How to Lock Down Sensitive Photos on iPhone and Android - The New York Times

Sometimes you privation to drawback a photograph that’s conscionable for you. Maybe it’s a particularly, uh, idiosyncratic selfie, oregon possibly it’s the directions to a top-secret enactment successful the woods. Tucked distant among the fancier caller features successful iOS 16 is simply a tiny but invited addition: biometric locks connected the hidden and deleted albums. It’s a tiny thing, but it makes the hidden folder consciousness acold safer to store photos in, and it comes person to Android’s (still superior) Locked Folder feature. Now is simply a bully clip to get to cognize however some of those features work, alongside a fewer of the different privateness tools that Apple and Google person built into their respective photograph apps.

Set up and get to cognize your locked and hidden folders

At a glance, locked folders connected Android and hidden albums connected iOS are the same. Both let you to make a folder successful which you person to authenticate with either a fingerprint oregon your look to spot the contents.

But Android’s locked folders implementation, which should beryllium disposable connected astir Android phones moving astatine slightest Android 12, is overmuch amended than Apple’s hidden album. The crushed is simple: Photos you enactment successful your locked folder are not uploaded to Google Photos. They enactment connected your device.

In contrast, photos you adhd to the hidden folder connected iOS sync on with thing other you sync to Apple Photos. That’s unfortunate for iPhone owners due to the fact that if you privation to support those photos locked, you astir apt don’t privation them online, nary substance however unafraid the online retention allegedly is. But a locked folder is inactive a measurement up from, well, nothing.

Thankfully, successful some cases, photos you see successful these peculiar folders volition not amusement up successful immoderate of the assorted AI-generated memories, albums, oregon immoderate else, truthful speech from storing backstage photos, these folders are besides a bully spot to tuck distant thing you don’t privation accidentally popping up connected your Apple TV screensaver, say, oregon successful a widget connected your phone’s location screen. Here’s however to acceptable up both.

Android

Open the Google Photos app and pat Library > Utilities > Set Up Locked Folder. Follow the on-screen directions and adhd photos to this album. If you privation to adhd much photos later, you tin either travel backmost to this surface oregon unfastened a photo, pat the three-dot icon, and past pat Move to Locked Folder.

iPhone

The quality to fastener the hidden and deleted albums should beryllium enabled connected your iPhone by default, but if it’s not turned connected for immoderate reason, spell to Settings > Photos and prime the Use Face (or Touch) ID enactment successful the “Hidden and Deleted albums” section. To adhd photos to the hidden album, pat a photo, pat the three-dot icon, and past pat Hide.

How to get escaped of (or astatine slightest tweak) representation albums

Photo apps are perpetually tossing unneurotic algorithmic albums, whether it’s “Snow Days,” oregon “Great Outdoors,” oregon a photograph postulation of selfies. These tin beryllium a amusive travel down representation lane successful immoderate cases—or they tin spark a bid of unwanted memories successful others. You tin benignant of wrangle these apps to behave much to your liking oregon conscionable disable these types of generated albums altogether if they weird you out.

Android

• Hide people, pets, oregon dates: Open the Google Photos app and past pat your idiosyncratic icon, followed by Photos settings > Memories. Here, you tin take to prime radical oregon pets you don’t privation showing up successful memories oregon prime circumstantial dates you don’t want.
• Turn disconnected memories: From the aforesaid paper arsenic above, pat Featured memories and disable Time-based memories oregon Themed memories to forestall either of those types from showing up astatine all.
• Use the archive to fell photos you privation to support but don’t request to see: Google Photos has a useful archiving diagnostic for photos you don’t privation to delete and don’t request to fastener down a password but besides privation to support retired of the way. Select a photo, pat the three-dot icon, and past take Archive, and that photograph volition nary longer look successful movies oregon your main album.

iPhone

• Block circumstantial memories: Open the Photos app and navigate to the For You tab. On immoderate memory, you tin pat the three-dot icon, followed by Delete Memory, to region this representation (this enactment does not delete immoderate photos included successful the album). You tin besides pat Feature Less… to get the enactment to diagnostic the circumstantial days oregon radical successful the medium little often.
• Block radical from showing up successful memories: The supra method tin enactment to artifact radical from showing successful albums, but it’s easier to navigate to the Albums tab and past scroll down to People & Places. Tap immoderate idiosyncratic and past the three-dot icon, followed by Feature [person] Less. You tin past take to diagnostic this idiosyncratic little successful memories oregon ne'er diagnostic them.
• Turn disconnected memories altogether: If the full automatic-album happening is conscionable not for you, it’s casual to disable. Open Settings > Photos and disable Show Featured Content.

Review who you’ve shared photos with

If you’ve shared photos with household members, with friends, oregon publically successful the past, present is simply a bully clip to reappraisal those photos and revoke entree to thing you nary longer privation shared.

Android

Google Photos has a batch of ways to stock photos, and it’s a bully thought to spell backmost present and again to marque definite you’re not sharing thing you don’t privation to. Tap the Sharing tab and past region immoderate idiosyncratic photos oregon albums you nary longer privation to share. To bash so, pat the medium oregon photo, the three-dot icon, and past Options, and disable Link sharing. If you’ve ever shared pictures with a spouse earlier utilizing the diagnostic that automatically shares each photograph oregon photos with circumstantial faces, present is simply a bully clip to cheque that you inactive privation to beryllium doing so.

iPhone

Open the Photos app and prime the Albums tab. Scroll down to Shared Albums to spot what you’ve shared. You tin delete the album, oregon you tin region circumstantial radical by tapping the 3 dot icon followed by Shared Album Details > [person’s name] > Remove Subscriber. Keep this aforesaid process successful caput erstwhile the Shared Photo Library launches aboriginal this year, arsenic well.

One privateness tip: Audit your photograph permissions

Wrangling the photos app itself is already a part-time job, but don’t hide astir the photo-related permissions that different apps have. It’s a bully thought to double-check this mounting connected juncture to guarantee that nary app has entree to much photos than you’d like.

• Android: Open Settings > Privacy > Permission Manager > Photos and videos. Scroll done the database of apps and alteration immoderate settings you don’t like.
• iPhone: Open Settings > Privacy and Security > Photos and scroll done the database of apps and revoke entree to immoderate apps that don’t request it.

Other privateness quality we’re watching

💸 This past period has seen information breaches and hacks galore. The astir high-profile breach affected Uber, but we can’t hide astir U-Haul, 2K Games, the LAUSD, American Airlines, oregon LastPass. As always, support an oculus connected your email for immoderate data-breach notifications, show your accounts, and alteration immoderate passwords that mightiness person been affected. If you can, set up two-factor authentication connected immoderate of those accounts. If you person kids who spell to a schoolhouse successful the LAUSD (or immoderate schoolhouse deed with a ransomware attack), see freezing their credit.

🩹Lots of patches got released this past month. Be definite to update your iPhone (even if you’re not updating to iOS 16), arsenic Apple patched a large information flaw recently. The aforesaid goes for Android, which has a insignificant flaw; Google Chrome, which patched 11 vulnerabilities; and WhatsApp, which patched 2 issues. Microsoft Windows takes the pb connected sheer numbers this month, though, aft the last spot covered 64 vulnerabilities (down from 141 successful August). Finally, if you person an HP laptop with HP Support Assistant installed, update that close now, arsenic the hole addresses a high-severity contented that could supply privileged entree to an attacker. This vulnerability seems to impact lone older laptops, however; we noted that our Spectre x360 was already moving an updated mentation of the software. As always, run those automatic updates arsenic soon arsenic possible.

🔎 Google is improving its tool that allows you to petition that your idiosyncratic accusation beryllium removed from search. Previously, you had to leap done a bid of hoops and capable retired aggregate forms if a effect showed idiosyncratic accusation specified arsenic your telephone fig oregon address, but soon you’ll beryllium capable to enactment successful a petition straight from the Google Search app. Even better, sometime adjacent year you mightiness adjacent get alerts erstwhile that idiosyncratic info pops up to statesman with.

This nonfiction was edited by Jason Chen.