Oh, back for another round of ‘How do I hide my things’, are we? What’ve you got there? A sense of curiosity? Fear? Dread? Paranoia? Considering recent events, you’re justified in feeling all of that. Privacy is a growing concern, but some solutions fall flat. If you were thinking of how to hide photos on Android without any apps, then it’s a good thing you’ve stumbled upon my article.
These may be the best ways to hide videos on Android without any apps (or pictures even). But they aren’t exactly convenient. It depends on the use case. I’ll give you insights on how to do that with certain phones. Especially with regards to how you can do it without any third-party app. All in simple terms!
The benefit you get from hiding gallery pictures and videos on Android will be the same as that from a third-party app. Only this time, you won’t need to give special permissions! In total, there are 5 best ways to hide photos or videos that don’t involve third-party apps, and they include:
Well, go ahead, and read up on how to hide your stash!
Unlike hiding apps, each phone would have a different way of hiding gallery items. For that reason, I’ve provided the steps for each phone brand.
Even so, if following the steps doesn’t do it for you, then it’s best to assume that your phone lacks in-built features for it. In this case, your last-ditch effort would be to use a File Manager.
Still, here are some ways to hide pictures and videos on Android without apps.
As mentioned above, phones provide features that allow you to hide your phone’s content. Not all phones, though! But if you’ve got a phone with these features, follow the steps for it, and you’ll figure out how to hide photos on Android!
Some of these methods may be a bit more complex than others, but they’re easily reversible. Having said that, the risk of your gallery’s contents being seized by individuals (especially tech-savvy ones) is still real. But it’s better than nothing!
Some Samsung phones — especially the Galaxy S series — have a native “Secure Folder” feature.
It collects all the files you put in there and keeps them hidden from everyone. Since it’s independent of your phone’s launcher type, you’ve got to double-check your Samsung phone’s settings to see if it supports it.
If you’re one of the lucky ones to get the feature, then follow these steps:
Doing this would mean you must get comfortable using the File Manager. Finding and selecting the files you want to store manually can be cumbersome. But that’s, unfortunately, how Secure Folder works.
Some Huawei phones provide a service that is similar to the PrivateSpace service called “File Safe”.
You could use it to store and keep your files hidden. It’s pretty comparable to Samsung’s Secure Folder service as well. You don’t need to sign up to use File Safe, but enabling it would be your first step if it’s your first time using it.
You could also store your pictures and videos in PrivateSpace as well. But deactivating it later can delete everything you’ve stored in it permanently. Here’s how you can set it up.
Xiaomi and Huawei phones operate pretty similarly. To hide apps in your Xiaomi phone, you’ll need to enable the feature first if you haven’t already. They call it the “App Lock” feature.
Unlike the other phones, LG’s smartphones include two ways to hide private videos and photos on Android.
LG has a feature called an app Drawer. The two ways to hide your gallery items is either with or without the App Drawer. We’ll first discuss what to do if you don’t have the feature.
If you have the feature, the Hide Apps option will be absent in the Home Screen settings menu. But, you can do the following:
Either way, it’ll allow you to hide the Gallery app itself. Unfortunately, you can’t hide individual pictures or videos on LG’s smartphones. It’s a major disadvantage when compared to the other phones.
The biggest disadvantage of using built-in features is that these methods aren’t modular.
Meaning not every phone will have the same solution. Tinkering with your phone’s settings is advisable. This will help you understand what to do or how to get something working.
If your phone’s no built-in feature, all’s not lost for you! There are still some ways to hide your gallery pictures and videos. One way is to use a File Manager. Most phones come with one installed already.
File Managers are what you use if you want deeper access to the phone’s system, something you couldn’t do without it.
The user interface is pretty easy to navigate if you carefully follow the steps below. After that, knowing how to hide gallery pictures and videos on Android shouldn’t be too much trouble for you.
You can use it in 4 different ways: Create a system folder; Insert a media file; Compress the images; Remove the file type. We’ll start with the first.
Then, use the File Manager to find the pictures and videos you want to set to private. You can select them in groups and move their location from their current folder to the new folder you created together.
Now, don’t worry; this last part is not complicated. It’s the same as dragging your files from one place to another on your desktop or laptop. In fact, you could plug in your phone to your laptop, do that, and you’d still get the intended results.
Once you’re done, go back to the settings menu, and turn the “Hide System Files” option back on, and that’s it! That’s how you answer the question of how to make a private folder on Android.
I mentioned the bit about “.nomedia files”, which might’ve made you think, “What the heck is that?”
Well, no media files are files with no file extensions or formats. It’s basically a “ghost” file, so to speak, and it’s how you hide specific folders from apps that try to find it.
All you have to do is place the media file in any folder that you want to hide. Doing so will keep the contents of the folder hidden!
This method comes with the dependency you need to install a File Manager. To create a media file, follow the steps below:
Don’t get too excited, though. Note two caveats to the solutions.
Let’s say your File Manager doesn’t have a “Hide System Files” option. Then the hidden media files/folders will remain invisible and inaccessible on your phone.
There’s only one solution to this problem. Plug your phone into your PC, access its content, open its View menu, and tick the “hidden items” checkbox.
This will reveal the phone’s system folders, sub-folders and files on your desktop/laptop’s screen. You can then access the hidden files/folders and add or remove things as you please.
Two: The reversal process might mess up the order of things inside your gallery. For instance, your oldest photos may appear to be the latest snapshots, while your newest photos are probably at the bottom of the gallery. This depends from phone to phone, however.
It’s a simple trick but pretty swell. Previewing compressed packages is impossible unless you use specialized software on your computer. But nothing of that sort is available for Android.
So, you can select all the pictures and videos you have on your phone and compress them to a single. ZIP or. RAR file. This would not only keep your gallery items safe, but they will also disappear from your library.
Phone lurkers like your friends will have difficulty figuring out the problem!
It’s also the most inconvenient way of hiding your gallery items. You must compress a picture or shoot a video each time you take it. You should also look into whether your phone or your File Manager supports file compression in the first place.
Otherwise, you’ll need a File Manager and one of the world-famous third-party apps: WinRar or 7-Zip.
This is where things go in the direction of “You need a third-party app to do this.” Which can be a hassle, but it’s the only way to make do with the solution.
This is rather straightforward (and a bit funny, considering its simplicity and absurdity). But every image and video you store on your phone is of some file.
If you’re not familiar with it, then the following common file types should get you up to speed:
Now that you know how to spot a photo or video on your phone, here’s one way to keep them hidden. Bear in mind that you still need a File Manager to do this.
This method is doable, but it’s the most inconvenient way to keep your gallery items hidden. It’s also potentially dangerous since a lot of factors come into play here, such as data loss.
For one, it’s not a workable option for hiding more than a handful of pictures or hiding every photo or video you take.
For two, changing certain images or videos from one type of file to another will cause the file to lose some data.
For instance, changing the file name from PNG to JPG will convert the file, potentially reducing the image quality. Image quality reduction is a form of data loss. Changing the name back to PNG will not reverse it.
So you’d have to remember exactly what type each image or video is (which is too much work!).
Hiding apps on your Android phone without rooting and the like is one thing. It’s another when we’re talking about gallery items. With that said, some of the methods are pretty inconvenient.
Some are unavailable for some phones.
But in the grand scheme of things, these are the best options if you exclude third-party apps from the equation.
Still, if you’re wondering about how to hide photos on Android 10, don’t worry. The methods definitely help hide photos on the Android gallery, including for the latest Android users.
But if you’re totally cool with using apps, why not read up about the best apps to hide photos and videos on Android?
Perhaps there may be other ways to achieve the same goal.
Personally, I could do with a bit of inconvenience in favor of keeping my stuff locked down from prying eyes.
What do you think?
Do you feel there are better ways to approach it without making it seem like a trudge?
What do you recommend that doesn’t compromise user experience as much? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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