How do I hide files on Android?

Last reviewed: October 15, 2026 · Markdown version

Use a locked folder, not a trick. Files by Google has Safe folder, which works on most Android phones, and Galaxy phones have Samsung's Secure Folder. Both move a file behind a PIN, pattern or password, and both are unforgiving if you lose it. Hiding a picture from the gallery is a smaller job with a different tool, covered further down.

Files by Google: Safe folder

Google's description is one line: "You can hide files in your Safe folder and control access with a PIN." It needs Android 8.0 or newer. You set it up from Collections in the app and choose a PIN or a pattern. To put files in, press and hold them (or tick their circles) and tap More › Move to Safe folder, then confirm with the lock you set (Protect your files with Safe folder, Files by Google Help, read 15 October 2026).

Three things on that page are worth reading before you rely on it:

The lock is the only key. "If you forget your PIN or Pattern, you can't access your files." Resetting is possible, but "the files in this folder will be permanently lost."
Coming out, a file goes home. Move out of Safe folder returns it to "its original location", and if that location is gone, "the folder will be recreated." Stay on the screen until it finishes: leave early and "the operation will be cancelled and the file will stay in Safe folder."
Housekeeping can break it. Safe folder uses "Android storage with encryption", and Google warns not to "Clear storage or cache with other apps" or plug in "an SD card with Safe folder files from another phone".

Samsung Galaxy: Secure Folder

Samsung's version is a sealed space with its own apps and its own copy of My Files. You switch it on under Settings › Security and privacy › More security settings › Secure Folder, then pick a PIN, password or pattern. During setup, Samsung offers Reset with Samsung account, and the page is blunt about skipping it: "If you do not turn on this option, you will not be able to access your Secure Folder if you forget your passcode." Files go in from an app such as Gallery with a press and hold, then More › Move to Secure Folder, and only files on the phone or its SD card qualify: "Files saved on your Cloud account can't be moved to Secure Folder" (Use the Secure Folder on your Galaxy phone or tablet, Samsung US, read 15 October 2026).

Two details people miss. You can hide the folder itself: a Quick Settings tile toggles its icon on and off the Apps screen, and you can rename it and change its icon. And it stays on the phone: "Secure Folder can only be accessed on your phone or tablet. It cannot be accessed from the web or a computer" (same Samsung page). Getting files back out is its own walk-through, along with Samsung's note that backup is no longer offered.

Xiaomi and other phones

Many people searching this have a Xiaomi or Redmi phone. Xiaomi's own Google Play listing for its File Manager lists its key features as Recent, Categories, Storage, Cleaner, Mi Drop, global search, format support, compression and multi-select; it mentions no way to hide, lock or make a file private (File Manager, Xiaomi Inc. on Google Play, read 15 October 2026). If your phone's own file manager has such a feature, its menu will show it; the listing does not describe one, so we will not invent the steps. Files by Google's Safe folder, above, is the route Google documents for any phone on Android 8.0 or newer.

Only want it out of the gallery?

That is a weaker kind of hiding. A file named .nomedia inside a folder tells Android's media index to skip it: the reference calls it the file "signaling the media scanner to ignore media in the containing directory and its subdirectories" (MediaStore, Android Developers, read 15 October 2026). Gallery apps then leave those pictures out, but any file manager still lists them, with no lock at all. It suits screenshots of recipes; it does not suit anything private. How to see hidden files again covers the other side.

If Adinand Auto File Sorter is installed

The sorter leaves hidden-style files alone: it skips any file whose name starts with a dot, and it sorts only files sitting directly in a folder it watches, never anything inside a sub-folder. So a .nomedia folder you made inside Downloads is not touched. One thing to plan for: a private PDF left loose in Downloads is an ordinary file to the app, and a sort moves it into the central output folder with everything else. Lock it before the next sort if that matters to you.