You want to show a friend one photo, and they start swiping. Here’s how to stay in control.
Showing a photo: use Guided Access
Guided Access keeps the iPhone in one app, so they can’t leave it or check notifications.
- Turn it on once: Settings › Accessibility › Guided Access, set a passcode.
- Open the photo, then triple-click the side button and tap Start.
- To end it, triple-click again and enter the Guided Access passcode.
Swiping inside Photos can still show neighboring pictures, so for a single photo it’s safer to share it to a new album first and open that.
Lending your phone
- Lock Photos: touch and hold the Photos icon, then Require Face ID (iOS 18 and later).
- Lock other private apps the same way: messages, notes, banking.
- Hide private photos in the Hidden album. See how to hide photos.
When they know your passcode
Everything above opens with your iPhone passcode. If a partner, family member or friend knows it, they can open the Hidden album and any locked app.
Photos in a vault with its own PIN stay closed even then. Ghost’s PIN is separate from your iPhone passcode, and the vault isn’t visible in Photos at all.