Last reviewed 4 November 2026.

The short answer

Use the Hidden album if you want certain photos out of your main library and the people around you are not going to try to get past Face ID or your passcode.
Use a vault like Hedgehog Bits if you want files protected by a password that is separate from your phone’s passcode, kept out of iCloud, and covering documents and notes as well as photos.

Side by side

Compared	iPhone Hidden album	Hedgehog Bits
What unlocks it	Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode	A separate vault password
Encryption	Protected by iOS like the rest of your library	Its own encryption: Argon2id and AES-256-GCM, keyed from the vault password
iCloud	Syncs with iCloud Photos if that is on	Never synced, never in iCloud or computer backups
Who holds the keys in iCloud	Apple, unless you turn on Advanced Data Protection	Not applicable: nothing is uploaded
Other devices	Hidden photos also appear (hidden) on your other devices	Only on the iPhone it lives on
What it holds	Photos and videos	Photos, videos, audio, notes, PDFs and other files
Visible that it exists	The Hidden album can be shown or hidden in Photos settings	Looks like a set of brain games
Moving to a new iPhone	Automatic with iCloud Photos or a device backup	Manual: you export one encrypted file and restore it
If you forget the password	Your passcode or Apple Account recovery	No recovery
Cost	Included with iOS	See the App Store listing

What the Hidden album does well

According to Apple’s documentation, hidden photos stay in your library but are kept out of the main view, and from iOS 16 the Hidden album is locked by default and needs Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode to open. If you use iCloud Photos, a photo you hide on one device is hidden on your others too.

For a lot of people, that is enough. It stops a photo from appearing while you scroll through your library in front of someone, and it costs nothing.

Where it stops

Anyone who knows your passcode can open it. A partner, family member or someone who watched you unlock your phone has the same access you do.
It travels with iCloud Photos. With standard iCloud data protection, Apple holds the keys to iCloud Photos. With Advanced Data Protection turned on, your library is end-to-end encrypted, but the feature is opt-in and does not cover the Shared Albums feature in Photos.
It appears on every device signed in to your account, including a shared family Mac or iPad.
It is only for photos and videos. Scans of documents, notes and PDFs need somewhere else.

Where Hedgehog Bits is different

The vault password is separate from your device passcode. Knowing how to unlock the phone does not open the vault.
Files are encrypted by the app itself and never leave the iPhone unless you export a backup.
It holds documents and notes, not only photos.
It doesn’t look like a vault. To someone else, it opens as ten small games.

The trade-offs

We think these are worth being clear about:

You manage backups. Nothing is copied to iCloud. If you lose your phone without an exported backup, the vault is gone.
No password recovery. If you forget the vault password, nobody can open it, including us.
Moving photos in is a deliberate step. After importing, remove the originals from Photos and empty Recently Deleted.

Can I use both?

Yes. Many people keep everyday private photos in the Hidden album and move the few things that really matter, such as ID scans, medical records or intimate photos, into an encrypted vault.

Security design