How to password-protect photos on iPhone.

Quick answer: Apple Photos does not give each album its own password. The Hidden collection uses Face ID, Touch ID, or your iPhone passcode. You can also require that same device authentication to open the Photos app. A separate vault can use its own six-digit passcode. Importing into a vault does not delete copies that remain in Photos or elsewhere.

What “password-protect photos” usually means on iPhone

People searching this phrase are usually trying to do one of these:

1. Keep selected photos out of the main library view.
2. Stop someone who picks up an unlocked phone from browsing Photos.
3. Keep a private set of photos behind a code that is not the same as the device passcode.

iPhone’s built-in tools cover the first goal and part of the second. They do not create a separate encryption password for a photo set inside Apple Photos.

Use your iPhone passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID

Your device passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID already gates the phone. Anyone who can unlock the iPhone can generally open Photos, unless you add the controls below. This is the baseline. It is not a photo-specific password.

Hide photos in Apple Photos

1. Open a photo or video in Photos.
2. Tap the More button, then tap Hide.
3. Confirm if asked. The item moves to the Hidden collection.

The Hidden collection is locked with Face ID, Touch ID, or your iPhone passcode. You can turn off Show Hidden Album under Settings → Apps → Photos so the collection is harder to spot. That does not create a new password, and it does not delete the items.

• It is not a separate passcode from your device unlock.
• If iCloud Photos is on, hiding syncs that hidden state to your other devices on the same Apple Account.
• Hiding is not deletion. Recently Deleted is a different path.
• Copies in Messages, Files, Shared Albums, or another app are unchanged.

For Apple’s current steps, see Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone. Our guide to hiding photos on iPhone walks through selecting several items and finding the collection again.

Lock or hide the Photos app

iPhone can require Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode to open an app, or hide an app from the Home Screen. That can stop casual browsing of Photos on an unlocked phone. The steps are in how to lock or hide an app on iPhone.

• App lock still uses your device authentication, not a photo-only code.
• It does not move individual images into a separately encrypted store.
• Widgets, Lock Screen wallpaper, Messages attachments, and Files copies can still surface images.

When a separate vault code fits better

Choose a separate vault when you want a different code from your device passcode, more than one private space, or encryption of the stored copy rather than a hidden album entry.

Ego is free on the App Store for iPhone with iOS 26 or later. Each vault has its own name and six-digit passcode. Unlocking opens only that vault. The App Store listing describes AES-256 authenticated encryption for content, vault names, and file details at rest. Local access also needs a device-only key held by the original iPhone. Ego has no account, advertising, or analytics. The first vault is free. Alter Ego, an in-app purchase, adds unlimited vaults, optional encrypted iCloud backup, and on-device Secure Smart Search.

Read how Ego describes its on-device encrypted spaces and recovery limits before moving anything important. For a wider checklist, see how to choose an iPhone vault and what an encrypted photo vault keeps separate.

Download Ego on the App Store.

Before you move private photos

• Importing into a vault does not delete originals in Photos, Files, Messages, or backups. Remove leftover copies yourself if that matters. See whether importing deletes the original.
• Sharing or saving a copy outside a vault leaves that copy outside the vault’s encryption.
• Recovery depends on the copy you keep. Local recovery and manual exports stay on the original iPhone. Optional iCloud backup is designed for a completed snapshot plus its recovery key. A signed physical-device restore has not been verified. Chreia Labs cannot reset Ego credentials or decrypt your backup.
• Lock Screen wallpaper and Photos widgets can still show library images. See how to keep private photos off your Lock Screen and widgets.

Compare the built-in collection with a separate vault in Hidden album versus an encrypted vault.