Google Photos Locked Folder vs Underlock
Google Photos’ Locked Folder is free, and it keeps photos out of your Google Photos grid, search and albums. But on iPhone, Locked Folder opens with your iPhone passcode. Underlock is a private vault for your iPhone that opens with a pattern you draw on a grid of dots. Your iPhone passcode doesn’t open your vault.
We make Underlock, so read this knowing that.
Underlock is coming soon to the App Store.
Which is right for you?
Locked Folder may be all you need if:
- nobody who picks up your phone knows your passcode
- you already back up your photos to Google Photos
- you want Face ID to open your private photos
- you want your private photos on Android or the web too
Underlock is worth a try if:
- someone who picks up your phone knows your passcode
- you’d like 30 days to undo a delete
- you keep IDs, documents or notes too
You can use both. Trying Underlock changes nothing in Google Photos.
Side by side
Locked Folder does better on some rows, and some rows are ties.
| Feature | Underlock | Google Photos Locked Folder |
|---|---|---|
| A lock of its own, not your iPhone passcode | Yes | No |
| Opens with Face ID | No | Yes |
| Your photos on your other devices | No, iPhone only | Yes, with backup on |
| No account or email to sign up for | Yes | Google Account for backup |
| Undo a delete for 30 days | Yes | No, deletes are permanent |
| Holds files and notes, not just photos | Yes | Photos and videos |
| Free to use | Yes | Yes |
What Locked Folder does well
Locked Folder is free, and it’s already in Google Photos.
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Out of sight in Google Photos
Photos in Locked Folder stay out of Google Photos’ grid, memories, search and albums. Other apps with access to your photos can’t see what’s in Locked Folder.
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Opens with Face ID
Face ID or Touch ID opens Locked Folder, so there’s nothing new to remember.
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On Android and the web too
Back up Locked Folder, and you can open it on Android, an iPad or the web, signed in to your Google Account.
Locked Folder opens with your iPhone passcode
On iPhone, Locked Folder uses your iPhone’s own lock: Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Google says you can’t give Locked Folder a different password. So anyone who knows your iPhone passcode can open your Locked Folder. On a computer, your Google Account password opens Locked Folder.
Underlock has a lock of its own: a pattern you draw, or a passphrase you type, like a short sentence you’ll remember. Your iPhone passcode, Face ID and Touch ID don’t open your vault. At setup, Underlock shows you 12 words to write on paper: your recovery phrase. If you forget your pattern or passphrase, the 12 words open your vault. If you forget your pattern or passphrase and lose the paper, nobody can open your vault, not even us.
Staying with Locked Folder? If someone else knows your iPhone passcode, choose a new passcode. Open the Settings app, tap Face ID & Passcode (Touch ID & Passcode on some iPhones), then tap Change Passcode.
Deletes in Locked Folder are permanent
Google says photos in Locked Folder can’t be moved to Trash. So a photo you delete in Locked Folder is deleted for good.
If Locked Folder isn’t backed up, its photos are only on your iPhone. Google says you lose those photos if you delete the Google Photos app, or if your iPhone is lost or damaged. To back up Locked Folder automatically, first turn on backup for all your photos in Google Photos. Then turn on the switch called Back up Locked Folder.
In Underlock, a file you delete waits 30 days in Recently deleted, inside your vault, so you can change your mind.
Moving photos from Locked Folder
Underlock is coming soon to the App Store. Here’s how moving will work.
First, you move the photos out of Locked Folder and save the photos to the Photos app. Next, Underlock imports the photos. Then you delete the photos from the Photos app and from Google Photos. Until you finish, anyone using your iPhone could see the photos in Google Photos or in the Photos app. So do all the steps in one go.
- In Google Photos, tap Collections, then Locked. Use Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
- Touch and hold to select the photos you want. Then choose to move the photos out of Locked Folder.
- In Google Photos, open one of those photos. Tap More, then Download. Google Photos saves a copy in Apple’s Photos app. If iCloud Photos is on, the copy also goes to iCloud Photos.
- Download each of the other photos the same way, one at a time.
- In Underlock, tap the Add button (a plus sign), then Import from Photos.
- Choose the photos you just downloaded. Keep Underlock open until the import finishes.
- Underlock then offers to remove the photos from the Photos app. Tap Remove, then confirm when your iPhone asks. The photos go to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app. For 30 days, you can still get them back from that album.
- Now check that the photos are in your vault, before steps 9 to 11 delete the other copies for good.
- In Google Photos, touch and hold one of the photos you moved out of Locked Folder. Select the others too. Then tap Trash.
- In Google Photos, tap Collections, then Trash. Delete the photos for good.
- In the Photos app, delete the photos from Recently Deleted. The photos then leave iCloud Photos too.
Questions people ask about Locked Folder
Against someone who picks up your phone and doesn’t know your passcode, yes: Locked Folder asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode. But anyone who knows your passcode can open Locked Folder.
No. Google says you can’t use a different password for Locked Folder. On iPhone, Locked Folder opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode.
No. Photos in Locked Folder can’t go to Trash, so a photo you delete there is deleted for good. In Underlock, a file you delete waits in Recently deleted for 30 days.
Only if you turn on Locked Folder’s backup. In Google Photos’ settings, under Backup, first turn on backup for all your photos. Then turn on the switch called Back up Locked Folder. Without a backup, Google says you lose Locked Folder’s photos if you delete the Google Photos app or lose your iPhone.
Yes. Underlock is free forever: one vault, no file limit. If the free plan ever changes, you keep the plan you started with. More vaults come with Pro, Underlock’s paid plan.
Related
- Underlock vs the iPhone Hidden album The Hidden album is free, built in and locked by default, but it opens with your iPhone passcode.
- Samsung Secure Folder on iPhone: what to use instead Move your files from a Galaxy, and get a pattern lock on iPhone.
- Recently deleted Undo a delete for 30 days, free.
- Pattern lock Your own pattern, separate from your passcode.
- Photo vault apps for iPhone, compared Four ways to keep photos private, row by row.
- How Underlock protects your files What we can’t see, and why.
A private vault your passcode doesn’t open
Free for one vault, with no file limit. No account, no email.
For iPhone with iOS 17 or later.