Secure Folder keeps popping up? How to stop it, and other Secure Folder fixes

Restart a Samsung Galaxy phone that has Secure Folder set up, and a notice pops up saying Secure Folder is locked. You can't swipe it away, and it comes back after every restart. It isn't a fault. Here's why it happens, the ways to stop it, and fixes for Secure Folder's other habits: asking for your password all the time, and vanishing from your Apps screen.

The steps follow Samsung's own help for One UI 8. On older phones, Secure Folder's settings are under Biometrics and security instead of Security and privacy → More security settings. New to Secure Folder? Our Secure Folder guide covers setting it up.

Why the "Secure Folder locked" notice keeps coming back

Since an update in late 2022, apps inside Secure Folder don't run after a restart until you unlock Secure Folder yourself. Until then they can't send notifications either, and the notice is there to tell you so. Samsung explained the change in a reply to owners, shared on its community forum: it was made to strengthen Secure Folder's security, the notice only appears after a restart, and once you unlock Secure Folder it doesn't come back until the next one.

So every way of stopping the notice changes something else. You can unlock once, let the folder unlock itself, or keep it encrypted on purpose.

How to stop the notice

Unlock Secure Folder once after each restart. Tap the notice, or open Secure Folder, and enter your PIN, pattern or password. The notice goes, and the apps inside start working and sending notifications again. This keeps Samsung's extra protection, and it's the fix Samsung itself points to.

Let Secure Folder unlock itself. Open Secure Folder, tap ⋮, then Settings and Other security settings, where Samsung keeps the data decryption option, and turn on automatic data decryption. Owners report that the notice stops. The trade-off is the one Samsung's update was made to avoid: after a restart, Secure Folder's data is decrypted without waiting for you to unlock Secure Folder.

Keep it encrypted on purpose. Secure Folder's ⋮ menu has an Encrypt option. Samsung says that once Secure Folder is encrypted, all its apps and their notifications stop working until you open it and tap Decrypt. Some owners report that a folder left encrypted shows no notice after a restart. It suits a Secure Folder you only open now and then.

Turn the notification off. Some owners long-press the notice and turn off that type of notification. It works on some phones and versions and not others, and the apps inside still won't run until you unlock Secure Folder.

Missing notifications from Secure Folder apps

If apps in Secure Folder go quiet while it's locked, not just after a restart, open Secure Folder's settings and turn on Notifications. Samsung says it lets notifications from apps in Secure Folder appear even when Secure Folder is locked.

Secure Folder keeps asking for your password

That's Auto lock at work: Secure Folder locks itself when you've told it to, and you unlock it again each time.

Open Secure Folder, tap ⋮, then Settings.
Tap Auto lock Secure Folder and choose a different option from the list.

To unlock faster, turn on fingerprint unlock in Lock type, in the same settings, on phones that support it. And when you're done, ⋮ → Lock and exit locks Secure Folder straight away, so you're not relying on the timer. Samsung says Lock and exit needs the latest version of One UI 8.

Secure Folder disappeared, or its icon is missing

Usually it's hidden, not gone. Samsung gives two ways to bring it back:

Quick Settings. Swipe down to open the Quick Settings panel and tap Secure Folder. The same button hides and unhides it. If it isn't there, add it to the panel.
Settings. Open Settings → Security and privacy → More security settings → Secure Folder, enter your PIN, pattern or password and turn on Add Secure Folder to Apps screen.

Secure Folder can also wear a different name, colour and icon (⋮ → Customize), so it may be on your Apps screen under a name you didn't expect. Apps hidden from your Home screen work differently: here's how to find hidden apps on Samsung.

If Secure Folder really is gone, because it was uninstalled or the phone was reset, its contents went with it. Samsung no longer backs up Secure Folder, so photos that were only inside it usually can't be brought back. Our guide to Secure Folder's missing backup explains what still works.

If you forget the Secure Folder PIN

If Reset with Samsung account was on, enter a wrong PIN, tap Forgot PIN (or Forgot pattern or Forgot password), then Reset, and sign in to your Samsung account to set a new one. If it was off, Samsung says you can't get back into Secure Folder: the only option is to remove it and set up a new one, and what was inside is lost. If it's off now, turn it on in Lock type while you still know your PIN. Our guide to a forgotten Secure Folder password goes through every option.

If you've had enough of Secure Folder

If you mainly use Secure Folder for private photos and videos, Hidey does that job without its catches. It's a vault app with its own PIN or password, separate from your screen lock, and it encrypts each photo and video you hide, checks the encrypted copy, then deletes the original. There's no notice after a restart: the vault just asks for your PIN, or your fingerprint, when you open it.

Secure Folder no longer makes backups, while Hidey backs up to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive, free and encrypted before upload, and restores on any Android phone, Samsung or not. If you forget your PIN, you can reset it through Google after a 24-hour wait, so whoever controls your Google account could too, unless you turn on zero-knowledge mode (Pro). To see how Samsung's own options compare, read how to hide photos on Samsung and our Private album vs Secure Folder guide.