Associated photos (including copies and edited versions) will not be moved.

After that, Android will show you a final warning that says: You will be asked again to authenticate yourself. It seems that file selection is not considered a sensitive area in Android. Tap the pictures you want to move to the locked folder, then tap Move in the upper-right corner of the screen. Tap Move Items to open the file picker where you can select any photos (or videos) you want to add to your locked folder. After successful authentication, you will be greeted with a window that says Nothing here yet and a button to move items. You will then be prompted to authenticate using your default method (e.g. On the next screen, tap Setup in the lower-right corner of the display. Google Photos Utilities section on Android 12.Īs of this point, Android doesn’t allow screenshots (as this is considered a sensitive area), so just follow the instructions carefully (don’t worry, it’s easy).Īlso: iPhone or Android slow or buggy? Do this one simple thing every week In the window that appears, tap Set up locked folder. The main Google Photos window on Android 12. Open Google Photos on your Android device. This process should work similarly regardless of the device, as long as you have any version of Android, equal to or newer than 12. I’m going to demonstrate how to set up a locked folder in Google Photos on Android 12 running on a Pixel 6 Pro. Or, better yet, make sure you have saved a copy of this folder in a secure (think “encrypted”) folder on your local computer.Īlso: How to Encrypt a Folder in MacOS (And Why You Should Do It) So choose wisely the photos and videos you want to lock. Photos or videos stored in this folder will not be backed up to your cloud account. There is of course a caveat to using a locked folder. Once you’ve done that, the only way to view the images is via your standard screen unlock authentication (e.g.

Photo illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Imagesĭid you know that Google Photos on Android offers the possibility to create a locked folder? Why do you even want that? You may want to take photos of your personal documents, such as vaccination cards or your diving license, to have them handy, or maybe you have pictures or videos that you’d rather not see.įor such images, you can set up a locked folder in Google Photos on Android and tuck away those documents and other images for safe keeping.

Locked photos google