iOS 26: Why You Can't Hide Albums in the Photos App Anymore

Changes to Album Hiding in iOS 26

• ⚠️ The ability to hide entire albums or folders within the Photos app has been removed in iOS 26.
• 💡 While you can no longer hide whole albums, you can still hide individual photos.

How to Hide Individual Photos

• 📸 To hide a single photo, open it, tap the three dots, select 'Hide', and then confirm 'Hide Photo'.
• 🔒 The hidden photo is then moved to the 'Hidden' album, which is protected by a passcode.

Managing the Hidden Album

• ⚙️ If the 'Hidden' album is not appearing, navigate to Settings > Photos and ensure the 'Show Hidden Album' feature is enabled.
• 🧐 This feature allows access to all photos that have been individually hidden.

Reasons for the Change

• 🤷 The removal of the album hiding feature appears to be an intentional decision by Apple in iOS 26.
• ❓ The exact reasons for this change have not been officially stated by Apple, and there is no confirmation on whether this feature will be reinstated in future updates.
• ⏳ Users must wait for potential future updates to see if Apple addresses this limitation.