We all have some private photos that we want to keep under wraps or from prying eyes. Although the Apple Photos app already offered a way to hide photos on iPhone, anyone could easily access your hidden album. That's why most iOS users rely heavily on photo vault apps to protect their personal photos. However, if you have installed iOS 16, you can now lock your hidden photo album with Face ID/Touch ID on your iPhone and iPad so that no one can access your private photos without your permission. So here's how to lock the hidden photo album in iOS 16.

In addition to letting you protect the hidden album, iOS 16 also lets you protect the "Recently Deleted" folder where deleted photos and videos remain accessible for up to 30 days. From a privacy perspective, this is well thought out. Many times we tend to delete some personal photos and forget to delete them permanently. As a result, they continue to exist on the device. But with this new privacy feature enabled, you no longer need to worry about the protection of the deleted photos as well.

1. First, open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.

2. Now scroll down to find the Photos app and select it.