Google Photos 'Locked Folder' Feature for Pixel Phones Coming to iOS

[MacRumors]

Google Photos users on iPhone and iPad will soon be able to lock their most sensitive images in a special passcode-protected folder, thanks to a new feature coming to the iOS app (via The Verge).

Currently exclusive to Pixel phones, the privacy-oriented Locked Folder feature allows users to save photos and videos in the app within a separate space that requires a passcode or fingerprint to access.

Media saved in the folder remains hidden, meaning the sensitive photos don't show up as users scroll through their Google Photos or any other apps on their device. Google says the feature is coming to iOS "early next year."

Importantly, at least as it currently works on Pixel Phones, any cloud backups of items placed in the Locked Folder are automatically deleted from Google's servers.

Google touts its photo and video backup service as "a safe home for life's memories," thanks to the "world-class security" and encryption it uses "to protect the photos that you back up or share."

Despite those safeguards, last year Google was forced to contact some 100,000 users to inform them that some of their private videos backed up on its servers had been accidentally sent to strangers due to a "technical issue."

Apple still doesn't offer an equivalent feature is its native Photos app for iOS. It does include an option to hide certain photos from the main library in a "Hidden" folder which can be literally hidden in the Photos app, but even so, the album can still be seen when the image picker is used in third-party apps, so it's not completely invisible from prying eyes.

Article Link: Google Photos 'Locked Folder' Feature for Pixel Phones Coming to iOS

 

[contacos]

Been waiting for this for years on iOS. I do not understand why there isn't a system wide integration to lock any app with a toggle

 

[InsideApple]

Is there another usable app without subscription ******** that offers such festure for hidden photo/video? Asking for a friend

 

[Bandaman]

Been waiting for this for years on iOS. I do not understand why there isn't a system wide integration to lock any app with a toggle

Apple is sometimes extremely late to the party. I'm not sure if we will ever get that. Another one that would be nice is a legitimate internal firewall for blocking anything we like.

 

[andrewxgx]

Is there another usable app without subscription ******** that offers such festure for hidden photo/video? Asking for a friend

Cryptomator for encrypting your stuff on the could. not sure if usable enough for what you want though.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Apple should offer this systemwide but as a start I’d be happy to see a lock for both the Photos app and for notes in the Notes app with videos and pdfs in them.

 

[miniyou64]

Apple is sometimes extremely late to the party. I'm not sure if we will ever get that. Another one that would be nice is a legitimate internal firewall for blocking anything we like.

Literally these “Focus” features on iOS 15 were available as “Profiles” on my Sony Ericson 15 years ago.

 

[SSD-GUY]

Finally, a place for me to hide all my midget porn.

 

[iDento]

Apple should offer this systemwide but as a start I’d be happy to see a lock for both the Photos app and for notes in the Notes app with videos and pdfs in them.

You can lock notes in the Notes app.

 

[InsideApple]

Cryptomator for encrypting your stuff on the could. not sure if usable enough for what you want though.

Thanks for that.
Actually just an app like Photos, iCloud supported, to put some pics/vids that I don‘t want to be in my regular library. Like a photo vault app. So far I just found crappy apps pr with subscription stuff…

 

[TechRunner]

As a Google Photos user I've never seen the need to use this feature. I guess my life (and by extension, my photos) is pretty boring.

 

[incoherent_1]

Uploading sensitive photos to a Google-owned photo database?! Hahahahahahaha….

 

[somnolentsurfer]

I've no need to have backups of my stuff removed from iCloud, but it does somewhat defeat the point of having a hidden photos album if anyone with access to the device can just unhide it at any time without authenticating.

 

[GuruZac]

Too bad Google and Privacy don’t go hand in hand, because many of their services are just head and shoulders above Apple’s. Still perplexed how Siri is so far behind Google Assistant.

 

[hortod1]

Is there another usable app without subscription ******** that offers such festure for hidden photo/video? Asking for a friend

You may not pay for it with a monetary subscription, you do however pay for it when you agree to their terms and conditions. Google’s original business model was based on prying eyes and it worked extremely well for them. Hard sell to convince me that’s still not the case, despite their new-found ethics

 

[Lets Go]

You may not pay for it with a monetary subscription, you do however pay for it when you agree to their terms and conditions. Google’s original business model was based on prying eyes and it worked extremely well for them. Hard sell to convince me that’s still not the case, despite their new-found ethics

As the saying goes.... "If you don't pay for the product, you are the product"..

 

[darkpaw]

"Open Locked Folder ... Using your current device screen lock option"?! This is just too bland a sentence. This is why I don't bother with Android. The people writing this stuff think that everyone using Android is technical and wants every interaction with it to be technical, and thus must like this lengthy nonsense sentence talking a load of technical bollox, rather than something like "Open Locked Folder ... " and then just the image for the unlock metho. On iOS it would just come up with the Touch ID logo, or say, "Use Touch ID to unlock".

Why do they do this? Android is so pedestrian and boring. Urgh.

 

[Techwatcher]

Props. Amazing Apple does not have something so simple yet. The "Notes" workaround is dumb, and Hidden Album is dumb.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Does it lock it from Google, too?

 

[DaPizzaMan]

Apple should offer this systemwide but as a start I’d be happy to see a lock for both the Photos app and for notes in the Notes app with videos and pdfs in them.

That's the thing - you already can lock notes.

 

[MGrayson3]

It saves the authorities a lot of time - placing your sensitive material in a folder marked "Don't look in here".

 

[GermanSuplex]

Can anyone explain to a simpleton like me what it means that the photos will be deleted from Google's servers? Don't they already live there in Google Photos? Or will any photos in the folder be downloaded locally and removed from the servers?

 

[andrewxgx]

Thanks for that.
Actually just an app like Photos, iCloud supported, to put some pics/vids that I don‘t want to be in my regular library. Like a photo vault app. So far I just found crappy apps pr with subscription stuff…

I only use this on desktop, but probably will work similar on iOS - it creates another drive accessible by file browser when you can put your stuff on.

 

[CartesianProduct2014]

My approach to photos is not to put them on a cloud.
And its baffling that Apple hasn’t done this.

 

[boss.king]

Who cares about yours tits and dicks

Kids? Or people who live in more restrictive communities? Can you seriously not think of scenarios where locking away some photos might be useful?