How to Lock Photos with Face ID on iPhone (iOS 26)

You can protect hidden photos with Face ID in iOS 26 by leaving Use Face ID enabled for Photos, hiding the items, and opening them through Photos → Collections → Hidden under Utilities → View Album. The Hidden collection uses your iPhone authentication; it does not create a separate photo password or make Face ID itself encrypt the files.

Lock hidden photos with Face ID in iOS 26

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Apps, then Photos.
3. Make sure Use Face ID is turned on. Apple locks the Hidden and Recently Deleted collections by default.
4. To keep the Hidden collection from appearing in Photos, you can also turn off Show Hidden Album. This changes visibility, not storage.
5. Open Photos, select or open a photo, tap the More button, then tap Hide.
6. To view it later, open Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Utilities, tap Hidden, then tap View Album and authenticate.

Apple documents these steps in its current iOS 26 Photos guide and Hidden album support article.

Three different ways to restrict access

These options solve related but different problems.

1. Use Apple's Hidden collection

Hiding an item removes it from the main library, other albums, and the Photos widget, then shows it only in the Hidden collection. In iOS 26, that collection is locked by default with Face ID, Touch ID, or the device passcode.

This is the simplest built-in choice. It does not use a password separate from the iPhone passcode, and the photo remains part of the Photos library. If iCloud Photos is on, its hidden state is synchronized to your other devices.

2. Lock or hide an app

You can touch and hold a supported app on the Home Screen and choose Require Face ID. A locked app requires Face ID, Touch ID, or the passcode to open, and some of its information is also withheld from places such as search and notification previews.

Downloaded apps can also be moved into the locked Hidden folder in App Library by choosing Hide and Require Face ID. Apple says built-in apps cannot be hidden, and some built-in apps cannot be locked. The locked or hidden status applies only to that device and does not sync through iCloud. See Apple's lock or hide apps instructions.

Locking Photos, when the option is available, is an app-wide gate. It is separate from the lock already applied to the Hidden collection.

3. Use a vault with a separate password

A dedicated vault can keep selected media outside the normal Photos workflow and may provide its own password, album locks, or encrypted backup. Whether that is stronger depends on the app's actual storage, encryption, recovery, and data-collection design—not merely whether it displays a Face ID prompt.

If another person knows your device passcode, a genuinely separate vault password can protect against a risk the Hidden collection does not fully address. It also creates a new responsibility: you need a safe recovery or backup plan, and a zero-knowledge provider may be unable to recover a forgotten encryption password.

Built-in option versus a separate vault

For a sourced comparison of current options, see 5 hidden-photo apps and built-in tools compared.

Face ID authenticates; it does not encrypt files

Face ID answers: “Is the person requesting access an enrolled user?” It can release access after a successful match, but it is not the algorithm that encrypts a photo.

Encryption is handled by the device, Photos/iCloud architecture, or the vault app. Apple says setting a device passcode turns on Data Protection for iPhone data. iCloud uses encryption in transit and at rest by default; with optional Advanced Data Protection, Photos becomes end-to-end encrypted and Apple does not hold the keys needed to recover that protected data.

Those protections matter, but they should not be described as “Face ID encryption.”

What if someone knows the iPhone passcode?

The Hidden collection normally allows the device passcode as a fallback. Locking an app also normally allows Face ID, Touch ID, or the passcode. That means someone who knows the passcode may be within the trust boundary of those protections.

Apple's optional Stolen Device Protection changes some behavior when the iPhone is away from familiar locations. Apple documents that locked apps can then require Face ID or Touch ID without a passcode fallback. It is useful for theft involving a known passcode, but it does not replace a backup plan or a separate vault password.

Practical recommendation

Use the Hidden collection when you want a built-in way to keep occasional items out of ordinary browsing. Consider locking the Photos app as an additional app-wide barrier if iOS offers that option on your device. Choose a dedicated vault only when you need something the built-in option does not provide, such as a separate password, different organization, or a separately designed encrypted backup.

Whichever route you choose, verify where the originals remain and test recovery before deleting anything from Photos.

Sources

• Apple, Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone (iOS 26)
• Apple, Hide photos with the Hidden album
• Apple, Lock or hide apps on your iPhone
• Apple, Use locked apps with Stolen Device Protection
• Apple, Advanced Data Protection for iCloud

Sources and navigation checked July 22, 2026.