Google Photos Locked Folder, set up, opened and backed up.

Google Photos has a Locked Folder for photos and videos you want out of sight. Open the Google Photos app, tap Collections, then Locked, and unlock with your phone’s screen lock. To put something in, select it, tap Add to, then Move to Locked Folder, then Move. Locked Folder works on Android 6 and later.

Locked Folder is about keeping photos out of the rest of Google Photos. It is not a separate vault with its own password. Anyone who knows your screen lock can open it, and what you’ve saved only on the phone can be lost in a reset. This guide covers both.

What Locked Folder is

Google’s help page says Locked Folder is a place in Google Photos where items stay hidden and are protected by your screen lock. Items you move there:

• don’t show in search, albums, shared items or new memories;
• are removed from existing memories and from draft print orders;
• can’t be opened by other apps, and don’t show on smart displays or Chromecast (Google says this can take up to an hour);
• unlike Archive, stay hidden. Archived photos still show up in search.

Locked Folder is part of Google Photos, so there is no extra app. Google says Locked Folder isn’t available on fully managed devices (such as a work phone) or for certain account types. Contact your device or account admin if you can’t find it.

Set up Locked Folder

1. Make sure your phone has a screen lock (PIN, pattern, password or biometric). Locked Folder needs one, and you can’t give it a separate password.
2. Open Google Photos and tap Collections.
3. Tap Locked, then Set up Locked Folder.
4. Follow the prompts and unlock with your device.
5. Choose whether to turn on backup for Locked Folder. You can change this later.

Google also says the first time you move a photo in on Android, it prompts you to set the folder up.

Move photos into Locked Folder

From the Photos app

1. Open Google Photos and select the photos or videos.
2. Tap Add to, then Move to Locked Folder, then Move.

From the Pixel camera (Pixel 4 and later)

1. In the Pixel camera app, press and hold the preview of your last photo.
2. Tap Locked Folder.

A few things to know before you move anything:

• Items in Trash must be restored first.
• Only the original moves. Copies and edits you made earlier stay where they are, including in Trash. If you shared a photo and someone saved it, their copy stays with them.
• If backup for Locked Folder is off, Google says the photos’ existing Google Photos backups are deleted when you move them. After that, Google Photos keeps no cloud copy, and the Locked Folder copy on this phone may be your only one.
• Inside Locked Folder you can’t add items to albums or photo books, edit them, share them from Google Photos or other apps, or move them to Trash. To do any of that, move the item out first.

Open Locked Folder

On your phone, open Google Photos, tap Collections, then Locked, and unlock with your screen lock. That’s the answer to “how do I access Locked Folder”: it lives in Collections, not in the main photo grid. On a computer, open Google Photos and click Locked Folder.

To get a photo out, open Locked Folder, unlock it, select the item, and move it out of the folder. You can also delete it permanently from there.

Back up Locked Folder

Backup is optional. To turn it on:

1. Make sure Google Photos backup is on first. Locked Folder backup depends on it.
2. Tap your profile picture or initial, then Photos settings, then Backup, then Back up Locked Folder.
3. Open Locked Folder, confirm your screen lock when asked, and switch the setting on.

If you’d rather not turn on automatic backup, you can back up single items. Open Collections > Locked, unlock it, press and hold the items, and tap the backup icon.

Google says backed-up Locked Folder items can be viewed on your other devices when you’re signed in to the same Google Account, and that they count toward your storage. Google’s announcement says you open them on those devices with the device passcode.

Items you don’t back up stay only on that phone.

Uninstall, clear data or switch phones

Google’s help page is direct about this. Locked Folder items that aren’t backed up are lost if you:

• uninstall Google Photos;
• clear the Google Photos app’s data;
• lose or damage the phone;
• factory reset the phone, when backup is off.

If backup is off, those items also aren’t included in USB-to-USB or cloud data transfers when you switch phones. Items that are backed up can be opened on another device you’ve signed in to with the same Google Account.

Google’s page doesn’t say how long it takes a backed-up item to show on a new phone, so check Locked Folder on the new device before you wipe the old one.

What Locked Folder protects, and what it doesn’t

What Google says it does. Items are hidden from the main Photos views, from other apps and from sharing. Google’s help page says Locked Folder is protected by Google Photos’ standard encryption practices and kept behind your device screen lock.

What the page doesn’t tell you. Google’s help page doesn’t give technical detail beyond that. It doesn’t describe how the folder’s contents are encrypted or who holds the keys, so this guide doesn’t either.

What it doesn’t protect against:

• Anyone who knows your screen lock. Google says anyone who knows it can open Locked Folder. If a partner, friend or family member knows your PIN, they can open it.
• Losing unbacked-up photos. Unbacked-up items are gone after an uninstall, clear data or factory reset. That includes a photo that was already backed up to Google Photos before you moved it, if Locked Folder backup was off when you moved it, because Google deletes the existing backup.
• Copies you made earlier. Moving only moves the original. A copy in another album, a chat app or your Trash is still there.
• Photos you already shared. If someone saved a photo you sent them, moving yours doesn’t change theirs.

What it does well. It’s part of the Google Photos app, so there is nothing extra to install. It keeps sensitive photos out of the grid, out of search and out of other apps, so they don’t pop up while you’re showing someone your gallery. Backup is optional, and you can choose it per item.

If you want a heavier option on a Samsung phone, see the Samsung Secure Folder guide. For a comparison of every built-in option, see how to hide photos on Android. Before you share anything you move out, you can check its hidden data.

Questions

Where is the Locked Folder in Google Photos?

Open Google Photos, tap Collections, then Locked. On a computer, click Locked Folder.

What is the Locked Folder password?

It’s your phone’s screen lock. Google says you can’t set a different password for Locked Folder.

Which phones support Locked Folder?

Android 6 and later. Google says moving photos in from the Pixel camera only works on Pixel 4 and later. It isn’t available on fully managed devices or certain account types.

Is Locked Folder backed up?

Only if you turn on Back up Locked Folder. Without it, items exist only on that phone.

What happens to Locked Folder if I uninstall Google Photos?

Items that aren’t backed up are lost. Backed-up items stay in your Google Account.

Can I share a photo from Locked Folder?

Not directly. Move it out of Locked Folder first, then share it.