How do I Use Locked Folder on Google Photos

What to know

• Google helps you to hide your delicate photos inside a Locked Folder that can be utilized on cellular gadgets working Android 6, iOS 15, or larger or using a browser on the net. 
• When you lock gadgets contained in the Locked Folder on a tool, they’re accessible on different gadgets for those who activate computerized backup for this folder. 
• Items contained in the Locked Folder will be considered using your cellphone’s display screen lock, fingerprint, or face recognition or your Google account password on the net. 
• You can arrange and entry the Locked Folder on a cellphone by going to Google Photos > Library > Utilities > Locked Folder.

To give your photos and movies an additional layer of privacy, Google Photos gives a helpful characteristic known as “Locked Folder” that you need to use to retailer and conceal delicate photos in your device with out it being seen to others using your cellphone or a related device.

In this publish, we’ll clarify what Locked Folder on Google Photos is all about, why do you have to use it, and the way to allow and use this characteristic on an iPhone or Android device. 

What is Locked Folder on Google Photos?

Google gives you a technique to save your delicate photos to a protected area that you could lock using your device passcode or fingerprint. This approach, your delicate photos received’t present up when scrolling by means of Google Photos.

These photos will be something from footage of your family members, screenshots of fee receipts, a shock present, or something you don’t need others to see after they have entry to your cellphone, desktop, or a related device like Nest Hub or Chromecast. 

In addition to this, Pixel customers will be capable of seize photos and movies contained in the Camera app and ship them on to the Locked folder. This approach, your delicate footage received’t get backed up earlier than you manually attempt to ship them to the Locked Folder.

You can arrange a Locked Folder using the Google Photos app on iOS, and Android, or using photos.google.com on the net. Google helps you to back up gadgets contained in the Locked Folder in order that they’re accessible on different gadgets. When you don’t allow computerized backup, the gadgets in your Locked Folder will solely be accessible on one device.  

Requirements

To lock your footage inside Google Photos, you will have to be sure to have the next issues:

• A cellular device working Android 6, iOS 15, or later, or an online browser together with your Google account signed in.
• The cellular device has a display screen lock or biometric lock (face recognition, Face ID, Touch ID, fingerprint scanner) activated to unlock your cellphone. 
• Google Photos app is up to date to its latest model from Google Play Store or App Store. 
• Make positive you utilize a Google account that you just personal and one which’s not managed by another person. Locked Folder isn’t obtainable on absolutely managed gadgets and for sure account varieties.

How do I arrange Locked Folder on Google Photos

Once you may have all the necessities wanted to make use of Locked Folder, you can begin setting it up inside Google Photos.

1. To arrange your Locked Folder, open the Google Photos app in your iPhone or Android device.
   
2. When the app opens, faucet on the Library tab on the backside proper nook. 
   
3. Now, choose Utilities on the prime of the display screen. 
   
4. Inside Utilities, faucet on the Locked Folder possibility. 
   
5. On the subsequent display screen, choose the Set up Locked Folder possibility. 
   
6. You might want to comply with the on-screen directions to finish organising the Locked folder correctly. If you didn’t have a display screen lock arrange in your cellphone, you may be requested to set it up because it’s a requirement for the Locked Folder to work. 
7. When your setup is full, it’s best to see the “Nothing here yet” message seem in your display screen since there received’t be any gadgets added to the folder but. 

How do I add photos to the Locked Folder

After you may have enabled Locked Folder inside Google Photos, now you can begin including delicate footage, movies, or every other gadgets that you just don’t wish to present up in your Google Photos library. There are two methods to method this – one entails shifting your current photos to the Locked folder, and the opposite helps you to immediately save an image you click on to the Locked folder. We’ll clarify each of those strategies beneath. 

Method 1: Using the Google Photos app on iOS/Android

The best and most handy approach of including gadgets to a Locked folder is thru the Google Photos app itself.

1. To transfer photos to the Locked Folder, open the Google Photos app and navigate to the gadgets you wish to lock.
   
2. Once you find the gadgets to lock, faucet and maintain on any one in all them to pick it.
   
3. If you may have a number of gadgets to lock, choose them after long-pressing on them as soon as.  
4. Once you may have chosen the gadgets you wish to lock, faucet on the 3-dots icon on the prime proper nook. 
   
5. In the overflow menu that seems, choose the Move to Locked Folder possibility. 
   
6. To verify this course of, faucet on Move once more, and the chosen gadgets will now disappear from the place they have been in your Google Photos library. 
   

Method 2: Using the Camera app on Google Pixel 3 to Pixel 6a

While you may lock your delicate footage from Google Photos, there’s a better technique to ship gadgets to the Locked Folder for those who personal a Pixel device. On older Pixel gadgets (Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, and Pixel 6a), you may seize footage on to the Locked folder with no need to maneuver them individually.

1. Open the Camera app in your device.
   
2. Inside Camera, faucet on the Photo Gallery icon on the prime proper nook.
   
3. Now, choose Locked Folder from the overflow menu to ensure all of your upcoming captures are despatched to the locked folder. 
   
4. You can now seize as many footage as you need from the Pixel Camera app by tapping the Shutter button. All the images you’re taking with a Locked Folder are mechanically despatched to your device’s Locked Folder. 
   

Method 3: Using the Camera app on Google Pixel 7 or later

On the Google Pixel 7 or newer gadgets, you may ship photos you seize from the Camera app to the Locked Folder otherwise.

1. Open the Camera app on the Pixel cellphone and seize a photograph that you just wish to ship to the Locked Folder by tapping the Shutter button. 
   
2. Once this photograph is captured, it is going to be seen as a thumbnail on the right-hand facet of the Shutter button. To ship this image to the Locked Folder, faucet and maintain on this thumbnail and choose Locked Folder from the overflow menu. 
   

How do I entry photos contained in the Locked Folder

When you lock footage and movies out of your library, they’ll be moved to the Locked Folder within the Photos app.

1. To entry the locked gadgets, open the Google Photos app.
   
2. Inside Google Photos, faucet on the Library tab on the backside. 
   
3. Select the Utilities possibility on the prime of the display screen. 
   
4. Inside Utilities, faucet on the Locked Folder possibility.
   
5. You must unlock the folder using your display screen lock or fingerprint.
   
6. Once you get previous that, you will notice all the images and movies you locked earlier. 
   

How do I transfer photos from Trash to Locked Folder

Google presently solely permits customers to maneuver photos which are of their library onto the Locked Folder. In case, you wish to transfer gadgets from the Trash folder on Google Photos to the Locked Folder, the one technique to do it’s to first restore the content material from Trash back into your Photos library after which transfer it to the Locked Folder from there. 

1. Open the Google Photos app.
   
2. Inside Google Photos, go to the Library tab on the backside proper nook. 
   
3. Inside Library, choose Bin on the prime. 
   
4. On the subsequent display screen, you’ll see all the images and movies that you just deleted lately (as outdated as 60 days). To restore them, faucet and maintain on the merchandise you wish to restore. If you may have a number of gadgets to revive, choose them after which faucet on the Restore button on the backside. 
   
5. Once this stuff have been restored, go to their unique areas after which transfer the photos to the Locked Folder as you’ll with every other gadgets contained in the Google Photos app. 

How do I restore photos out of your Locked Folder

If you now not want to keep one thing hidden contained in the Locked Folder, you may restore it to your Google Photos library. Doing so will deliver back this image into your “Photos” tab if it was captured in your cellphone or throughout different sections of your cellphone’s photograph library if it was saved from elsewhere.

1. To restore contents out of your Locked Folder, open the Google Photos app in your cellphone. 
   
2. Inside Google Photos, faucet on the Library tab on the backside proper nook. 
   
3. On the Library display screen, faucet on Utilities on the prime. 
   
4. In the Utilities display screen that seems, faucet on Locked Folder. 
   
5. Now, authenticate your identification using the display screen lock, fingerprint, or face unlock arrange in your cellphone. 
   
6. Once authenticated, it’s best to see the Locked Folder in your display screen. Here, find the image you wish to restore and faucet on it to open it. 
   
7. When the photograph hundreds up in full view, faucet on Move on the backside left nook. 
   
8. You ought to see a immediate on the display screen asking you whether or not you want to transfer the chosen image out of the Locked Folder. To proceed, faucet on Move inside this immediate. 
   
9. The chosen image will now transfer back into your Google Photos library. If you want to restore a number of gadgets from the Locked Folder, faucet and maintain on any merchandise from the Locked Folder display screen till it will get highlighted. Now, choose more gadgets from this display screen to spotlight them as nicely. 
   
10. Once you’ve chosen the specified photos and movies you wish to restore, faucet on Move on the backside left nook of the display screen. 
    
11. You ought to see a immediate on the display screen asking you whether or not you want to transfer the chosen image out of the Locked Folder. To proceed, faucet on Move inside this immediate. 
    
12. When you try this, the gadgets you chose can be moved out of the Locked Folder and despatched to your Google Photos library. 

FAQs

Why do you have to transfer your photos to a Locked Folder?

Before we transfer on to elucidate how to make use of Locked Folder on Google Photos, you have to know why it’s best to use it. Here’s why it’s best to transfer your photos to Locked Folder:

• It shops your photos and movies individually with out making them seem within the Google Photos grid. 
• Lets you lock photos together with your display screen lock or fingerprint. 
• Locked gadgets don’t seem inside albums, libraries, and even for those who seek for them contained in the app. 
• Won’t be accessible by different apps in your cellphone even when they’ve entry to your device storage.
• Locked photos received’t seem in current reminiscences and newer reminiscences will now not be capable of use locked photos. 
• Anyone who has entry to your desktop or a related device with Google Photos received’t be capable of see your locked footage until they know your Google account password. 

What occurs if you transfer photos to a Locked Folder?

When photos are moved to the Locked Folder, they’ll particularly solely be accessed contained in the Library > Utilities > Locked Folder. These gadgets will now not seem inside albums, shared gadgets, or search outcomes, and also will be excluded from new and future reminiscences on Google Photos. If an merchandise you moved to the Locked Folder was included in an current Memory or a draft print order, it is going to even be faraway from these sections. 

Third-party apps which have entry to information and folders in your device received’t have entry to gadgets in your Locked Folder. This additionally signifies that, even for those who open the Locked Folder, you can not share a photograph or video from it immediately with out shifting it out of the Locked Folder.

Difference between Locked Folder and Archive

While it might look related at first look, photos you progress to Locked Folder and Archive behave fairly otherwise. 

Disadvantages of using Locked Folder

The ‘Locked folder’ can defend your delicate and confidential footage from others. While it has some use instances, there are additionally some disadvantages to using a Locked Folder which will immediate you to rethink the choice of shifting stuff into it. 

• Locked content material isn’t immediately shareable: You might wish to lock an image from somebody who has your cellphone however you might need to unlock the content material to have the ability to share it as a message or publish on social media. 
• You can not edit photos within the Locked Folder: Items contained in the Locked Folder get the identical therapy as these in Trash, that means there’s no technique to edit them until you unlock them. 
• Can be completely deleted however can’t be despatched to trash: It might seem to be a privacy-centered transfer and to ship a locked merchandise to trash, you will have to unlock it first after which ship it to Bin. 
• Items might get completely deleted if you delete the Google Photos app with out backup enabled: If the content material contained in the Locked Folder isn’t backed up, it stays in your device alone. So, you could find yourself dropping gadgets inside this folder ceaselessly for those who delete the Google Photos app or clear its app knowledge. 

I moved a photograph to the Locked Folder. Why do I see it elsewhere?

If you’re in a position to see a photograph/video you will have despatched to the Locked Folder wherever else on Google Photos, it might have occurred because of any of the next causes:

• The Photos app hasn’t fully moved gadgets to Locked Folder: Google in its assist web page mentioned that it might take as much as an hour for gadgets to vanish from current albums, reminiscences, shared libraries, and related gadgets. 
• You might have multiple copy of the merchandise you locked: If the image you simply locked on Google Photos had many different duplicates earlier than you locked it, then it’s vital to know that the app solely provides the precise merchandise you chose to the Locked Folder. All its duplicates, even when they’re an identical, will nonetheless be accessible within the consumer’s library until they’re despatched to the Locked Folder as nicely. 
• You might have mistakingly moved gadgets to Archive: When sending photos to the Locked Folder, there’s an opportunity that you will have chosen the ‘Move to Archive’ possibility as an alternative of ‘Move to Locked Folder’. If that’s the case and if the chosen information are within the Archive, you may even see them inside Google Photos’ Library display screen and likewise throughout different apps in your cellphone. 

I can’t see the ‘Locked Folder’ characteristic on Google Photos. Why?

The Locked Folder characteristic is accessible on Android gadgets working Android 6 or larger or on iPhones working iOS 15 or later. If you personal a tool that doesn’t run on Android 6 or iOS 15, you received’t be capable of use this characteristic in your cellphone.

For non-Pixel gadgets, the Locked Folder performance is simply accessible contained in the Google Photos app, so that you received’t be capable of ship footage you seize immediately from the Camera app on these gadgets. To transfer footage immediately from the Camera app, it’s essential to personal a Google Pixel 3 or newer device. If you’re using Pixel 2 or older gadgets, this performance received’t be just right for you. 

In such instances, we advocate using the Google Photos net app to lock your delicate photos. 

The ‘Locked Folder’ characteristic received’t be obtainable on gadgets which are absolutely managed by another person or in case your Google account doesn’t assist it. So, even for those who use a supported Pixel device, you could be unable to lock your content material if it’s logged into a totally managed account. In such instances, you will have to contact your device/account admin and get it resolved. 

I moved a photograph to the Locked Folder however I don’t see it there. Why?

The photos and movies you progress to the Locked Folder in your cellphone will keep inside this folder for so long as you utilize the Google Photos app. If you beforehand moved gadgets contained in the Locked Folder however can now not entry it, it might be as a result of:

• You uninstalled the Google Photos app out of your cellphone generally with out backing up content material contained in the Locked Folder. 
• You cleared the app knowledge for the Google Photos app with out backing up photos contained in the Locked Folder. 

Since content material contained in the Locked Folder stays throughout the Photos app in your cellphone, it isn’t backed up or synced throughout different gadgets you personal. If you unknowingly cleared the app knowledge for the Google Photos app or uninstalled the app in your cellphone, the Locked Folder and any gadgets inside it is going to even be completely deleted. 

If you’re planning to uninstall the Photos app or clear its knowledge sooner or later, be sure to restore contents from the Locked Folder first to keep away from dropping your delicate photos ceaselessly. 

That’s all there may be to learn about Locked Folder on Google Photos.