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Hide intimate photos from a past relationship on iPhone

A partner who knows your passcode can open the Hidden album. Move old intimate photos into a vault with its own secret, and delete the copies left in Photos.

Keeping photos from a past relationship is your choice. This page is only about where they sit on your phone.

If your partner knows your passcode, the Hidden album does not keep them out. Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode opens it. The passcode also opens Recently Deleted, where a deleted photo stays for 30 days.

Check first whether anyone watches your phone

If the person who knows your passcode also tracks you or controls your phone, a change in settings may be noticed. Think about your safety before you start. Apple’s Safety Check shows what you share with people and apps. Open Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then tap Safety Check.

Move the photos in 6 steps

  1. Create a Vault9 vault. Pick a pattern or passphrase that is not your phone passcode, and not close to it.
  2. Import the photos and videos from the Photos app. The picker does not show the Hidden album, so unhide a photo before you import it.
  3. Open a few items in the vault. Check that they work.
  4. Delete the originals in Photos. Vault9 never deletes them for you.
  5. Empty Recently Deleted. In Photos, tap Collections, then Recently Deleted under Utilities. Tap View Album, unlock, tap Select, choose the items and delete them.
  6. Look in Messages. Apple saves photos that people send you to your library. To stop this, go to Settings, Apps, Messages, Shared with You, and turn off Photos. Then remove the old pictures from the threads.

With iCloud Photos on, a delete on this iPhone also deletes the photo on your other devices. Check those devices for copies you did not expect.

What stays visible

Vault9 does not hide itself. Its icon sits on your Home Screen like any app, and we have no disguised icon. A partner who scrolls through your apps will see it.

A wrong pattern shows an error. There is no decoy vault that opens with a second pattern. And Vault9 does not protect a vault that is open on an unlocked phone. The app locks when you leave it, when you lock it, or after the Auto-lock time. Copies in Photos, Messages or other apps are not in the vault.

For a longer walk through the same move, read how to store intimate photos on iPhone with a separate lock. A long passphrase is harder to guess than a pattern, and that matters if the other person knows how you think.

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