Secret folder on android. How it works? Installing Apex Launcher

Today we all take a lot and often photographs with a camera. mobile Android devices. Quality mobile cameras The quality of the images is also growing. But we don’t always want all the photos we receive to be included in general access on a smartphone.

A logical question arises: how to hide photos on Android in the Gallery from prying eyes? The thing is that this is not such an obvious option - force the built-in Gallery application or Google Photos do not display certain pictures and make their content private. Of course, there is a solution and this is what my article is about today.

There are two main ways to hide photos on a smartphone. According to the first one, you need to create in the smartphone memory new catalog and transfer into it all the images that you want to hide from being shown in the gallery. The second method involves hiding the images in the directory where they are already stored. For example, if you want to hide pictures saved in the Downloads folder.

Well, now let's take a closer look at how to hide a photo on Android in the Gallery.

The very first thing you need to do is open your favorite file manager on your smartphone. As an example, I will show you how to do everything using your favorite mobile application"ES Explorer". You can also use Solid Explorer or similar managers with standard functionality.

So, using the manager’s means, create internal memory smartphone (Internal Storage) directory and give it a custom name. The way you like it, better in English letters. As an example, I can offer you the eloquent name Hidden. If you want to hide the photo in a directory that exists, you can skip this step.

Now you can open a newly created directory (in our example, HIDDEN), or a pre-selected existing directory. Here you will need to create new file with the name ".nomedia". Click “+” or, as in my case, select “Create” through the menu and select “File” in the new context menu. Confirm the creation of the file by tapping “OK”. The presence of this file indicates to the Gallery application that this directory does not need to be scanned for media files.

The newly created file will immediately disappear from your eyes. Don't worry about it, it's supposed to happen! If you allow the file manager to show hidden files and directories, you will see a new file and much more interesting things... How to do this in ES Explorer? Very simple! Open on the left top corner settings menu, select “Settings”, then “Display settings”. Among the options in the new window, find “Show hidden files” and activate it by checking the box. And voila, the “.nomedia” file is clearly visible.

Now important point. If you want to hide a photo on your smartphone in existing catalog(eg Downloads), then you are done. All you need to do now is reboot your phone. If you created a new directory, continue reading.

If you choose to hide files the option of creating a new directory into which you want to transfer the image files, then I can recommend you use file manager type Solid Explorer. The point is that in landscape orientation this manager shows both directories at once - the source and destination, to which you want to transfer the files. The two-window interface further simplifies the task of how to hide a photo on Android.

Let's see how to transfer photos to the previously created directory in this program. Each of you can decide whether to use the method described below. It is also possible to transfer files to ES Explorer and other programs, but not so convenient and easy.

In the left window, select the source directory where the photos or pictures you want to hide are stored. For example, if we're talking about about photos, then find and open the DCIM --> Camera directory in the phone’s internal memory (or on the memory card).
Tap and hold your finger on the photo you want to hide.
Check other files if necessary.
Then tap the scissor icon in the top right corner of the app. This will indicate which files need to be transferred. Please note that after this, in the left window of the source folder, the yellow icon with a plus sign in its lower right corner will change to a left arrow.
In order to transfer the file, select in the right window the target directory in which you previously created special file".nomedia". In my example, this is the "HIDDEN" directory.
Now tap on the yellow arrow icon and in the pop-up window select “Move to...” with the scissors icon. After which the file will appear in the target folder and disappear in the source folder. The yellow icon will briefly change its color to green, with a check mark symbol.
Well, at the end of the entire procedure, you need to reboot your smartphone. Why? Android's built-in media file indexer must somehow know which pictures need to be hidden in the gallery. Simply put, this will speed up the scanning of new files and will result in the detection of the “.nomedia” file you created. After the reboot, the operating system itself will understand that the photos located in the same directory no longer need to be shown to anyone.

This does not mean that the files will become inaccessible. Of course, you, the owner of the smartphone, can always access hidden photos through your favorite file manager. Just remember where the directory is located hidden properties. Now I can congratulate you, you know how to hide a photo on Android in the Gallery and Google Photos and not lose access to them.

Situations often arise in life when your Android smartphone or the tablet is taken by acquaintances or friends and you would not want them to see confidential information. How to hide files from the gallery or media player, as well as the file manager in Android, read this article!

There are photos or videos that are embarrassing to show or there are “ secret information"? If you need to hide these files, here's what you need to do:

Instructions to hide files from gallery or media player in Android

3. Reboot your Android smartphone or tablet.

4. Go to the gallery or media player in Android and make sure that no files are showing up!

How it works?

Android constantly scans for changes that occur on the memory card or internal memory. If during crawling the scanner finds a file .nomedia, then it does not scan and display the contents of the folder.

Instructions to hide files and folders in the Android and Windows file manager

Android is built on the basis Linux kernels and accordingly has common features with similar operating systems on this core. Unfortunately, Windows is not related to Linux in any way and in order to carefully hide a file or folder, you need to try a little.

Hiding a folder or file on Android

In order to hide a file or folder from the file manager (explorer), you need to rename the desired file or folder by adding a dot before the name. That is, to hide the file xxxx.avi you need to rename the file to .xxxx.avi. In order to hide the AlenaNu folder, you need to add a dot before the name.AlenaNu

file visible -------> xxxx.avi file not visible -------> .xxxx.avi the folder is visible -------> AlenaNu the folder is not visible -------> .AlenaNu

After this simple procedure, you will hide what you need in Android, but there is one problem: when you connect to a computer, you will see that everything that you hid in Windows is clearly visible! Therefore, the invisibility needs to be “refined”.

Hiding a folder or file on a Windows computer

Below is a screenshot showing folders at the beginning that are no longer visible in Android, but are visible in Windows.

In this article we will figure out how to hide a folder on Android, how to hide files on Android so that they are not visible on mobile device. Hidden files and folders of the Android device will allow you to protect from strangers private information that is not intended for other users who can access the smartphone or tablet, for example, family members.

In a modern mobile device running on an operating system Android system, usually stored a large number of various information: videos, photographs, documents, etc. Among these data there may be personal information that should be hidden from prying eyes. Negligent handling of data stored on your phone can lead to problems, including in your personal life.

To protect confidential data, you need to hide files and folders on Android. A hidden folder on Android will help protect personal private information; an outsider will not see on the smartphone, if it falls into his hands, anything that was hidden by the user of the mobile device.

For greater reliability, all private data can be collected in one folder, and then hidden from prying eyes. You don't have to hide it at all separate folders, but hide only some files located in different folders.

In the article you will find instructions on how to create invisible folder or hide a file on a mobile device running the Android operating system. We will create a new one hidden folder, hide an existing folder, hide a file, view a hidden folder or file, remove a hidden folder or file: make them visible again.

To create a hidden folder or hidden file, we need a file manager (Explorer). If your device comes with a file manager pre-installed, use this application. If you don’t have Explorer on your smartphone or tablet, or you are not satisfied with its capabilities, check out the article about to choose the appropriate application for your device.

The method of creating a hidden folder involves disguising a folder or file as a system directory or application. In the operating system Android system directories are not shown by default.

Using the example in the article, I will show work in the powerful file manager ES Explorer (ES File Manager), due to the fact that it is the most popular program of this type. In other applications, program menu items may have different names, but all actions performed will be identical.

How to create a hidden folder on Android

First let's create new folder in ES Explorer. To do this, you need to enable the display of hidden files using the program.

Follow these steps:

Open your file manager.
Go to “Settings” (on the left top menu), and then go to the “Display Settings” option.
Check the box next to “Show hidden files” (Show files starting with a dot).

Create a new hidden folder:

In the main window of the file manager, select internal or external memory(SD card if the system allows recording to external media without root rights), where the hidden folder should be located.
Click on the right drop-down menu, in the “Create” window that opens, select “Folder”.
Create a folder, give it a name, put a dot in front of the folder name, for example, “.Folder” or something similar, as you like. I advise you to write the folder name with Latin letters, in this case, the folder name will not be obvious.

Click on the "OK" button.
Move the necessary files from your device (smartphone or tablet) to this folder.
Enter the file manager settings, uncheck the box next to the settings item showing system directories.

After this, the hidden folder will not appear among other folders on the mobile device.

How to make a hidden folder on Android

In a similar way, you can make an existing folder hidden on mobile phone, under Android control. We don't need to enable the image of hidden folders in the settings.

Let's say we need to hide private videos. Using the file manager, select the folder on your device that you want to hide. In our case, this is the “Video” folder located in the internal memory of the mobile device.

Click on the folder, select "Rename".
Before the folder name, put a dot “.Video” and click on the “OK” button.
The hidden folder will disappear from view when you enter the gallery again, you will not find the video files folder there because this folder is hidden in the system.

In a similar way, you can hide the folders: “Audio”, “Video”, Pictures”, “Camera” (located in the “DCIM” folder), “Download”, “Document”, etc., other folders with multimedia files that are located in application folders, for example, in the WhatsApp folder.

How to hide the contents of a gallery folder

Let's look at another method that hides the content existing folder for the gallery. This method does not hide the folder itself, but the contents of the folder are not displayed in the gallery.

Now I will show you how to hide a folder on Android in the gallery where multimedia files are displayed: photos, videos, etc.

In the file manager, enter the folder whose contents you want to hide in the gallery.
From the file manager menu, select New and then File.
Name the file ".nomedia", with a period at the beginning of the file name, click "OK".
Reboot your device.

After starting the smartphone, the contents of the folder will not be displayed in the phone's gallery. In the file manager, the folder and its contents will be visible.

How to view hidden folders on Android

In order to open hidden folders on Android, you need to enable the display of hidden folders on your mobile device.

Go to the file manager settings, turn on the display hidden directories.
Hidden data will remain visible on your phone until you turn off showing hidden files again.

How to make a hidden folder visible on Android

Now let's see how to make a folder a visible folder again at all times, regardless of whether showing hidden folders is enabled or disabled on the device.

Go to the file manager settings, check the box to show hidden directories.
Find the hidden folder, click on the folder.
Select "Rename" and remove the period before the folder name.
Uncheck the box next to the option to show hidden files in the file manager settings.

This folder has become a visible, regular folder again.

How to make the contents of a gallery folder visible

If you no longer need to hide media files in the gallery, delete the “.nomedia” file from the media folder.

Enable showing hidden files in the file manager.
Enter the folder from which the files were hidden in the gallery.
Delete the previously created file named “.nomedia” from there.
Restart your smartphone.
Disable showing hidden directories on your phone.

All files will again be visible in the “Gallery”: videos, photos, images, screenshots, etc.

How to hide a file on Android

In some cases it is necessary to hide separate file without hiding everything else. If you have read the article up to this point, you probably already guessed how this can be done.

Enter the folder where you want to hide the file.
Click on the file, select "Rename".
Place a dot in front of the file name “.filename”, and then click on the “OK” button.
The hidden file will become invisible.

Using this method, you can hide several files in one folder, the remaining files from this folder will be visible.

How to open hidden files on Android

To view a hidden file, you must enable the display of hidden files in your file manager.

How to make a hidden file visible on Android

When there is no longer a need to hide something, the hidden file must be made visible again.

In the file manager settings, check the box to show hidden files.
Enter the folder with the hidden file, select the “Rename” option.
Remove the period from the file name, click on the "OK" button.
In the file manager settings, uncheck the box next to “Show hidden files.”

The hidden file will become a normal visible file again.

Conclusions of the article

Using the file manager, you can create a hidden folder or hide a file if the user needs to protect private information stored on a mobile device. There are several ways in which you can hide a folder or file completely, or hide multimedia files in a folder from viewing in the smartphone gallery.

In life, situations often arise when your Android smartphone or tablet is taken by acquaintances or friends and you would not want them to see confidential information. How to hide files from the gallery or media player, as well as the file manager in Android, read this article!

Are there photos or videos that are embarrassing to show or is there “secret information”? If you need to hide these files, here's what you need to do:

Instructions on how to hide files on Android: galleries and media player in Android

How it works?

Instructions to hide files and folders
in the Android and Windows file manager

Android is built on the Linux kernel and, accordingly, has common features with similar operating systems based on this kernel. Unfortunately, Windows is not related to Linux in any way and in order to carefully hide a file or folder, you need to try a little.

Hiding a folder or file on Android

In order to hide a file or folder from the file manager (explorer), you need to rename the desired file or folder by adding a dot before the name. That is, to hide the file xxxx.jpg you need to rename the file to . xxxx.jpg. In order to hide the AlenaNu folder, you need to add a dot before the name.AlenaNu

file visible ———————> xxxx.jpg the file is not visible ———————> . xxxx.jpg

folder visible ———————> AlenaNu the folder is not visible ———————> .AlenaNu

This is how you can hide a photo on Android and not only a folder and other files!

Hiding a folder or file on a Windows computer

Below is a screenshot showing folders at the beginning that are no longer visible in Android, but are visible in Windows:

To hide folders or a file, you need to select all or select one by one -> right-click -> select properties - change the attributes of the file or folder to Hidden.

Do you still have additional questions? Ask them in the comments, tell us what worked for you or vice versa!

That's all! Stay with the Android +1 site, it will be even more interesting! Read more articles and instructions in the Articles and Android Hacks section.

Known for her openness. You can change absolutely everything in it. One of the features that may occasionally be useful to the user is the ability to hide some files, such as photos and videos, from prying eyes. This can be very convenient. Let's look at how to hide a photo on Android. Please note that these tips can be applied to any other files.

Simple ways to hide photos and other files on Android

When you launch the gallery, you can see that it displays all the folders that contain photos or videos. This includes the folder in which photos from the camera are stored, and all your films and videos, storage temporary files, downloads and even music album covers. It is usually not possible to change the displayed folders in the settings. If you download an alternative gallery, such as Quick Pic, you can choose the locations that will be displayed when you launch the program.

Hiding using a computer

The simplest thing you can do is connect your phone either via cable or Wi-Fi and using Windows Explorer activate the “Hidden” attribute.

When connecting on a tablet, select the “Storage” mode.
Open the folder where your photos are stored, click on the desired file right click mouse - Properties and check the “Hidden” checkbox.

Now when connected to a computer, hidden content will not be displayed. To view them on your PC, in Explorer properties, select the option to view hidden files. But Android ignores this attribute. Therefore, in the gallery or file manager, images hidden on the computer will continue to be displayed. To hide photos on the tablet itself, we will use the following method.

Using the Android File Manager

You will need a normal one, for example, ES Explorer. It can be downloaded for free from Play Store follow the link http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.pop&hl=ru. Other managers can be used, but this one is the best combination of quality and capabilities. With its help you can hide not only individual photos, but also a whole folder.

Launch Explorer, find on the memory card required file or folder.
Press and hold the name for a few seconds until a menu with additional functions pops up.
Select Rename. Add a period to the title in front. For example, the gallery folder is located in DCIM/Camera. To hide an album in your gallery on Android, rename it to .Camera.
Go back to the gallery and make sure the folder is not visible.

But how can you now view the hidden location? And how can I return the normal attribute to it?

Log in to Explorer. Swipe from the left edge of the screen - Show hidden files.
Go to the memory card, you will see your folder or files with a name starting with a dot. They will be somewhat muted in color.
If necessary, rename them by removing the dot at the beginning of the name.
Enter the gallery and you will see them appear again.

File.nomedia

To prevent the gallery and other applications from scanning certain folders, create an empty .nomedia file on your computer or tablet. On a PC, to do this, create Text Document and remove the .txt extension. Then move it to the desired folder and reboot your device. But this method should be used with extreme caution, since not all devices respond adequately to it, and all content may be deleted. Therefore, we advise you to take care of a backup copy.

Using Keep Safe

Follow the link http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kii.safe, you can no longer worry about the safety of your private photos and video. The program can hide pictures in Android gallery, moving them to encrypted storage. You just need to come up with a password. Now only those who know him will be able to view the photo. You won't give out your secret code to everyone, will you?

Conclusion

There are several ways to hide a folder in the gallery on Android. The simplest, in our opinion, is a simple renaming with the addition of a dot. No one else will see your hidden files, and you can view them through Explorer. Adding a .nomedia file carries certain risks. A Keep program Safe sometimes crashes.

How do you hide private photos and video from outsiders? Did you find our information useful? Share your opinions in the comments.