Can the Hidden album have its own passcode?

No. Apple’s documentation describes no separate passcode for the Hidden album in Photos: it opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode. So “changing the Hidden album passcode” means changing your iPhone passcode.

Below: what the Hidden album uses, the two settings you can change, and what to do if you need a separate code. Steps checked against Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and the current version on 6 Nov 2026.

Can the Hidden album be opened with your passcode?

Yes. Apple’s Personal Safety guide puts it in one line: “The Hidden album requires Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode to unlock it.” Apple’s iPhone guide adds that the Recently Deleted and Hidden collections are locked by default.

How to change the Hidden album passcode

The code that opens the album is your iPhone passcode, so that is the one you change.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Face ID & Passcode (on an iPhone with a Home button, Touch ID & Passcode).
3. Tap Change Passcode.
4. Tap Passcode Options to pick a longer code. Apple calls Custom Alphanumeric Code and Custom Numeric Code the most secure options.

These steps follow Apple’s passcode guide. This changes the code for your whole iPhone, not only for Photos. If you want one person to unlock your phone but not see your hidden photos, this can’t do it.

The two Hidden album settings you can change

Both are in Settings, then Apps, then Photos.

Lock the album, or don’t. Turn off Use Face ID, Use Touch ID or Use Passcode, and Apple says the default changes from locked to unlocked. Leave it on.

Remove the album from view. Apple says: “You can add an extra layer of privacy by removing it from view.”

1. Open Settings and tap Apps.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Turn off Show Hidden Album.

Hidden photos stay in your library, and the Hidden album stops appearing in the Photos app. To bring it back, turn the switch on again.

Hiding the album means nobody stumbles on it. It adds no code: a person who knows to look can turn the switch back on, and the same iPhone passcode opens it.

If you need a separate code for hidden photos

None of these is a second passcode for the Hidden album.

• Use a stronger iPhone passcode. A longer code is harder to guess or watch you type. It does nothing against someone you’ve told.
• Don’t share the iPhone passcode. An Apple Community answer to this exact question says an iPhone is “a single user device with a passcode that should not be known by anyone else.” It is the simplest fix.
• Use a locked note with its own password. Apple’s Notes lets you set a custom password for locked notes. Apple warns that if you forget it and can’t use Face ID or Touch ID, Apple can’t help you get those notes back, and you can’t lock notes with PDF, audio, video, Keynote, Pages or Numbers attachments. A note is not a photo library, and a photo you move there still has to leave Photos, including Recently Deleted, which keeps deleted items for 30 days.
• Use an app that has its own PIN. Its code is separate from your iPhone passcode, so knowing one doesn’t open the other.

If you use iCloud Photos, Apple says photos you hide are hidden on all your devices.

One option: a vault with its own PIN

Anyone who knows your iPhone passcode can open the Hidden album. The passcode can’t open Stillmoat. Stillmoat is a photo vault app with its own PIN, and its Face ID never falls back to your iPhone passcode. That helps only if the thing you’re protecting against is someone who knows your iPhone passcode.

If that isn’t your situation, the Hidden album with a strong passcode and Show Hidden Album turned off is a reasonable setup, and it costs nothing. Apple’s guide: Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone.