How to hide photos on vivo and iQOO (File Safe and album encryption)
Hide photos in vivo’s Albums app, move them into File Safe or lock the whole gallery, see them again, and avoid losing them to a forgotten privacy password.
· 9 min read
vivo and iQOO phones have three built-in ways to keep photos private: hiding them in the Albums app, moving them into File Safe, and locking the whole Albums app. Here's how each one works, how to see hidden photos again, and the one thing to set up before you trust any of them: your security questions.
Menu names vary between Funtouch OS and OriginOS versions. If a step doesn't match your phone, search Settings for "privacy" and you'll land in the right place.
The options at a glance
| Option | What it does | What opens it |
|---|---|---|
| Hide in Albums | Takes photos out of the main albums view | Nothing, unless you turn on a password check |
| File Safe | Moves photos into a safe in File Manager, which vivo calls encrypting them | Your privacy password |
| Lock Albums | Locks the whole Albums app | Your privacy password |
| Google Photos Locked Folder | Moves photos into a folder in Google Photos | Your screen lock |
Start with the privacy password
File Safe and app locking share one privacy password, and when you set it, the phone asks for security questions. Those answers are your only way back in: vivo says that if you forget both the password and the answers, the files can't be recovered.
To set it, open Settings, tap Fingerprint, face and password (on some phones it's under Security), then Privacy and app encryption. Use a password that's different from your screen lock, and write the security answers down somewhere that isn't your phone.
Option 1: hide photos in the Albums app
On newer versions of vivo's Albums app, you can hide single photos:
- Open Albums and select the photos or videos.
- Tap More, then Hide.
They leave the main albums view. To see them again, open the Albums app's settings and tap Hidden photos. In the same settings, turn on Verify password when viewing hidden photos: without it, anyone holding your phone can open the hidden photos in a few taps.
Option 2: File Safe
File Safe lives in the File Manager app, and on some phones it's called Private Safe.
- Open File Manager and tap File Safe.
- If you haven't yet, set your privacy password and security questions.
- Tap Move in, choose your photos and videos, and confirm.
The photos leave your gallery and only open inside File Safe. To take them out again, open File Safe, select them, tap Edit and choose Move out. Be careful with Delete in there: vivo says photos deleted from File Safe can't be recovered.
Option 3: lock the Albums app
vivo doesn't let you lock single albums, but you can lock the whole Albums app. Open Settings, go to Privacy and app encryption as above, and turn on encryption for Albums. The app then asks for your privacy password every time it opens. Our guide to vivo's app lock covers the details, and hiding apps on vivo covers taking an app out of sight altogether.
That stops someone scrolling through your gallery, but your photos are still ordinary files: File Manager, Google Photos and other apps can still show them. Our guide to locking your gallery explains what a lock leaves open.
Option 4: Google Photos Locked Folder
If you use Google Photos, open it, tap Collections, then Locked, and move photos in from there. It opens with your phone's screen lock rather than a separate password, so it's only as private as your screen lock. See Locked Folder vs a vault app for the details.
How to see hidden photos on vivo
- Hidden in Albums: the Albums app's settings, then Hidden photos.
- In File Safe: File Manager, then File Safe, and your privacy password.
- In Locked Folder: Google Photos, then Collections, then Locked.
Still missing? A photo might be in the trash or a hidden folder instead. Our guide to finding hidden photos on Android covers every place to look.
If you forget the privacy password
Open Settings, go to Privacy and app encryption, tap Forget password and answer your security questions to set a new one.
If you can't answer them either, vivo's only way to clear the privacy password is Erase all data, which wipes the phone, File Safe included. So before you try anything else, make sure what's in File Safe has a copy somewhere else.
Where vivo's options fall short
- Security answers. They're easy to forget, and the people closest to you may know or guess them.
- One phone only. Don't count on File Safe being in a backup unless you've restored one and seen it. If the phone is lost, broken or wiped, its contents can go with it.
- The next phone. File Safe only exists on vivo and iQOO phones, so switching brands means moving everything out first.
- Copies elsewhere. Hiding a photo on your phone doesn't touch copies Google Photos already backed up. Here's where those copies hide.
Hiding photos on vivo with Hidey
Hidey is a vault app that works the same on vivo and iQOO phones as on any other Android phone. It encrypts each photo on your phone, checks the encrypted copy, then deletes the original, so it's gone from Albums, File Manager and every other app. The vault has its own PIN or password, and fingerprint unlock if you want it.
Hidey doesn't use security questions. It backs up to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive, free and encrypted before upload, so your photos survive a lost phone and move to your next one, whatever the brand, and if you forget your PIN, you can reset it through Google after a 24-hour wait. That also means whoever controls your Google account could reset it, unless you turn on zero-knowledge mode (Pro) and keep a recovery key instead. For every option side by side, see how to hide photos on Android.