How to hide photos on Xiaomi: all ways from system to cloud

Xiaomi’s MIUI-powered smartphones offer several built-in ways to hide personal photos from prying eyes, from standard gallery features to hidden folders in the file manager. But not everyone knows that even “deleted” images can remain in cache or backups. In this article, we’ll look at all the current methods of hiding photos on Xiaomi in 2026, including little-known tricks with MIUI 14/15 and cloud services.

It's important to understand: concealment ≠ If you want to delete a photo completely without recovery, you need to take additional steps (at the end of the article), and for now, we'll focus on how to make the images invisible in a standard gallery, but keep them accessible.

1. Built-in Hidden Albums feature in MIUI

The most obvious way is to use the built-in Hidden Albums option in the Gallery app, which is available on all Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones with MIUI 12 and later.

1. Open the gallery and select a photo/video.
2. Press. ⋮ (three-point) → Hide.
3. Confirm the action with a password or fingerprint (if the lock is configured).

Where do you look for hidden files? Go to Gallery → Albums → Hidden. Access to the folder is protected by the same password as unlocking the screen.

⚠️ Note: Photos in the hidden album remain in the device’s memory and can be found through the file manager along the way /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.hidden. For complete confidentiality, use encryption (see section). 4).

2. Hiding through a file manager: folder.nomedia

The method for advanced users: creating a.nomedia file blocks the folder from being scanned by system media players, and it works not only for photos, but also for music/video.

1. Open Files (or any file manager with root rights).
2. Go to the photo folder (for example, /DCIM/Camera).
3. Create a new text file and call it.nomedia (a point at the beginning is a must!).
4. Reset the device.

Once rebooted, the photos will disappear from the gallery, but remain in memory. To return them back, simply delete the.nomedia file.

Created.nomedia file without extension | The file is in the same folder as the photo | The folder is not displayed in the gallery after reboot |Photoes are available through the file manager-->

Method limitation: files are still visible in Google Photos and other cloud services if sync is enabled. To avoid this, turn off autoload for a specific folder in the app settings.

3. Archiving photos in ZIP with password

If you want to hide a photo and password-protect it, the best option is to file a ZIP or RAR with encryption.

• 📂 Select the photo in the Files → Squeeze.
• 🔒 Choose the format ZIP password-wise MIUI default-supported).
• 🔑 Set a strong password (at least 12 characters with numbers and special signs).
• 🗑️ Remove the originals after archiving (optional).

The archive will be visible in the file manager, but without a password, its contents are not available. For additional masking, rename the file to something neutral, for example, notes_backup.zip.

Encrypting folder through Private Space (MIUI 14+)

Starting with MIUI 14, Xiaomi added Private Space, a separate, secure profile with its own apps and files, which is the most reliable way to hide photos at the system level.

1. Go to Settings → Special Options → Private Space.
2. Create a password (different from the main lock screen!).
3. Enable the option to Hide Private Space icon in the settings.
4. Transfer the photo to the Private Space Gallery via the file manager.

Private Space is accessed by swiping down the lock screen with a finger held at the top, and you can't get there without knowing your password or your fingerprint.

5. Cloud Storage: Google Photos and Mi Cloud

If you don't want to store photos on your device, move them to a restricted cloud, like Google Photos.

• 📁 Create a private album and share it only on the link.
• 🔗 Disable access to the link after viewing.
• 🗃️ Use Archive function (photos are not displayed in the main stream).
• 🕵️ Enable the Safe Folder (required) PIN-code).

For Mi Cloud, the algorithm is similar: upload photos to Private files and set up password access, and the downside of cloud solutions is the dependence on the Internet and the risk of leakage when you hack your account.

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To prevent hidden photos from getting into backups, before creating a backup, turn off the synchronization of the gallery in the settings of your Xiaomi or Google account.

6 Third-party applications: KeepSafe, Vaulty, 1Gallery

If MIUI is not enough, install specialized applications to hide photos.

• 🔒 KeepSafe – encryption with PIN-code and camouflage under the calculator.
• 📱 Vaulty – hides photos and records unauthorized access attempts.
• 🖼️ 1Gallery — Alternative gallery with support for hidden folders.

Before installing, check the app’s permissions: it should not ask for access to SMS, contacts, or geolocation for no reason. Also, pay attention to the privacy policy – some apps upload your photos to their servers.

⚠️ Note: Apps from unverified sources (outside Google Play) may contain malicious code. For example, in 2023, several “galleries” with hidden cryptocurrency miners were identified.+ and the number of downloads from 1M+.

7. Complete removal of the photo without the possibility of recovery

If you need to permanently delete photos so that they can not be restored even through special programs, follow the following steps:

1. Take the photo to the basket and clean it.
2. Use an application for irrevocable erasure (such as Secure Delete or Shreddit).
3. For a complete clean, format internal memory through Settings → Memory → Clean (data will be deleted forever!).

On devices with MIUI 15, the Deep Clean option has been introduced, which rewrites deleted files by zeros, which takes longer, but ensures that the photo does not restore even professional software.

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Even after “deleting” photos can remain in the cache of applications (for example, in Telegram or WhatsApp). To clear the cache, go to Settings → Apps → Storage → Clear the cache.

FAQ: Frequent questions about hiding photos on Xiaomi