How to transfer hidden photos to a new phone without losing them

Phone transfers have become good at moving a camera roll. Hidden photos are another story. Every hiding spot (the iPhone Hidden album, Google Photos’ Locked Folder, Samsung’s Secure Folder, Android’s Private Space, a vault app) has its own rules, and some are designed never to leave the phone at all.

The safe pattern is the same everywhere: find out how your hiding spot moves, make the copy, open it on the new phone, and only then wipe the old one. Below is a quick overview, then one checklist per route.

What moves on its own and what doesn’t

iPhone to iPhone

With iCloud Photos this is the easy route. Apple says that when you use iCloud Photos, anything you hide is hidden on all your devices, so the Hidden album arrives on the new iPhone already hidden.

1. On the old iPhone, check iCloud Photos is on (Settings → your name → iCloud → Photos) and finished syncing.
2. Set up the new iPhone with Quick Start: hold it next to the old one, then choose to transfer directly from the old iPhone or download from iCloud.
3. Sign in with the same Apple Account, keep iCloud Photos on and give the library time to download.
4. On the new iPhone (iOS 26 or later), open Photos → Collections → Hidden (under Utilities) → View Album and unlock it. Check that the count matches the old phone.
5. In Settings → Apps → Photos, set Use Face ID and Show Hidden Album the way you had them.

Without iCloud Photos, your library comes across in a direct Quick Start transfer or an iCloud Backup. Apple doesn’t document how hidden status carries over in those cases, so treat step 4 as mandatory: look inside the Hidden album on the new phone before you erase the old one.

Two things don’t carry over by themselves. Apple says an app’s locked or hidden status applies only to that iPhone and doesn’t sync with iCloud, so expect to lock or hide apps again. And a third-party vault app’s contents come across only if the app allows it: some keep their files out of backups on purpose, others sync to their own cloud instead. Open each vault on the new phone before you erase the old one.

Android to Android

During setup, Android can copy apps and data from your old phone or restore your Google backup. Neither carries everything that’s hidden, so deal with each spot first.

Google Photos Locked Folder

Google is explicit: Locked Folder items that aren’t backed up aren’t moved by cable or cloud phone-to-phone transfers, and they’re deleted when you reset the old phone. To bring them along:

1. On the old phone, open Google Photos → your profile picture → Photos settings → Backup, and make sure backup is on. Locked Folder backup needs it.
2. On the same screen, turn on Back up Locked Folder and unlock with your screen lock when asked.
3. Stay on Wi-Fi until the upload finishes.
4. On the new phone, sign in to Google Photos with the same account, open Collections → Locked Folder and check everything is there.

If you’d rather not put those photos in Google’s cloud, the alternative is to move them out of Locked Folder just before the transfer and back in on the new phone right after. In between they sit in your normal library, and in your normal backup if that’s on. Also remember that Locked Folder opens with the phone’s screen lock, so anyone who knows the new phone’s PIN can open it; we compare it with the alternatives in Locked Folder vs Secure Folder vs Private Space.

Private Space (Android 15 and later)

Google says Private Space isn’t part of device backup and won’t come back when you restore one. There’s no documented way to move it, so before switching, save anything you need from the apps inside it. Apps that sync to their own cloud are the exception: Google notes their data comes back when you sign in again. On the new phone, set up a fresh space in Settings → Security & privacy → Private space and reinstall the apps.

Files by Google Safe folder

The Safe folder can’t back up to Drive from inside, and Google advises against copying its encrypted files to another phone. Use More → Move out of Safe folder, transfer the files, then move them back in on the new phone.

Vault apps

Phone-to-phone transfer can carry an app’s data, but since Android 12 apps set separate rules for cloud backup and for device-to-device transfer, and a vault app may opt out of both. Calculator Locker does. Use the app’s own export, covered in the vault section below.

Samsung to Samsung

Smart Switch handles most of a Galaxy-to-Galaxy move, including Secure Folder. On One UI 8 it’s the only way: Samsung says Secure Folder data backup is no longer available, and restore isn’t available on Android 16 with One UI 8 or later. Samsung’s steps:

1. Open Smart Switch on both phones. On the new one tap Receive on this phone; on the old one, Send from this phone.
2. On the new phone choose Galaxy/Android, then Wireless or Cable. For wireless, keep the phones within about 10 cm (4 inches) and scan the QR code on the new phone from the old one. For cable, connect the two charging ports.
3. Tap Allow on the old phone.
4. On the new phone, tap the arrow next to Apps and select Secure Folder, or the arrow next to Secure Folder to pick specific content. Tap Done, then Transfer.
5. When it finishes, open Secure Folder on the new phone and check your photos are there.

Albums you hid in Samsung Gallery are ordinary photos with the album hidden from view. Smart Switch copies your photos, but check those albums are still hidden on the new phone before you hand it to anyone. The same goes for Gallery’s Private album on One UI 8.5; we couldn’t find Samsung transfer guidance for it, so verify it on the new phone. Our guide to hiding photos on Samsung covers how each works. Don’t rely on Smart Switch for a vault app’s contents either; Calculator Locker is excluded from it on purpose.

Android to iPhone, and iPhone to Android

Crossing platforms is where hidden photos get lost or, almost as bad, land in the open. None of the hiding spots on one side has a counterpart the transfer tools map to on the other, so the pattern is: unhide or export, transfer, hide again.

Android to iPhone

Apple’s Move to iOS app copies camera photos and videos, photo albums, and files and folders, along with contacts, messages and more. Its list doesn’t include Locked Folder, Secure Folder, Private Space or vault apps, and Google says un-backed-up Locked Folder items stay on the device. Before you start:

1. Locked Folder: turn on Back up Locked Folder and open it in Google Photos on the iPhone, where Locked Folder works on iOS 15 and later and unlocks with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Or move the items out and let them transfer as normal photos.
2. Secure Folder: in Secure Folder, open Gallery or My Files, select the items, then More → Move out of Secure Folder.
3. Private Space, Safe folder and vault apps: move or export what you need into normal storage.
4. Run Move to iOS and leave the Android phone alone while it works; Apple warns that using another app or taking a call can stop content transferring.
5. On the iPhone, hide what you moved straight away: select the photos, tap More, then Hide. Then check nothing sensitive is still showing in the main library.

iPhone to Android

Google’s tools, the Switch to Android app (wireless, iOS 15 or later) or a cable, copy photos and videos stored on the iPhone. Google’s own list says photos and videos that live only in iCloud don’t transfer, and neither Google nor Apple mentions the Hidden album. Android has no Hidden album anyway, so handle it yourself:

1. Choose how to move the hidden photos. Either unhide them just before the transfer (Photos → Collections → Hidden → View Album → select → More → Unhide), or select them inside the Hidden album and save them to a computer or USB drive yourself. With iCloud Photos on, unhiding on one device unhides them on all of them.
2. If iCloud Photos keeps originals only in the cloud, Apple can transfer a copy to Google Photos. It needs Advanced Data Protection off, usually takes three to seven days, and lands in your main Google Photos library. Apple doesn’t say whether hidden items are included, so check what arrives.
3. Turn off iMessage on the iPhone (Google requires it), then run the transfer.
4. On the Android phone, open Google Photos, select the photos, then Add to → Move to Locked Folder, or move them into Secure Folder or a vault app.
5. Check the main gallery for anything that should be hidden, then delete or erase on the iPhone.

Moving a vault app to a new phone

A vault app moves in one of three ways: its own cloud sync (sign in on the new phone), an export file you import on the new phone, or a phone backup or transfer, if the app allows it. Many privacy-focused vaults keep themselves out of backups and transfers deliberately, and if the encryption key is tied to the old phone’s hardware, a copied vault wouldn’t open anyway. Look up your app’s documented method, and test it before you wipe anything.

Across platforms, an export usually imports only into the same app, and only if it exists on the other side. If it doesn’t, move the photos out of the vault, transfer them, and hide them again.

Calculator Locker, Android to Android

Calculator Locker keeps the vault only on your phone, encrypted with AES-256 and a key tied to that phone’s secure hardware. The app opts out of Google’s backup and of phone-to-phone transfer, Smart Switch included, and even a copied vault file wouldn’t open on another phone. The only way to move it is the optional encrypted export. Switch phones without one and the vault stays behind, and is gone once the old phone is reset. That’s by design.

1. On the old phone, open the vault and go to Settings → Backup → Export an encrypted copy.
2. Choose a passphrase of at least 10 characters. It isn’t your vault code and isn’t stored anywhere, so write it down off the phone.
3. Save the file somewhere the new phone can reach: a computer, a USB drive or your own cloud drive. It’s encrypted, so the passphrase is what protects it.
4. On the new phone, install Calculator Locker from Google Play, set up your code and open the vault.
5. Go to Settings → Backup → Restore from a file, enter the passphrase and pick the file. The contents are added to whichever vault is open.
6. If you use a decoy vault, export and restore each vault separately, opening the matching one on the new phone first.

Moving to iPhone? Calculator Locker’s iPhone app is coming soon, but it isn’t out yet, so there’s no Calculator Locker route from Android to iPhone today. If you’re switching now, share copies of what you need out of the vault, transfer them, and hide them on the iPhone. If you’re removing the app rather than moving it, our guide on whether deleting a vault app deletes your photos covers what to do first.

Before you wipe the old phone

A factory reset is the point of no return: it deletes un-backed-up Locked Folder items, Private Space and any vault you didn’t export. Run through this first.

1. List every hiding spot you use. Hidden album, Locked Folder, Secure Folder, Private Space, Safe folder, hidden Gallery albums and every vault app, decoy vaults included.
2. Make the copy each one needs: iCloud Photos synced, Locked Folder backup on, Secure Folder selected in Smart Switch, vaults exported.
3. Open each one on the new phone and spot-check: the count, a few photos at full size, a video.
4. Put the locks back: hide or lock apps again on iPhone, set up Locked Folder or Private Space, and check Show Hidden Album.
5. Scan the new phone’s main gallery for anything that should be hidden and arrived unhidden.
6. Keep exports and passphrases off the phone until you’ve used the new phone for a week or so.
7. Only then reset the old phone.