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Google Photos is a great platform to store photos and videos to share with others. However, there are those pictures that you just don’t want to share with others; for this, you have the locked folder. According to 9To5Google, Google will let you sync your locked folder across different devices.
In case you don’t know what the locked folder is, it’s a secret folder for your media. When you put an item in the locked folder, you’ll need to enter a password or draw a pattern to see it.
When you move a photo or video to the locked folder, you also won’t be able to access it on your device. So, you won’t see the locked media in any gallery app on your phone. If you want it to be visible, you’ll need to move it out of the locked folder.
Google Photos will let you sync your locked folder across devices
The locked folder is neat, but there’s one issue; you can only access your files on one device. People use different devices, and it’s possible to find yourself in need of your locked media on another device.
According to the report, some people are seeing a new prompt when in the Google Photos app. It reads “Back up Locked Folder. Keep photos hidden across devices”. The popup will then give you the option to enable it or refuse it. When you enable it, your phone will back up photos to the cloud so that you can access them on other devices. When you’re in your locked folder, you’ll see a little cloud icon in one of the corners. This will let you enable and disable the backup feature.
Since you enable the locked folder sync on a per-device basis, you’ll need to enable it on your device if you want to see the media. If you disable the feature after media was already backed up, you’ll still be able to see that content. You just won’t be able to see any new content that’ll be uploaded.
Also, it looks like the locked folder is coming to Google Photos for the desktop. The button for it will appear under the Trash option. However, if you want to use this feature, you’ll need to enable 2FA.