How to hide an album in a gallery on Redmi Note 9: all the ways from standard to hidden

Owners of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 often face the need to hide personal photos or entire albums from prying eyes. The reasons can be different: the desire to protect confidential photos from curious relatives, hide working materials from children, or simply clean up the gallery by removing unnecessary folders from the screen. Unfortunately, the standard MIUI gallery does not always offer obvious tools for this - especially if it is not about individual files, but about entire albums.

Many users mistakenly think that hiding folders will require root access or installing dubious applications. In fact, Redmi Note 9 has at least 5 working ways to hide an album from built-in features. MIUI It's important to understand that the concealment of the file system is a little bit of a trick. ≠ Deletion: files will remain on the device but will no longer be displayed in the standard gallery, and some methods even allow you to set a password for hidden data.

In this article, we will discuss all the current ways, from the simplest to the most advanced, and also tell you how to return the album if it suddenly disappears from view. MIUI 12–14, as the interface and settings may differ depending on the firmware version.

1.Hide album through the standard MIUI gallery

The most obvious way is to use the built-in features of the MIUI gallery. However, many Redmi Note 9 users do not notice this option, since it is hidden in the depth of the menu.

1. Open the Gallery app (a flower icon with multicolored petals).

2 Find the album you want to hide and tap three points (⋮) top-right.

3. In the drop-down menu, select Hide the album (on some versions of MIUI, this item may be called Hide or Take Out of View).

If there is no such item, then your version of the gallery does not support this feature directly, in which case you can try updating the app through Google Play or use alternative methods from the following sections.

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On MIUI 14, hidden albums are automatically moved to the.hidden folder in the root directory of internal memory. To see them again, turn on the display of hidden files in any file manager (for example, in the Explorer from Xiaomi).

Important: The albums hidden through the gallery are not password protected, and you can easily find them by enabling the display of hidden folders in the file manager. If you need additional protection, consider the ways in the folder password section.

2.Use of the "Secure Files" function in MIUI

Xiaomi offers a built-in privacy protection tool called Secure Files (or Private Safe in international firmware), a technique that not only hides albums from the gallery, but also encrypts them by requiring a password or fingerprint to be accessed.

To take advantage of this function:

1. Open Settings → Privacy → Secure Files.
2. If the feature is used for the first time, the system will suggest setting a password (use a strong combination!).
3. Click Add Files and select the album or individual photos you want.
4. Confirm the transfer of files to a secure storage.

After that, the album will disappear from the standard gallery and will only be available through the Secure Files section.

• 🔒 Files are encrypted and not displayed even when connecting your phone to your PC.
• 📱 Access will require password entry or biometric authentication.
• ⚠️ When resetting the phone to factory settings, the protected files will be deleted without the possibility of recovery!

3. Hiding by renaming a folder (for power users)

This is a method that works for those who are willing to work with the Android file system, and the idea is to add a dot before the folder name, which will make the system think it's hidden.

1. Open any file manager (e.g., standard Explorer or Solid Explorer).

2 Go to the DCIM or Pictures folder where your album is stored.

3. Find the folder you want, click on it and select Rename.

4. Add a point at the beginning of the title (e.g.,.Vacation instead of Vacation).

5. Confirm the changes.

After that, the album will disappear from the gallery, but will remain accessible through the file manager (when you turn on the hidden files).

Backup photos on your PC or cloud

Make sure that the file manager supports the display of hidden files

Remember the exact name of the folder for renaming

Check if the folder is used by other applications (for example, messengers)-->

4. Applications for hiding albums: top-3 decision

If you don't like the built-in MIUI tools, you can use third-party apps, and we tested dozens of programs and selected the 3 most reliable ones for the Redmi Note 9:

Check reviews and ratings before installing - some apps may contain ads or request excessive permissions.We recommend GalleryVault as the most balanced option for the Redmi Note 9.

Standard MIUI facilities

Third-party annexes

Rename of folders

Protected Files (Private Safe)

I'm not hiding it.-->

5. Hiding through a.nomedia file is a reliable method

Android users know about the magic.nomedia file. If you put it in a folder, the system and all applications will stop scanning its contents (including the gallery, Google Photos and instant messengers).

1. Open the file manager and go to the folder with the album.

2. Create a new text file (in Xiaomi Explorer: Create → File).

3. Call it.nomedia (note the point at the beginning!).

4. Save the file and restart the phone.

Once the reboot is complete, the album will disappear from the gallery. To return it back, simply delete the.nomedia file. This method works on all versions of MIUI and does not require root rights.

⚠️ Note:.nomedia hides the folder from all applications, including instant messengers and cloud services. If you use automatic uploading of photos to Google Photos or Telegram, these files will stop syncing.

6 How to put a password on a hidden album

If you don’t need to hide an album and you need to protect it with a password, there are two reliable ways to do it:

Method 1: Through "Secure Files" MIUI

• 🔐 Set a password in Settings → Privacy → Secure files.
• 📁 Move the album to a secure storage facility.
• 👆 Access will require a password or fingerprint.

Method 2: Third-party applications with encryption

Applications like GalleryVault or KeepSafe allow you to:

• 🔒 Install PIN-code.
• 📱 Use biometric authentication.
• 🔄 Create backup copies in encrypted form.

If you choose a third-party app, pay attention to its permissions. Trusted programs only request access to storage and camera (to import photos), avoid applications that require access to SMS, contacts or geolocation - this is a sign of potentially malware.

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The most reliable way to protect is to combine the.nomedia file (hidden from the gallery) and transfer to Secure Files (encrypt and set a password).

Frequent problems and their solutions

When hiding albums on Redmi Note 9, users often encounter common mistakes, and here are the most common ones and ways to fix them:

Problem 1: The album has disappeared from the gallery, but it takes up a place in the memory.

Solution: It's normal behavior to not delete files, but only hide them. To see them, turn on the display of hidden files in the file manager or delete the.nomedia file (if you used this method).

Problem 2: After the MIUI update, the hidden albums reappeared.

Solution: Updates sometimes reset settings.

• The presence of a.nomedia file in the folder.
• Secure Files settings (you may need to re-add the album).
• Gallery version – sometimes after an update you need to manually hide the album again.

Problem 3: I can't find the folder with the album in the file manager.

Solution: Photo folders are usually stored in:

/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/


/storage/emulated/0/Pictures/




/storage/emulated/0/Download/

If there is no folder, try connecting your phone to your PC and find it through this computer → [phone name] → Internal memory.

⚠️ Note: If you used a.nomedia file but the album is still visible in the gallery, check: File name correctness (should be.nomedia, not nomedia.txt). File location - it should lie inside the folder you're hiding, not next to it. Gallery cache – sometimes helps to clean the Gallery app data in the settings.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions