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How to move hidden photos to a new phone

Updated November 8, 2026

Hidden photos are easy to lose when you change phones. Some hiding places move with your account, some need a backup turned on in advance, and some are deleted when you reset the old phone. Check yours before you do.

iPhone: the Hidden album

With iCloud Photos on, your hidden photos are part of your iCloud library. Sign in with the same Apple Account on the new iPhone and they appear in its Hidden album, still hidden. Without iCloud Photos, make sure they have arrived on the new iPhone before you erase the old one.

Google Photos: the Locked Folder

This is where photos get lost most often. If Back up Locked Folder is off, the photos exist only on the old phone. Transfers from phone to phone, by cable or through the cloud, don't carry them over, and a factory reset deletes them.

Before you switch, either turn on Back up Locked Folder in the Google Photos settings (normal backup has to be on as well), or move the photos out of the folder and bring them across some other way.

Samsung: Secure Folder

Samsung no longer supports Secure Folder backups. To move it to a new Galaxy phone, use Smart Switch, with a cable or wirelessly.

Android: private space

Private space has no backup, and restoring a phone backup doesn't bring it back. Save what you need somewhere else before you reset the old phone.

Demaratos: phone to phone over Wi-Fi

1. Connect both phones to the same Wi-Fi network. Without Wi-Fi, turn on the hotspot on one phone and connect the other to it.
2. Install Demaratos on the new phone and, while setting it up, choose Receive from another phone.
3. On the old phone, open Backup and transfer and tap Send to another phone. A code appears.
4. Scan the code with the new phone and enter the old phone's passphrase.

The files travel encrypted twice and only over your own network, never over the internet. Nothing is deleted on the old phone, so you can check that everything has arrived before you remove Demaratos there.

Demaratos: with a backup

1. On the old phone, open Backup and transfer, tap Create backup and save it to a USB stick, your computer or a folder you choose.
2. Install Demaratos on the new phone and choose I already have a backup.
3. Pick the backup file and enter the passphrase you used when you made it.

If the backup sits on a USB stick or your computer, it never touches the internet. If you keep it in a cloud folder, it stays encrypted: whoever opens that folder sees only a file they can't read.

Before you reset the old phone

Open the new phone and check that your photos are all there. Then delete Demaratos from the old phone and reset it to factory settings. Remember the originals too: photos you imported but never deleted from the gallery are still there until the reset.