Hidlet vs Locking the Photos App With Face ID
Locking the Photos app is a door, not a safe. Your passcode opens it, and other apps walk around it.
Hidlet is an iPhone app
Point your iPhone camera at the code to install. No account needed.
or text me the linkRequire Face ID puts a lock on the whole Photos app, which stops casual snooping. But your iPhone passcode still opens it, apps with full photo access still see every photo, and nothing is encrypted with a new key. Hidlet keeps chosen photos in a vault only your pattern opens.
Since iOS 18 there’s a quicker idea than hiding photos one by one: lock the whole Photos app. Touch and hold its icon, choose Require Face ID, and from then on Photos asks for your face every time it opens.
It’s a good habit, and it costs nothing. But it’s easy to think it does more than it does. Here’s what that lock covers, what it leaves open, and how it compares with keeping photos in a vault.
Checked on 24 October 2026, against iOS 27.0.1.
The short version
| Locked Photos app | Hidlet | |
|---|---|---|
| Built in, nothing to install | Yes | No, it’s an app |
| Covers | Opening the Photos app, with your whole library inside | Only the photos you move into a vault |
| Opens with your iPhone passcode | Yes, except with Stolen Device Protection away from familiar places (or everywhere, set to Always) | No |
| Photos encrypted with their own key | No, the lock only checks who opens the app | Yes, AES-256 with the vault’s own key, which your pattern unlocks |
| Seen by apps with full photo access | Yes; Apple says full access includes hidden photos, and doesn’t say the lock changes that | No, the vault isn’t in your photo library |
| Kept out of search, Siri suggestions and notifications | Yes | Yes, nothing in a vault can be read until a pattern opens it |
| Can be hidden from the Home Screen | No, built-in apps can’t be hidden | Yes, iOS can hide it like any App Store app |
| A harmless vault to show if pressed | No | Yes, any vault can be the decoy |
| On your other devices | No, the lock is set per device | iPhone and iPad; sync between them with Pro |
| Price | Free | Free plan; optional Pro upgrade |
What Require Face ID does
When you lock an app, opening it needs Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode, and it locks again after you quit it. Apple also keeps a locked app’s content out of notification previews, search, Siri suggestions, CarPlay and call history. To lock Photos: touch and hold its icon, tap Require Face ID, and confirm. To undo it, choose Don’t Require Face ID.
That’s a real improvement for everyday privacy. Someone borrowing your unlocked phone to make a call won’t wander into your photos.
What it leaves open
The lock is a door on one app. It isn’t a safe around the photos.
- Your passcode opens it. Like the Hidden album, a locked app falls back to your passcode. The one exception is Stolen Device Protection (Settings → Face ID & Passcode → Stolen Device Protection, or Touch ID & Passcode): away from familiar places such as home or work, or everywhere if you choose Always, a locked app opens only with Face ID or Touch ID.
- Other apps don’t use the door. Apple’s Photos privacy page says an app you give full access sees all your photos and videos, including hidden ones. Apple’s page on locking apps doesn’t say the lock changes that. Choose Limit Access when an app asks.
- Nothing gets a new key. The lock checks who is opening the app. Apple doesn’t describe it as encrypting anything, so your photos keep the same protection as before. More on that in Is the iPhone Hidden Album Encrypted?
- It can’t be hidden. Apple lets you hide only apps from the App Store, not built-in ones like Photos.
- Each device on its own. The lock doesn’t sync. Locking Photos on your iPhone doesn’t lock it on your iPad or Mac, which show the same iCloud library.
How Hidlet is different
Hidlet doesn’t lock your library. It takes the photos that matter out of it.
- Its own key. You draw a pattern on a 5×5 grid. It unlocks the vault’s own encryption key on your iPhone, and each photo is encrypted with AES-256 before it’s stored. Your iPhone passcode opens nothing. See pattern lock.
- Out of reach of other apps. Once you move photos in and delete the originals (Hidlet offers to), they’re no longer in your photo library, so apps with photo access can’t see them.
- Several vaults, none listed. Different patterns open different hidden vaults, and the app never lists them (on the free plan, the paywall for a 4th vault does show that 3 exist).
- A way out when pressed. Open a harmless decoy vault instead of the real one.
- It locks itself. Leaving the app locks it straight away, the app switcher shows a cover instead of your photos, and screenshots and screen recordings show an empty screen.
If your worry is someone who knows your passcode, our guide How to Hide Photos From Someone Who Knows Your Passcode walks through it.
Where the locked Photos app is better
- It covers everything at once, your whole library, with no sorting.
- Nothing changes in how you use Photos. Memories, search, editing and iCloud sync all stay as they are.
- It’s free and built in, with nothing to install or remember.
Hidlet only protects the photos you put in it, it doesn’t run on a Mac (it runs on iPhone and iPad), and the free plan holds up to 100 photos and 10 videos in each vault. If you forget your pattern and lose your recovery phrase, nobody, including us, can open the vault.
The bottom line
Turn on Require Face ID for Photos: it’s a free, sensible lock against casual snooping. Just don’t count on it against someone who knows your passcode, or against other apps with photo access. For the photos that must stay private even then, move them into a vault with its own key, and let the lock cover the rest.
Hidlet is available on the App Store.
Frequently asked questions
How do I lock the Photos app on iPhone?
Touch and hold the Photos icon on the Home Screen, tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode), then tap Require Face ID again to confirm. It's available on iOS 18 and later.
Can I hide the Photos app?
No. Apple only lets you hide apps you downloaded from the App Store. Apps that come with the iPhone, like Photos, can be locked but not hidden.
Does locking Photos stop other apps from seeing my photos?
Apple's page on locking apps doesn't say so. Apple's Photos privacy page says an app with full access to your library can see all your photos and videos, including hidden ones. To limit that, choose Limit Access when an app asks.
Can someone with my passcode open a locked Photos app?
Yes. The passcode opens a locked app. The exception is Stolen Device Protection: away from familiar places, or everywhere if you set it to Always, Face ID or Touch ID is required.