The Hidden album takes a photo off your main grid, and your iPhone passcode opens it. A vault app such as Vault9 stores an encrypted copy that opens with its own secret. Which one fits depends on who you hide the photos from.
What each one does
| Hidden album | Vault9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the photo lives | In Photos | In the Vault9 app, encrypted |
| What opens it | Face ID, Touch ID or passcode | Pattern or passphrase and Secret Key (or Face ID, if on) |
| Your phone passcode opens it | Yes | No |
| If you forget how to open it | Use your passcode | We cannot reset it. Your Emergency Kit may hold it. |
Apple says a hidden photo no longer shows in the Library, in your other albums or in the Photos widget. On iOS 16 and later the album is locked by default. With iCloud Photos on, a photo you hide on one device is hidden on your others too.
Our advice
Use the Hidden album when the goal is a tidy grid and your passcode is private. For example, it keeps a surprise gift photo from showing up on the Photos widget.
Use a vault when someone who knows your passcode is the problem: a partner, a parent, a child who borrows the phone. The Hidden album opens for them. Your passcode does not open a vault. You can also do both, and tidy some photos while you lock others.
What a vault costs you
A vault is more work, and it has limits that the Hidden album does not.
- You move the photos yourself. Unhide them first, because the photo picker does not show the Hidden album. Then delete the originals in Photos. The steps are in the hide photos guide.
- If you forget your pattern or passphrase and did not write it on your Emergency Kit, the vault is lost.
- Vault9 does not protect a vault on an unlocked phone, or against malware. It has no sync, no iPad or Mac app, and no decoy or duress mode.
Two more facts. You can export your photos out of the vault to the iOS share sheet at any time. And the vault is not in your iPhone backup or in Quick Start: its only copy outside the phone is its own iCloud backup, which does not hold the Secret Key.
Sources
- Apple Support: Hide photos with the Hidden album (checked 2026-11-06)
- Apple Support: Hide photos and videos on Apple devices (checked 2026-11-06)
