Hiding personal photos and albums in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro gallery is a challenge many users face. Unlike the iPhone, where Hidden Albums feature is built into iOS, MIUI smartphone owners have to use workarounds. The reasons may vary: the desire to keep intimate photos from prying eyes, hide surprise gifts from loved ones, or simply maintain order in the media library.
In this article, we’ll look at 5 proven ways to hide an album in the standard Redmi Note 10 Pro gallery, from built-in MIUI features to third-party encryption apps. It’s important to understand that not all methods provide 100% protection: some simply hide files from random viewing, while others block access with a password. We’ll also tell you which methods work after resetting and which do not.
1. Hiding albums through the built-in Locked Files feature in MIUI
The easiest way to hide the album is to use the Locked Files feature built into MIUI, which is available on all Xiaomi smartphones, including the Redmi Note 10 Pro, and does not require any additional apps to be installed. Files placed in this section disappear from the main gallery and only open after you enter a password or fingerprint.
To hide the album:
- 📱 Open the standard Gallery app.
- 🔍 Select the album you want to hide and click on it. ⋮ (Three points) → Locked files.
- 🔐 Set your password (if you haven’t done it before) or confirm your fingerprint.
- ✅ Photos/videos will disappear from the main gallery.
Hidden files are accessed through Gallery → Albums → Locked files. Importantly, if you forget the password, it will not be possible to restore access - Xiaomi does not provide a reset function for this partition.
💡
If you plan to sell or transfer your phone, be sure to transfer the hidden files back to the main gallery. Once you reset the settings, access to the Locked Files will be lost forever.
Archiving album: how to hide photos without a password
If you don't need a password, but you just want to take the album out of the main view, you can use the archival feature, the archived files stay on the phone, but they don't show up in the gallery or interfere with viewing, and this is a technique that is suitable for temporary hiding, for example, if you want to remove old photos, but are not ready to delete them.
Instructions:
- Open the gallery and select the album you want.
- Press. ⋮ → Archive.
- Confirm the action - the album will disappear from the main list.
To return the archived photos:
- 📁 Go to the gallery. → Albums. → Archives.
- 🔄 Select files and press Unclick.
⚠️ Note: Archived files remain accessible through the File Manager on the way /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.Archive. For complete confidentiality, use password methods.
3. Hiding through the Safe Folder in Google Files
If you use Google Files (which is the default app on many MIUI firmware), you can use the Safe Folder feature. Unlike Xiaomi's standard tools, you can hide not only photos, but also documents, videos, audio files.
How to set up:
- 📂 Open Google Files and go to the Collection tab.
- 🔒 Select a Safe Folder → Set up.
- 📱 Follow the instructions for creating PIN-code-key.
- ➕ Click Add Files and select the photos you want.
Advantages of the method:
- 🔐 Two-factor authentication (you can link a Google account).
- 📎 Support for all types of files, not just media.
- 🔄 Synchronization between devices (if enabled).
What to do if I forget the password from the Safe Folder?
4.Use of third-party apps to hide albums
If you don't like the built-in MIUI, you can install specialized applications, which offer advanced features: encryption, masking for other applications (for example, a calculator), cloud backup. Below is a comparison of popular solutions:
| Annex | Encryption | Cloaking | Cloud. | Free of charge. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KeepSafe | ✅ (AES-256) | ❌ | ✅ | Partially. |
| GalleryVault | ✅ (standard) | ✅ (calculator) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Hide It Pro | ✅ (algorithm) | ✅ (audioplayer) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Vaulty | ✅ (AES-128) | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Recommendation: for maximum security, choose applications with AES-256 encryption and masking function. For example, GalleryVault allows you to hide the application itself under the calculator icon, making it invisible to outsiders.
Remove duplicate photos from the gallery|Download APK from the official website only|Check the application permissions|Create a backup copy of important files-->
⚠️ Note: Some file hiding applications (such as Hide It Pro) may request permissions to access the file. SMS It's not always safe -- check the reviews and reputation of the developer before installing.
5. Transfer the album to a hidden folder through the file manager
For power users, there is a way to hide albums through a file manager, and the idea is to move the folder of the photo to a system partition that is not crawled by the gallery, which does not require additional applications, but you need to be careful that the wrong actions can lead to data loss.
Step-by-step:
- Open the File Manager (for example, Mi File Manager).
- Go to /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/, where all photos are stored.
- Find the folder with the album (like Camera or Screenshots).
- Press. ⋮ → Rename and add a point at the beginning of the name (e.g.,.Camera).
- Confirm the action - the folder will be hidden.
Important: Once renamed, the folder will disappear from the gallery, but will remain accessible through the file manager. To return a photo, just delete the dot from the title. This method does not protect files with a password, but makes them invisible to standard viewers.
💡
Hidden folders (with a dot at the beginning of the title) are not displayed in most galleries, but remain accessible via PCs or file managers with hidden files displayed enabled.
6. Settings reset and hidden albums: what will happen to the files?
Many Redmi Note 10 Pro users worry about what happens to hidden albums after resetting their settings.
- 🔐 Locked files (MIUI): They're going to be removed without recovery.
- 📁 Archived Albums: Stay on the Phone, but Return to Main Gallery.
- 🔒 Google Files: If you have a Google account attached, you can recover files after you log in.
- 📱 App side: depends on settings. Some (like KeepSafe) sync data to the cloud.
- 🗃️ Hidden folders via manager: will remain in place but become visible after displaying hidden files.
If you plan to reset your settings, transfer important photos to your PC or cloud beforehand. You can use:
- 🖥️ Mi Cloud (Integrated Cloud) by Xiaomi).
- 🌥️ Google Photos (with the "Backup" feature enabled").
- 💾 Local copying on SD-map USB-accumulator.