How to keep dating screenshots out of your camera roll

To keep dating screenshots out of your iPhone camera roll, hide them in the Photos app’s Hidden collection, which is locked with Face ID by default, then delete any you don’t need. To get a screenshot out of Photos altogether, put it in a locked note or save it to the Files app. These steps are for iOS 27 and were checked against Apple Support on 26 October 2026.

Which option should you use?

Option	Out of your library?	Locked?	Across your devices
Hidden collection	Yes, but still in Photos	Face ID by default	Hidden everywhere, with iCloud Photos on
Locked note	Yes, once you delete the original	Face ID or passcode	Syncs if the note is in iCloud
Files app	Yes	Only if you lock the Files app	Not part of iCloud Photos
Delete	Yes	Recently Deleted is locked	Deleted everywhere, with iCloud Photos on

A good rule: hide the screenshots you might need later, such as a profile you saved before a first date. For screenshots you took to remember something, write the detail down and delete the image.

How do you hide a screenshot on iPhone?

Apple’s guide to deleting or hiding photos covers both one photo and many.

One screenshot

1. Open Photos and tap the screenshot.
2. Tap the More button (three dots), then tap Hide.

Several at once

1. In Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Media Types, then tap Screenshots. This shows every screenshot on your phone.
2. Tap Select, then tap each one you want to hide.
3. Tap the More button, then tap Hide.

Hidden photos move to the Hidden collection, and you can’t see them anywhere else in Photos. To bring one back, open it in Hidden, tap More, then tap Unhide.

How do you lock the Hidden collection with Face ID?

You may not need to do anything. Apple says the Hidden and Recently Deleted collections are locked by default, and the Hidden album support article says this has been the case since iOS 16. To check:

1. Open Settings, tap Apps, then tap Photos.
2. Make sure Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID, or Use Passcode) is on.

To open the collection, go to Photos, tap Collections, tap Hidden below Utilities, tap View Album, then unlock.

For an extra layer, you can stop the Hidden collection appearing at all. In Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, then turn off Show Hidden Album. Your hidden photos stay put.

What happens when you delete a screenshot?

It goes to Recently Deleted, where it stays for 30 days before it’s permanently removed. To remove it sooner:

1. In Photos, tap Collections, then tap Recently Deleted below Utilities.
2. Tap View Album and unlock.
3. Tap Select, choose the screenshots, tap the More button, then tap Delete.

Does iCloud Photos change anything?

Yes. With iCloud Photos on, every screenshot you keep in Photos is uploaded to iCloud. Apple says anything you hide or delete is hidden or deleted on all your devices signed in to the same Apple Account. So a hidden screenshot is hidden on your iPad and Mac too, and it’s still part of your iCloud Photos library.

How do you keep a screenshot out of Photos altogether?

Since iOS 26, a new screenshot opens full screen and waits for you to decide what to do with it. Apple’s screen capture settings say full-screen previews are the default. Swiping the preview up saves it to Photos, so don’t swipe. If you’ve switched to small thumbnail previews, screenshots save to Photos automatically. Switch back in Settings, General, Screen Capture, by turning on Full-Screen Previews.

Put it in a locked note

Set up locking once:

1. Open Settings, tap Apps, tap Notes, then tap Password.
2. Tap Use Device Passcode, then turn on Face ID.

Then for each screenshot:

1. Take the screenshot. In the preview, tap Share, then tap Notes. Apple lists screenshots among the things you can share into a note.
2. Save it to a new note, or to that person’s existing note.
3. Back in the preview, tap the Close button to delete the screenshot.
4. In Notes, open the note, tap the Note Actions button, then tap Lock.

A few things to know. The title of a locked note stays visible, so give it a plain one, such as “Sam”. Apple won’t lock notes with PDF, video, audio or file attachments, or Quick Notes, so share the image into a regular note. Locked notes in iCloud sync to your other devices. If you want a note kept on this iPhone only, turn on the On My iPhone account in Settings, Apps, Notes.

Save it to Files

Apple says the save button in the screenshot preview lets you choose where to save your screenshot on your device. To keep one out of Photos:

1. Take the screenshot. If Full Page appears, as it does for content that runs past the screen, such as a web page in Safari, you can tap it to capture the whole page.
2. Tap the save button (a tick).
3. Choose the Files option. For a full-page screenshot, Apple’s guide calls it Save PDF to Files.
4. Pick a location, then save.

To lock the Files app, touch and hold its icon on the Home Screen, then tap Require Face ID. It locks again after you quit it.

A five-minute tidy-up for old dating screenshots

1. Open Photos, then Collections, Media Types, Screenshots.
2. Tap Select and pick every dating screenshot.
3. Keep only what you need for safety, and hide those.
4. For the rest, copy the details into a note or our free Who am I talking to? board, which saves in your browser only.
5. Delete the screenshots, then clear them from Recently Deleted.

Take Jess. She had 40 dating screenshots from three apps mixed in with photos of her nephew. She hid two profile screenshots from first dates, wrote a line each about Liam’s netball team and Omar’s new job into her notes, and deleted the rest. Her camera roll is hers again.

If you’re unsure whether the other person would know, here’s whether Hinge notifies screenshots.

Where Fond fits

Fond is an iPhone app for dating screenshots. You share a screenshot to Fond, or pick it inside the app with the system photo picker, so Fond never asks for access to your whole photo library. It reads the screenshot on your iPhone, works out who said what, and adds the details to a private note about that person. Notes are locked with Face ID and kept out of iCloud backup, and nothing goes to a server. Get Fond on the App Store.