You can save sensitive photos and videos to a folder protected by your device screen lock in the Google Photos app. Items in Locked Folder won’t appear in the Photos grid, memories, search or albums and won’t be available to other apps on your device that have access to your photos and videos.
Locked Folder is protected by Google Photos’ standard encryption practices. Learn how Google Photos keeps your data private & secure.
Set up Locked Folder
Important:
The first time you try to move photos and videos to Locked Folder, you’re prompted to set it up.
- Your Locked Folder password is the same as your Google Account password. You can’t use a different Locked Folder password.
- People who have access to your Google Account password can unlock the Locked Folder.
- If you create a Locked Folder on your mobile device and don’t turn on backup, you won’t be able to find items in the folder on the web.
- On your computer, open photos.google.com.
- Click Locked Folder.
- Tap Set up Locked Folder.
- Follow the on-screen instructions. If your folder is empty, you’ll find "Nothing here yet."
Move photos or videos to Locked Folder
Important:
- If you move items to Locked Folder on your computer, they'll be visible in Locked Folder on your other devices.
- When you move photos and videos to Locked Folder, related items aren’t moved. This includes copies, edited versions, and shared photos and videos saved by others.
- From the Photos app, tap Photos.
- Select the photos and videos you want in Locked Folder.
- At the top, tap More
Move to Locked Folder.
- Tap Move.
Tip: To move photos and videos from Trash to Locked Folder, first restore the content from Trash.
Learn more about Locked Folder
The difference between Locked Folder & ArchiveLocked Folder keeps items hidden and protected by your device screen lock or Google Account password. Archived items can still be accessible.
Locked Folder items won't show up when you search in Google Photos, while Archived items will show up.
You can:
- Move them out of Locked Folder
- Permanently delete them
- Find them within Locked Folder after unlocking it
What you can’t do with items in Locked Folder
To prevent accidental exposure of your sensitive photos and videos, you can’t do the following with your Locked Folder content:
- Add items to an album or photo book
- Edit items or revert changes made before an item was moved to Locked Folder
- Share items in Google Photos or with other apps like Instagram or Facebook
- Move items to Trash
- View photos or videos that your device can't display in original format or resolution
Important:
- If backup is off, Locked Folder items that are saved locally to your device aren't transferred in USB to USB device transfers or Cloud data transfers.
- If backup is off, Locked Folder items are deleted if you:
- Factory reset your device
- Clear app data
- Delete the Photos app
- To keep your Locked Folder items, turn on Locked Folder backup or individually back up items in your Locked Folder.
To find items you’ve moved to Locked Folder:
- On your computer: Click Locked Folder.
- On your mobile device:
- At the bottom, tap Collections.
- At the bottom, tap Locked.
Where you can't access items in Locked Folder
To keep your sensitive photos and videos private, items in Locked Folder:
- Won’t appear in search results, albums, shared items or any new memories.
- Are removed from existing memories and draft print orders.
- Aren’t available to share through third party apps.
Important: Your sensitive photos and videos won’t be shown on Google smart displays like Nest Hub or through Chromecast, although it may take up to an hour for items to disappear.