Once your private photos are in York Vault, they are not in your photo library. An app with full photo access reads your library, so it cannot read what York Vault holds. York Vault encrypts each item on your phone, on iPhone and Android. We cannot see your items either, as what we can and cannot see explains.

York Vault does run an attribution tool for its own ads. It gets a short, fixed list of events and never sees your items or names. The ad measurement page lists each event.

The originals stay in Photos, and visible to apps with full access, until you remove them. The import and cleanup page shows how York Vault checks each copy first. Then empty Recently Deleted with our Recently Deleted guide. Download York Vault for iPhone or Android.