How to really hide photos and videos on your iPhone or iPad

With iOS 8, Apple made it possible to hide pictures on iOS devices by putting them in a designated folder. This is done by opening a photo, holding down a finger on the image, and tapping "Hide" in the pop-up menu bubble that appears. People who have actually used the feature, however, know that it doesn't really do anything to keep the supposedly hidden photos private. In a nutshell, images are removed from the user's Collections and Camera Roll, but they're still available in an album conspicuously named "Hidden". And no, there's no password required to access the content.

Needless to say, Apple's approach to hiding pictures doesn't work for anyone who keeps sensitive content, such as spicy photos of themselves or significant others, on their iOS device. (Yes, we're looking at you.) That's why we thought we'd suggest an alternative solution. Read on to learn how to really hide photos on your iPhone or iPad without the need to have it jailbroken or hacked in any way.

To really hide pictures or video on your iPhone, you'll need an app for the purpose. One such app is Secret Photo & Video Calculator. As the name implies, the software is disguised as an innocent-looking calculator, and even appears labeled as Calculator+ in your apps list. Punch in your passcode, however, and you'll be granted access to the app's secret image-hiding abilities. As a matter of fact, Secret Photo & Video Calculator can also store hidden notes, contact information, and browser bookmarks, but for the purpose of this guide, we'll focus solely on using the app to hide images. 

Before we proceed any further, we must inform you that the number of images you can hide with the app's free version is limited. It is also important to mention that hidden images can only be shared or exported with the paid version of the app. And if you choose to delete the app, your hidden images will be removed along with it. Alright, with this disclaimer out of the way, let's get to work! 

Here's another app that gets the photo-hiding job done well – Photo+Video Vault, which works in a similar fashion. On one hand, the software doesn't go the extra mile to disguise itself as another, less suspicious app, and the full-screen ads it displays are likely to annoy you. But on the other hand, the software doesn't limit your ability to export hidden images, and the built-in slideshow mode can be very... convenient in certain cases, if you know what we mean. 

Photo+Video Vault limits the number of images you can hide, but the restriction can be lifted by purchasing the full version of the app. Doing so will also disable the aforementioned advertisements. Take a look at the slideshow below to see the software in action.

If, for whatever reason, these two apps don't work well or can't suit your needs, give HiFolder a try. It works in a similar fashion – by storing your private images locally in its password-protected vault. As the previous two apps, there's a limit on the number of files you can store using the app's free version, and it stands at 30 pictures and 5 videos. Get the app's Pro version to lift the limitation.

Download: HiFolder Lite (Free), HiFolder Pro ($2.99)