No one doubts that mobile phones have become another extension of us. Just like with desktop computers, we use our smartphones and tablets to store all kinds of personal information. We are not only talking about our bank details, passwords for access to Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp, but also about sensitive information such as documents and personal photos .
As we say, smartphones have become an extension of ourselves, and in many cases it is even convenient to hide certain apps, files or photos that we do not want him to see, for example, our 8-year-old nephew when he comes home to visit on Sunday morning.
Information security and privacy are increasingly essential on mobile devices. For this reason, in today’s tutorial we review some of the most effective methods to hide photos, apps or files on our Android terminal so that nobody sees that they are there.
How to hide photos and videos
Although there are some terminals that offer the option of hiding files natively, on most Android devices we will have to use third-party apps to hide all those documents that we don’t want anyone else to see.
In the case of photos and videos, one of the most used apps for this purpose is KeepSafe . Once installed we can configure photos, images and videos so that they disappear from our galleries and image folders. Everything that is in KeepSafe disappears from the rest of the galleries, albums and applications on our device. Instead, all of that content is stored in Keepsafe’s private cloud.
In addition to this very useful function, KeepSafe allows us to add another level of security, which prevents anyone from accessing the application unless they know the unlock PIN. It also incorporates other features in its premium version: such as a fake PIN or logs of failed access attempts.
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Keepsafe: Hide Pictures
Developer: Keepsafe
Price: Free
If you prefer to use another app to hide your photos and videos, take a look at the post « The 10 best apps to hide photos and videos on Android ». Some gallery apps, such as Google Photos, also allow you to hide photos and videos natively (you can see how to do it HERE ).
Finally, if what you’re worried about are the images and videos you receive via WhatsApp, you’ll be happy to know that the messaging app also has a native function to hide them. Watch THIS TUTORIAL to see how to activate it.
How to hide any type of file and make it invisible
In a more general case such as files (not just photos: also documents, pdfs, spreadsheets, etc.) we can use the free app File Hide Expert , also known as Hide Expert ( Offtopic : am I the only one who hates names? “Spanish” of the Anglo-Saxon apps? Isn’t it better to leave them as is, instead of giving them shitty names?).
To hide any type of file on Android with this app, simply click on the folder icon located on the upper right side, and as a file explorer, we select the files that we want to hide. Then click on “ Hide all ”. That easy.
File Hide Expert also offers the possibility of adding a password to access. Basic if we don’t want anyone to enter File Hide Expert and see all our “sensitive” documents.
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Hide Expert
Developer: Hide Apps
Price: Free
How to hide apps on Android
If you have a Samsung device, it is likely that you can hide apps natively . For other Android users, we can hide all those built-in junk apps that we can’t delete, or some other high-voltage app that we don’t want anyone else to see, by using apps like Nova Launcher .
The Nova launcher, among its features, has an option that comes to our minds to get rid of any app that we feel like:
- Let’s go to “ Nova Settings”.
- Click on “ Applications”.
- We go down to ” Hide applications” and select the apps that we want not to be displayed on the screen.
Nova is a great launcher, but sadly the hide function is only available in the premium version of the application, so it requires a prior outlay if we want to use this functionality in our terminal.
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New Launcher
Developer: Nova Launcher
Price: Free
How to hide documents manually
Finally, if we go from installing any additional application, we can also prevent a file from being displayed in our gallery, explorer or any other app by performing a small trick.
We just have to use any file explorer, locate the file and rename it, adding a “.” (dot) at start . This way, Android will ignore the file and stop displaying it . However, this does not prevent anyone else from accessing it, for example by connecting the device to a PC.
As you can see, there are several ways to hide and hide all kinds of documents and information within Android. What is your favourite?
