How to hide photos you don't want people to see in Apple Photos

Do you have photos stored in your Apple Photos library that you would rather not see or don't want others to see? How can you hide them without actually removing them from Photos? Here's how.

The method I am going to show you is a very simple one that is easily circumvented by someone if they really want to see your photos. However, it can still be useful on occasions.

Sometimes you want to show your photos to friends or relatives, you might want to let them access your computer, and there may be photos you don't want them to see.

You may not want to see certain photos yourself, such as images of an ex partner you are no longer with. You might not want to delete the photos, but you don't want them right in front of you when you open the Photos app. Or in front of your current partner, should they be looking over your shoulder when you are using your Mac.

For various reasons then, you might want to hide some snapshots.

The Photos app lets you move them in a special album where they are hidden from the usual Photos view. You will not accidentally see them on the screen.

1 Select photos

Open the Photos app and find one or more photographs that you want to hide. Click one and Cmd+click others to select them or Shift+click to select all photos between.

2 Show the menu

Ctrl+click one of the selected photos and a menu is displayed. Down at the bottom of this is Hide X Photos. Click it.

3 Hide the photos

A message appears informing you that the photos will be removed from every library, except the Hidden album. Click Hide Photos.

4 View hidden photos

A new item appears in the sidebar in the Library section called Hidden. Select it and your hidden photos are shown on the screen. They do not appear elsewhere though.

5 Really hide your photos

The Hidden item in the Library list is a dead give-away that you have hidden photos in your Photos library and if someone else uses your Mac, such as a partner, they may be tempted to select it.

It isn't exactly hidden very well. Go to the View menu and select Hide Hidden Photo Album. This removes the item from the Library list in the sidebar.

6 Show the Hidden album

The photographs were moved to the Hidden album/library and this was then hidden itself. It is therefore not obvious that you have hidden photographs in the Photos app. It isn't exactly military grade security, but for many people it is adequate.

To view the hidden photos, go to the View menu and select Show Hidden Photo Album. This adds the Hidden album back to the sidebar from where it can be selected.

7 Unhide the hidden photos

If you want to move the photos back to the main Photos library, select Hidden in the sidebar to show the photographs. Select one or more thumbnails and Ctrl+click them to show the menu. Select Unhide X Photos and they are put back where they were before.

This is obviously not a super high security method of hiding top secret images and it merely puts them out of sight. A knowledgeable Mac user could easily unhide the Hidden album and view the photos, but it is good enough for most people and it stops casual users of your Mac or devices from seeing the photos.

A major flaw with this is that when photos are moved to the Hidden album on the Mac, they remain in full view on the iPhone and iPad. You might expect the status of the photographs to be reflected across devices, but they are not. That's a shame.