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How to hide files, folders and applications on Android. How to hide files and folders on Android

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 a 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.

A modern mobile device running on the Android operating system usually stores a large amount of different information: videos, photos, documents, etc. Among this 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 individual folders at all, but only hide some files located in different folders.

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

To create a hidden folder or hidden file, we need a file manager (Explorer). If your device has 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 Android operating system, system directories are not displayed by default.

Using the example in the article, I will show work in the powerful file manager ES File Manager, due to the fact that this 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 a new folder in ES Explorer. To do this, you need to enable the display of hidden files using the program.

Follow these steps:

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

Create a new hidden folder:

  1. 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.
  2. Click on the right drop-down menu, in the “Create” window that opens, select “Folder”.
  3. 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 in Latin letters, in this case, the name of the folder will not be obvious.

  1. Click on the "OK" button.
  2. Move the necessary files from your device (smartphone or tablet) to this folder.
  3. 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 a mobile phone running Android. 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.

  1. Click on the folder, select "Rename".
  2. Before the folder name, put a dot “.Video” and click on the “OK” button.
  3. 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 contents of an existing gallery folder. 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.

  1. In the file manager, enter the folder whose contents you want to hide in the gallery.
  2. From the file manager menu, select New and then File.
  3. Name the file ".nomedia", with a period at the beginning of the file name, click "OK".
  4. 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.

  1. Go to the file manager settings, turn on the display of hidden directories.
  2. 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.

  1. Go to the file manager settings, check the box to show hidden directories.
  2. Find the hidden folder, click on the folder.
  3. Select "Rename" and remove the period before the folder name.
  4. 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.

  1. Enable showing hidden files in the file manager.
  2. Enter the folder from which the files were hidden in the gallery.
  3. Delete the previously created file named “.nomedia” from there.
  4. Reboot your smartphone.
  5. 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, you need to hide a single file without hiding everything else. If you have read the article up to this point, you probably already guessed how this can be done.

  1. Enter the folder where you want to hide the file.
  2. Click on the file, select "Rename".
  3. Place a dot in front of the file name “.filename”, and then click on the “OK” button.
  4. 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.

  1. In the file manager settings, check the box to show hidden files.
  2. Enter the folder with the hidden file, select the “Rename” option.
  3. Remove the period from the file name, click on the "OK" button.
  4. 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.

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 of 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 use Windows Explorer to activate the “Hidden” attribute.

  1. When connecting on a tablet, select the “Storage” mode.
  2. Open the folder in which your photos are stored, right-click on the desired file - 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 the Play Store at 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 an entire folder.

  1. Launch Explorer, find the desired file or folder on the memory card.
  2. Press and hold the name for a few seconds until a menu with additional functions pops up.
  3. 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.
  4. 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?

  1. Log in to Explorer. Swipe from the left edge of the screen - Show hidden files.
  2. 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.
  3. If necessary, rename them by removing the dot at the beginning of the name.
  4. 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 a text document and remove the .txt extension. Then move it to the desired folder and reboot the 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

Using 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 videos. The program can hide pictures in the Android gallery by 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. And the Keep Safe program sometimes crashes.

How do you hide personal photos and videos from prying eyes? Did you find our information useful? Share your opinions in the comments.

Unlike Windows, Android does not have the ability to hide files and folders. However, we should not forget that this operating system is distinguished by its openness and the ability to make various changes to its operation. Therefore, when performing certain manipulations, you can still reliably hide important documents from third parties. Let's look at how to hide files and folders on Android.

Ways to hide data on Android

There are several ways to hide personal information (photos, videos, text documents, etc.) located on the external or internal memory of a mobile device:

  • Through the file manager installed on the device;
  • Via the “.nomedia” file;
  • Using a computer;
  • Through special software.

Using a File Manager

You can reliably hide any file or an entire folder from prying eyes using any explorer available on the gadget. This is the simplest hiding method, so this is where we should start our review. The procedure will be as follows:

Restart Android and check the results of your actions. Now, when displaying the contents of the repository, the specified object will be missing. If you need to return everything to its place, just activate the “Show hidden files and folders” item in the settings of the same Explorer, and then remove the previously placed dot from the name.

Hiding folders with a ".nomedia" file

Android OS periodically scans the device's integrated and built-in memory to look for changes in the storage structure. If during the next examination the system detects a “.nomedia” file, it will skip the folder in which this element is located and will not display its contents in the future.

This phenomenon can be used to hide photos, videos or other types of information:

The folder with your data will disappear. It will only be available on PC. To remove hidden mode, you will need to delete the “.nomedia” document.

How to hide a folder on Android via computer?

The methods of hiding described above lose their effectiveness when you connect a mobile device to a PC, since objects hidden using “.nomedia” or a file manager will still be displayed on the computer.

If you want to be absolutely sure that no one will get to your confidential data, you need to use combined hiding, which consists of the following:


Once you have successfully hidden the folder, it will be absent not only on the smartphone screen, but also on the computer. To access it you will need to do the following:


Now through the computer you will have access to previously hidden information. Depending on which masking method was used, all you have to do is delete the “.nomedia” file or enable the display of hidden data in Explorer.

Application of additional software

On Android you can hide not only files and folders, but also installed programs. This is done using the Hide It Pro utility. It works like this:

The selected shortcuts will be located in the ProgramData/Android/Language/.fr folder. To make them visible, you will need to log into the file manager and check the box next to “Show hidden files and folders.”

Sometimes a user stores quite personal or confidential information on his Android tablet or smartphone and it is highly undesirable for other people to accidentally see or read it. In this article we will look at one of the ways to hide files and folders of the Android system by making them invisible.

How to hide folder and files on Android

Unfortunately, it does not have a right mouse button, which gives full access to settings in the familiar Windows operating system. The procedure for hiding files and folders is a little different, but first you need to have a special file manager. Full, we described earlier, but we strongly recommend using it because it is simple and easy to use.

If you do not have it installed yet, then follow this link to the official PlayMarket website and download it. It's absolutely free.

In order to make a file or folder invisible to others you need to:

1. Open the file manager;

2. Select the file or folder you are looking for;

3. Tap on it and wait for the settings to appear;

4. Select rename;

5. Put a dot in front of the name.

And lo and behold, the folder or file is no longer shown on your screen, but now let’s look at the reverse procedure.

How to show hidden files and folders in Android

From the first paragraph we know that when the first character is a dot in the name of a file or folder, we make it invisible in the Android system, but how can we do the opposite.

Go to the settings of the same file manager and check the box next to the item show hidden files and folders. Now we can see all hidden objects and by renaming them back we can make them visible to everyone.

Some interesting team

There is one interesting feature of Android - hidden only photos and media content in a specific folder, for this:

1. Open the file manager;

2. Go to the desired folder;

3. In it, create an empty file named .nomedia;

4. Reboot the device.

Bottom line

As you can see, this procedure is relatively simple and will help you easily hide or display the necessary information.



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