How do I stop Memories from showing my private photos?

A memory pops up with music and a title like “Weekend” or “Together”. Halfway through, it shows a photo you never wanted in a slideshow. Maybe someone was watching with you, or the memory played on the TV. Memories come from your own library, built by your phone without asking. This page shows how to take a photo out of a memory and keep a person or a day out of new ones. It also shows how to turn memories off. We checked each step against Apple’s and Google’s own pages on 2026-10-08.

How memories pick your photos

On iPhone, the Memories collection holds “personalized collections of photos and videos” about “a significant person, pet, place, activity, or event from your photo library.” Each memory can play as a memory movie with music. Photos uses the same choices for featured photos and the Photos widget. Our page on the photo widget covers that side.

Google Photos shows featured memories in a carousel above the photo grid. Google says “some featured memories can be generated from your on-device local content”. So photos that never went to the cloud can appear too. Other gallery apps can make their own slideshows, with their own settings.

A memory movie can also leave your phone. Apple’s guide shows how to send one with AirDrop, Messages or Mail, or play it on a TV with AirPlay. A private photo inside it goes along.

Take one photo out of an iPhone memory

1. Open Photos and tap Collections.
2. Swipe under Memories, or tap Memories to see them all.
3. Tap the play button on the memory, then tap the screen.
4. Tap the button that opens the photo grid. Deselect the photo you want out, then tap the button to save.

This changes that memory only. The photo stays in your library, and a later memory can pick it again. To keep it out of every memory, hide it. In Photos, touch and hold the photo, tap Hide, then confirm. Apple says hidden photos do not appear “anywhere else in Photos”. Our Hidden album guide explains what that album protects and what it does not.

Keep a person, place or day out of iPhone memories

Feature less from a memory. In Collections, touch and hold a memory, tap Feature Less, then choose Feature This Day Less, Feature This Place Less or Feature a Person Less. The options depend on the memory.

Feature a person less from a photo. Open a photo of the person and tap the More button. Tap Don’t Feature a Person, then choose Feature This Person Less or Never Feature This Person, and tap Confirm.

Delete a memory. Touch and hold the memory, then tap Delete Memory.

Turn memories off. Tap Collections, then tap your account in the top-right corner. Turn off Show Featured Content. To stop only holiday memories, turn off Show Holiday Events.

If you change your mind, the same account screen has Reset Suggested Memories and Reset People & Pets Suggestions.

Google Photos memories on Android

Google gives more controls than Apple. All of them start in the Google Photos app.

1. Remove one photo. In the featured memories carousel, tap a memory and swipe to the photo. Tap More, tap Hide, then tap Remove this photo from this memory.
2. Remove a whole memory. In the same menu, tap Remove this memory.
3. Hide a date. Tap your profile photo, then Photos settings, Preferences, Memories, Hide dates, and add the dates.
4. Hide a face. In Preferences, Memories, tap Hide faces. Under Show less or Blocked, tap Select faces. Google says a face set to Show less “may still appear in group photos”. Blocked keeps it out of group photos too.
5. Turn memories off. In Preferences, Memories, Memory types, turn off Time-based memories and Themed memories. Then turn off the types under Creations.

Google adds that “face hiding may not work perfectly in all photos” and that changes can take some time.

To keep a photo out of every memory, move it to Locked Folder. Google says items there “won’t appear in the Photos grid, memories, search or albums.” Our Locked Folder guide covers setup and its backup switch. For other options, see how to lock photos on Android.

Why hiding is not enough for some photos

Hiding solves the slideshow. It does not add a lock. The Hidden album opens with your iPhone passcode, and Locked Folder opens with your Android screen lock. If someone knows that code, read what to do when someone knows your passcode.

Some photos also live in more than one place. With iCloud Photos, a photo is on every device signed in to your Apple Account. Apple says a photo you hide on one device is hidden on the others too. A photo you deleted sits in Recently Deleted for 30 days.

Where York Vault fits

York Vault does not make memories, slideshows or suggestions from your items. Your items sit in its own encrypted storage, not in Apple Photos or the Android gallery. Memories cannot use what they cannot see. This works the same on iPhone and Android.

The move has two steps. First add the photos to York Vault. Then remove the originals from your photo app, because memories still use them while they are there. York Vault removes each original only after it checks its copy. The import and cleanup page shows the whole flow. On iPhone, empty Recently Deleted afterwards with our Recently Deleted guide.

Not sure which photos to move? The sensitive photo scan looks through your camera roll on the phone. It groups IDs, documents, private screenshots and intimate photos for you to check. Nothing leaves the phone.

New photos can skip the library entirely. The York Vault camera saves straight into York Vault. Nothing goes to Photos. Download York Vault for iPhone or Android.