How to hide an album in a gallery on Xiaomi Poco: all working methods

Hiding personal photos and videos in the Xiaomi Poco gallery is a challenge that almost every user faces. Even if you don't keep sensitive photos on your phone, it's perfectly justified to want to remove screenshots, memes or work documents from public access. Fortunately, MIUI's firmware offers several built-in tools for this purpose, and third-party solutions can be used for advanced features.

In this article, we will discuss 5 ways to hide albums on Poco X3/X4/X5 Pro, Poco F3/F4/F5 and other models – from the standard function “Secure Albums” to creating hidden folders through the file manager, pay special attention to the nuances of working on different versions of MIUI 12, 13 and 14, and also warn against common errors that can lead to loss of access to files.

Important: the methods vary in security, like the Hidden Albums feature in Google Photos, which doesn't encrypt files, it just takes them off the list, whereas apps like KeepSafe or Vaulty offer password protection and encryption, and it depends on your needs, whether you just need to hide the album from prying eyes or whether you want to have complete privacy.

1. Standard method: Protected Albums feature in MIUI

The easiest and safest method is to use the built-in Secure Albums feature available in the standard Xiaomi gallery, which works on all Poco models with MIUI 12 and later, including the Poco X6 Pro and Poco C65. The main advantage is that you do not need to install third-party applications, and files are securely hidden behind a password or fingerprint.

To activate this function:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (flower icon).
• 🔒 In the upper right corner, press three dots (⋮) and select Protected Albums.
• 🔑 When you first start up, the system will suggest setting a password or using biometrics (print/face).
• ➕ Click Add and select the photos/videos you want to hide.

⚠️ Warning: If you forget the password for the protected albums, you can't restore access -- Xiaomi doesn't provide reset. The only way out is to reset your phone to factory settings, but that will delete all the data.

Once added, the files will disappear from the main gallery and will only be accessible through the Protected Albums section, and to return them back, you just go to the Protected Section, select the files and click Delete from Protected.

Make sure your phone has the latest version of MIUI | Backup important files | Remember or write your password to a safe place | Check that the biometrics (fingerprint/face) are set up in the system-->

2. Hiding through a file manager: folder.nomedia

If you don't need password protection, but you just want to remove the album from the gallery, you can use the standard Android technique of creating a.nomedia file. This method works on all Poco smartphones, including models with MIUI 11 and older, the bottom line is that the gallery ignores the folders that contain this file, but the files themselves remain accessible through the file manager.

Instructions:

1. Open Files (the standard file manager of Xiaomi).
2. Go to the folder where the photos are stored (usually DCIM/Camera or Pictures).
3. Create a new folder (for example, Private) and move the files there.
4. Inside this folder, create a text file called.nomedia (no extension!).

After that, the album will disappear from the gallery, but will remain available through Files → Internal Memory → Private. To regain visibility, simply delete the.nomedia file.

Important:.nomedia doesn't encrypt data! Anyone who gets access to the file manager can see hidden photos, a technique that only works for basic cloaking, like removing screenshots or unwanted images from the gallery.

Standard protected albums MIUI|File.nomedia|Google Photo|Third-party applications (KeepSafe, Vaulty)|Don't hide the photo.-->

3. Hiding through Google Photos: Archive and "Only You"

If you use Google Photos as your main gallery, you have two options to hide your albums:

1. Archive – photos are removed from the main stream, but remain available through the Archives section.
2. “Only You” (formerly “Blocked Folder”) – photos are hidden and protected by a Google account password.

To use the "Only You" function:

• 📸 Open Google Photos and select the photos you want.
• 🔒 Press three points (⋮) → Move to "Only You".
• 🔑 The first time you use it, you will need to confirm your Google account password.

The advantage of this method is synchronization between devices, for example, if you hide a photo on a Poco X5 Pro, they will automatically become inaccessible in the gallery on a tablet or PC. However, there is a disadvantage: Google Photos does not encrypt files on the device - they just hide from prying eyes in the application interface.

⚠️ Note: Google Photos’ “Only You” feature doesn’t work on root-access or custom firmware devices, and it may conflict with the built-in gallery. MIUI, If both are synchronized with the same account.

4 Third-party applications: KeepSafe, Vaulty and analogues

If the built-in MIUI or Google Photos features are not enough, you can use specialized applications to hide files.

• 🔐 KeepSafe – encrypts photos and videos, supports password and fingerprint.
• 🛡️ Vaulty – allows you to hide files under the guise of a calculator or other “cover".
• 📁 GalleryVault – offers cloud backup of hidden files.

Example of KeepSafe configuration:

1. Download the app from Google Play (caution – there are clones with viruses!).
2. At the first launch, install PIN-code.
3. Click Import and select files from the gallery.
4. Activate the option to Remove Originals if you want to leave copies only in KeepSafe.

Advantages of third-party applications:

• 🔒 More secure encryption than standard tools MIUI.
• 📱 Cross-platform (access from multiple devices).
• 🎭 Cloaking features (e.g., the app looks like a calculator).

Disadvantages:

• 💰 Some features are paid (for example, cloud storage in KeepSafe).
• 🛑 Risk of data leakage when using little-known applications.
• 🔄 When you delete the application without a backup, files may be lost.

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Before installing a third-party file hiding app, check the reviews on Google Play and the rights it requests. Avoid programs that require access to SMS, contacts, or geolocation - this is a sign of potentially dangerous software.

5. Hiding through folder settings (for power users)

For those who are willing to dive into the technical details, there is another way to transfer files to system folders that MIUI ignores by default, such as folders with a dot at the beginning of a name (.hidden,.private) or system directories like /data/media/0.

Algorithm of action:

1. Connect your phone to your PC through USB-cable (MTP).
2. Create a folder on internal memory with a name starting with a dot, such as.mysecret.
3. Move the files you need there through Windows Explorer or macOS Finder.
4. Turn off the phone – the folder will no longer appear in the gallery or in the standard file manager.

To return files back, just rename the folder by removing the point at the beginning (for example, mysecret).

⚠️ Note: Do not move files to system folders like /system or /vendor — This can lead to disruptions in work. MIUI. Also avoid folders used by apps (for example, /Android/data/), They can be cleaned when updated or reset.

6 Additional security measures: encryption and backup

Hiding albums is only half the battle, and if you're storing really important data (documents, passports, work files), you should consider additional protection:

• 🔐 Encrypting folder: Use applications like Cryptomator or ES File Explorer (with encryption) to create an encrypted container.
• ☁️ Cloud Storage with Encryption: Proton Drive or Tresorit services offer end-to-end encryption, unlike Google Drive or Mi Cloud.
• 📱 Backup: Periodically copy hidden files to an external drive or to an encrypted archive (.zip with a password).

An example of creating an encrypted archive using ES File Explorer:

1. Select the files that need to be hidden.
2. Press More. → Squeeze.
3. Enter the archive name and set a password.
4. Remove the originals (optional).

This approach ensures that even if someone accesses your phone, they won’t be able to view files without a password, but remember that if you forget the password from the archive, it won’t be possible to recover the data.

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The most reliable way to protect is a combination of methods, like hiding files in protected MIUI albums and then archive them with a password and send them to the cloud, which creates several layers of protection.

FAQ: Frequent questions about hiding albums on Xiaomi Poco