Hiding personal photos on Xiaomi smartphones is a challenge that every second user faces. The reasons are different: the desire to protect intimate photos from prying eyes, hide surprise gifts from loved ones or just unload the main gallery. Unlike the iPhone, which has a built-in Hidden album, MIUI features the functionality of hiding photos is implemented differently — and not always obvious.
In this article, we’ll look at all the current ways to hide photos on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO (including the 2023-2026 models on MIUI 14/15 and Android 13/14). From standard tools to advanced encryption methods, choose the one that is right for you, and find out why hidden photos sometimes “pop up” in cloud backups and how to avoid this.
1.Integrated Hiding Through 'Private Album' at MIUI
The easiest way is to use the “Private Album” feature, which is available in the standard Xiaomi gallery, which does not encrypt files, but hides them from the main stream and blocks access by password / fingerprint.
To activate:
- Open the Gallery app.
- Slip on three dots in the upper right corner → Private album.
- Set a password (if not configured) or confirm with a fingerprint.
- Select photos → Click Add to a private album.
⚠️ Important: Photos from a private album are not deleted when cleaning the gallery through Settings → Storage, but you can accidentally show them if you hand over a phone with an unlocked screen, and they're also visible in the file manager along the way. /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.PrivateAlbum.
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To strengthen protection, turn off the display of hidden folders in the file manager: Settings → Show hidden files (uncheck the box).
2. Hiding through the Secure Folder (for MIUI 12 and later)
Starting with MIUI 12, Xiaomi introduced the Secure Folder feature, which is the equivalent of Samsung's Secure Folder, which creates an isolated, encrypted storage where you can transfer not only photos, but also documents, videos.
How to set up:
- 🔒 Go to Settings. → Privacy → Secure folder.
- 📱 Create a password (other than locking your screen!) or use biometrics.
- 📷 In the gallery, highlight a photo. → More. → Move it to a secure folder.
Advantages of the method:
- ✅ Files are encrypted and not visible even through ADB.
- ✅ Access only after entering a password (even if the phone is unlocked).
- ✅ Google Photos: Hidden files are not synced.
What to do if you forget the password from the Protected folder?
3. Hiding through the file system (rename the folder)
If you don't want to use the built-in tools, you can hide the photo manually by adding a dot in front of the folder name, which works on all Android devices, including Xiaomi.
Instructions:
- Connect a file manager (e.g., Mi File Manager or Solid Explorer).
- Go to /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera (or another folder with a photo).
- Create a new folder with a name.hidden_photos (beginning-point!).
- Move the photos there.
After that, the folder will disappear from the gallery. To return the photo back, just rename the folder, removing the dot.
| Method | Level of protection | Visibility in the cloud | Password required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private album | Medium. | Visible (if synchronization is enabled) | Yes. |
| Secure folder. | High-pitched | Hidden. | Yes. |
| Rename the folder | Low. | Visible. | No. |
| Third-party applications (KeepSafe) | High-pitched | Depends on the settings. | Yes. |
4. Use of third-party applications (KeepSafe, GalleryVault)
If the built-in MIUI features aren't enough, you can install specialized applications.
- 🔐 KeepSafe – encrypts photos and videos, supports cloud backup.
- 🛡️ GalleryVault – simulates the removal of photos (they remain only in the application).
- 📱 Vaulty – Makes “Fake” Notifications to Cloak.
⚠️ Note: Apps from Google Play can collect photo metadata (date, geolocation). → Annexes → Permits.
How to hide a photo via KeepSafe:
☑️ KeepSafe setup
5. Hiding through Archiving (ZIP with Password)
Method for paranoids: pack photos in ZIP-Even if someone finds a file, you can't open it without a password.
Step-by-step:
- Install an archiver (such as RAR or ZArchiver).
- Select the photo in the file manager → Compress.
- Select the ZIP or RAR format and set a password.
- Remove the originals (optional).
⚠️ Note: If you forget your password, you can't restore access to the archive. Store it in the password manager (for example, Bitwarden).
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Password archiving is the only method that protects a photo even when physically accessing a phone (for example, if it is stolen).
6. Hiding through cloud services (Google Photos, Mi Cloud)
Cloud storage allows you to hide a photo without taking up space on your phone, for example, in Google Photos you can create a private album without sharing a link to it.
How to hide photos in Google Photos:
- 📤 Upload the photo to the cloud (enable Backup in the settings).
- 🗃️ Create a new album and add a photo.
- 🔗 Press Share. → Reference → Disable access.
- 🗑️ Remove the originals from your phone (they will stay in the cloud).
The downside is that the photos are not encrypted, they can be seen by anyone with access to your Google account. Use two-factor authentication for security.
7. Advanced method: Veracrypt encryption (for tech-savvy) If you need military encryption, you can use Veracrypt, a software for creating encrypted containers. It is available for Android. Create a new volume (Create Volume) and select Standard Veracrypt volume. Specify size (e.g. 500 MB) and password (minimum 20 characters!). Mount the volume and copy the photo there. Unmount the volume - the photos will become unavailable without a password. ⚠️ Warning: Veracrypt doesn't integrate with the gallery, you have to mount a volume to view a photo, but it's 100% secure from hacking.
Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Even experienced Xiaomi users sometimes make mistakes when hiding photos.
- 🔄 Cloud Sync: Hidden photos can pop up in Google Photos or Mi Cloud if you don't turn off autoboot. → Accounts. → Synchronization.
- 📱 Phone reset: When reset to factory settings (Settings) → The phone. → Reset) all hidden photos in the Private Album and Protected Folder will be deleted irrevocably.
- 🔍 File search: Even hidden folders (with a dot) can be found through a search in the file manager. disable indexing: Settings → Additionally. → Searching for files.
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Before resetting your phone, be sure to transfer the hidden photos to your PC or external drive. To do this, connect Xiaomi to your computer in File Transfer (MTP) mode and copy the.PrivateAlbum or SecureFolder folder.