Google Photos Locked Folder missing or empty? How to get your photos back
Where Google Photos’ Locked Folder lives now, why it can look empty after a new phone or reset, what can be recovered, and how to stop it happening again.
· 6 min read
Opened Google Photos and found Locked Folder empty, or couldn't find it at all? Usually the photos are fine, just somewhere you didn't look. Sometimes they're gone, and it helps to know which before you try anything. Here's where Locked Folder lives now, why it can look empty, and what can and can't come back.
Where to find Locked Folder now
Google has moved Locked Folder around between versions of the app. On Android, open Google Photos, tap Collections at the bottom, then Locked, and unlock it with your phone's screen lock. On a computer, it's Locked Folder at photos.google.com, but only for items that were backed up.
If the Locked Folder option isn't showing
- Update Google Photos. Older versions kept it under Library → Utilities.
- Set a screen lock. Locked Folder uses your phone's screen lock, so it can't be set up without one.
- Check your account. Google says Locked Folder isn't available on fully managed devices, such as some work phones, or for certain account types.
Why Locked Folder can look empty
You're signed in to a different Google account
Locked Folder belongs to a Google account. Tap your profile picture in Google Photos and check you're in the account you used before.
You've switched phones, and backup was off
Locked Folder's backup is optional, and many people never turn it on. With it off, the photos live only on the phone where you put them, and Google says they aren't moved by phone-to-phone or cloud transfers. If the old phone still works, open Locked Folder there and turn on its backup, or move the photos out and transfer them yourself. Our guide to moving hidden photos to a new phone covers both.
Google Photos was reinstalled, or its data cleared
Google says that items you haven't backed up are lost if you uninstall Google Photos, clear its app data or factory reset the phone, and the same goes for a damaged or lost phone.
The photos are in Archive, not Locked Folder
Archive and Locked Folder are easy to mix up. Archived photos only leave your main photo view, and they still show up in search. Tap Collections, then Archive, to check.
What can be recovered
- Backed-up items come back on any phone or computer signed in to the same account, under Locked Folder.
- Items only on an old phone that still works can be moved or backed up from there.
- Items deleted from Locked Folder can't come back. Locked Folder can't send items to the trash, only delete them permanently.
- Items that weren't backed up, from a phone that was reset, lost or had Google Photos' data cleared, are gone. Recovery software can't bring them back, so be wary of any tool that promises otherwise.
One more catch to know about: Google says that when you move a photo into Locked Folder with its backup off, the photo's existing Google Photos backup is deleted. A photo that was safely in the cloud before can end up on one phone only.
How to stop it happening again
- Turn on Locked Folder backup: in Google Photos, tap your profile picture, then Photos settings, Backup and Back up Locked Folder. Anyone who can sign in to your Google account can then open it on their own device, so weigh that up, as our Locked Folder comparison explains.
- Check it before you switch phones or reset one, and keep the old phone until Locked Folder shows up on the new one.
- Keep a second copy of anything that really matters.
Keeping private photos with a backup you control
The lesson of an empty Locked Folder is that hidden photos need their own backup, made before anything goes wrong. A vault app like Hidey keeps photos behind its own PIN rather than your screen lock, encrypts them on your phone, and backs them up for free to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive, encrypted before upload. On a new phone, you sign in and enter your PIN, and they come back.
The trade-off to know: that backup also lets you reset a forgotten PIN through Google after a 24-hour wait, so whoever controls your Google account could reset it too, unless you turn on zero-knowledge mode (Pro). For other places photos go missing, see our guide to finding hidden photos.