How to hide the album in the gallery on Xiaomi Redmi 9: hide photos and videos from prying eyes

Xiaomi Redmi 9 smartphones with MIUI firmware offer several ways to hide personal albums in the gallery, from built-in features to third-party solutions. But not everyone knows that the standard hidden through the Secure folder only works for individual files, not for entire albums. Moreover, after the updates to MIUI 12/13/14, the hiding algorithms changed, and the old instructions stopped working.

In this article, we will analyze 5 proven methods, including little-known MIUI chips, which will allow you to hide albums from strangers without root rights and data loss. Particular attention will be paid to hiding through the file system, which is important for users whose gallery automatically groups photos into folders (for example, screenshots or downloads from messengers).

Importantly, if you use Google Photos as your main gallery, some of the methods won't work -- you'll need to disable autosynchronization, and more on that in the cloud services section.

Before you start, check out the MIUI version in Settings → About Phone. Redmi 9 with MIUI 12.5+ has additional privacy options that are not available in earlier versions. If your smartphone hasn’t yet updated, we recommend you do it through Settings → System Update – this will expand the ability to hide albums.

1. Standard “Secure folder” in MIUI: pros and cons

The most obvious way to do this is to use the built-in Security → App lock → Private folder feature, which is available on all Redmi 9s with MIUI 12+ and allows you to hide individual photos/videos under a password or fingerprint, but this method has critical limitations:

✅ Pluses:

• 🔒 Does not require root rights or third-party applications.
• 📱 Integrated into the system – files do not take up additional space.
• 🔄 It works even after resetting (unless you format internal memory).

❌ Cons:

• 📂 Does not hide the whole albums – only individual files (you have to choose each photo manually).
• 🔍 Files stay in the folder. DCIM/.private It can be found through the file manager.
• 🔄 When transferring files to a Protected Folder, the originals are not automatically deleted – they must be manually erased.

How to turn on:

1. Open Settings → Passwords and Security → Secure folder.
2. Set a password or fingerprint (if not configured).
3. In the gallery, select files → More → Move to a protected folder.

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If the Protected folder doesn’t appear in the settings, upgrade your MIUI to the latest version or check the firmware region (for some countries, the feature is disabled).

2. Hiding Albums Through Rename Folders: File Manager to Help

If you want to hide an entire album (like screenshots from messengers or browser downloads), you can use a simple trick: add a dot to the beginning of the folder name. Android perceives such folders as hidden, and they do not appear in the standard gallery.

Instructions:

1. Open any file manager (such as Google Files or the built-in MI File Manager).
2. Go to the Inner Memory → DCIM (Or Pictures, if the album's there).
3. Find the folder with the album (like Screenshots), click Rename and add a dot to the beginning:.Screenshots.
4. Reboot the phone and the album will disappear from the gallery.

⚠️ Note: This method does not work for folders that are automatically created by the system (such as Camera or WhatsApp Images.

To return the album back, simply delete the dot from the folder name.

Make sure there are no system files in the folder|Make a backup copy of important data|Use a file manager with root rights (if you need to hide your system folders)|Check if the folder is used by other applications-->

3. Third-party apps: the best options for Redmi 9

If the built-in methods don't work, you can install specialized applications to hide albums, we tested 5 popular solutions and selected the 3 most reliable for Xiaomi Redmi 9:

🔹 How to choose: If you need maximum concealment (including root user protection), take GalleryVault.

⚠️ Warning: Check the app's permissions before installing. Some "hiding rooms" request access to SMS or Contacts - this is abnormal and may indicate spyware.

4. Hiding through.nomedia: Why it doesn't always work on MIUI

The classic way to hide a folder from being scanned by a gallery is to create an empty.nomedia file in it. However, on Xiaomi Redmi 9 with MIUI, this method is unstable due to the features of the firmware:

🔧 How to Create.Nomedia:

1. Open a file manager (e.g., MI File Manager).
2. Go to the folder you want to hide (for example, DCIM/CustomAlbum).
3. Click Create → File and call it.nomedia (with a dot at the beginning!).
4. Reboot the phone.

❌ Why might not work:

• 🤖 MIUI Ignores.nomedia for system folders (e.g. Camera or Downloads).
• 🔄 After updating the firmware file may be reset.
• 📂 Some apps (like Google Photos) ignore.nomedia and crawl folders independently of it.

💡 Alternative: If.nomedia doesn’t work, try moving the folder to Android/data/ (for example, Android/data/com.example.hidden/). The gallery does not scan this directory, but access to files will only be through the file manager.

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The.nomedia file hides the folder only from the standard MIUI gallery, and apps like Google Photos or Viber can ignore it and show media files.

5. Hiding through Archiving: ZIP as a Temporary Solution

If you need to temporarily hide an album (for example, before transferring your phone to another person), you can archive a folder in a ZIP or RAR with a password. This method does not require root rights and works on any version of MIUI.

📌 Step-by-step instruction:

1. Install an archiver (such as RAR or ZArchiver).
2. Open the file manager, find the folder with the album.
3. Select the folder → Squeeze → Select the ZIP/RAR format and set the password.
4. Delete the original folder (after checking the archive!).

⚠️ Note: This method is not suitable for permanent storage, as:

• 📉 Archives take up more space (due to compression).
• 🔑 If you forget the password, it will be impossible to restore files.
• 📱 When opening the archive, the gallery can automatically retrieve the photos and scan them again.

🔹 Lifehack: To avoid automatic extraction, rename the archive to.zip.bak or.rar.old. The gallery will ignore such a file.

6.Cloud Services: Hiding Albums in Google Photos and Mi Cloud

If you use Google Photos or Mi Cloud for backup, you can hide albums right in the cloud, which is convenient if you need to access files from different devices, but there are nuances:

🔸 Google Photo:

• 📁 Create a shared album just for yourself and turn it off for others to access.
• 🔒 Move your personal photos to the Archive folder (it doesn’t appear in the main stream).
• ⚠️ Disadvantages: Files remain in the cloud and can be found through search.

🔸 Mi Cloud:

• 📂 Upload files to Private Storage (available in Mi Cloud) → Settings → Confidentiality).
• 🔐 Set a password to the folder (only works in the web version of Mi Cloud).
• ⚠️ Cons: when synchronized, files may appear again in the gallery.

✅ Best option: Combine cloud storage with hiding through a file manager. for example, upload files to Mi Cloud, then delete them from your phone and clear the basket.

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To completely eliminate synchronization of personal files, disable autoboot for specific folders: Google Photos Settings → Backup and Sync → Device folders.

FAQ: Frequent questions about hiding albums on Xiaomi Redmi 9