Does Google Photos back up your Locked Folder?

October 20, 2026

Short answer: yes, Google Photos can back up your Locked Folder, but only if you turn that on. Items you do not back up exist on one phone and nowhere else. Most “my Locked Folder is missing” stories come down to that single difference.

Since when can it be backed up?

When Locked Folder first arrived it had no cloud copy at all. Google announced backup for it on 29 August 2023, as an optional feature that lets you open the folder on other devices. Today Google’s help page says Locked Folder works on Android 6 and later.

How to turn backup on

In Google Photos, open Settings > Backup > Back up Locked Folder. You can also open Collections > Locked, unlock it with your screen lock, and use the backup toggle there.

If you would rather not back up everything, leave the toggle off and back up single items by touching and holding them, then choosing Back up.

One catch from the same help page: if you move photos into Locked Folder that were already backed up, those older Google Photos copies are deleted when backup for Locked Folder is not turned on. Turn it on first if you want a cloud copy to stay.

Two kinds of items

Everything below depends on which kind you have.

Backed up. The items are stored in your Google account. Google says that with backup on, you can open your Locked Folder from other devices when you sign in with that account.
Device only. Google says items you do not back up are stored only on that device and cannot be seen from other devices.

What happens when you switch phones

With backup on: sign in to Google Photos on the new phone with the same account, open Collections > Locked, and unlock with the new phone’s screen lock. The folder’s password is always the phone’s screen lock, so the new phone’s lock is the key.

With backup off: nothing comes across. Google’s help page says that without backup, a factory reset or cleared app data deletes the items, and a USB or cloud phone-to-phone transfer does not include them either.

What happens if you uninstall Photos or clear its data

For items that were never backed up, Google lists these ways to lose them:

uninstalling the Photos app
clearing the app’s data
a damaged or lost phone

Items that were backed up should come back when you sign in again, because the copy is in your account. Google’s page describes the cloud copy as available “from other devices”, but does not spell out the reinstall case, so check before you rely on it.

Why the folder can seem to be missing

Google does not publish a troubleshooting list for this. From what its help pages confirm, the usual causes are:

Backup was never on, and you are looking on a different phone, or on the web. Google says that without backup you will not find the items on the web.
You are signed in to a different Google account. Backed-up items follow the account, not the phone.
The items were device-only and the app was uninstalled or its data cleared. They are gone.
Backup is on but has not finished. Check that the upload is complete before you trade in or reset the old phone.

What can and cannot be recovered

Can be recovered: anything that was backed up, by signing in to the same account.

Cannot be recovered: device-only items after an uninstall, cleared data, a factory reset or a lost phone. Google’s help page describes them as lost and offers no recovery method. Do not trust a “recovery” tool that promises otherwise.

How to move items safely

Turn on Back up Locked Folder before you change phones.
Wait for the backup to finish. Do not wipe the old phone yet.
On the new phone, sign in, open Locked Folder and check that your items are there.
For anything you cannot back up, move it out of Locked Folder first. Google notes that items must be moved out before you can share them, and that they cannot be edited or added to albums while inside.

Moving items out means they are back in your normal gallery, so it is a trade-off. For more ways to keep photos out of sight, see how to hide photos on Android.

When a vault app fits

Locked Folder is free and decent for keeping photos out of the grid. Its limits are that the lock is your phone’s screen lock and that backup goes to your Google account in a form Google holds. If you want a separate pattern, a recovery phrase and a backup file only you can open, a vault app like VaultIt does that: files are encrypted with AES-256-GCM on the device, and the backup is one encrypted file you save yourself. The same rule applies, though. Uninstalling VaultIt or clearing its data deletes the vault, so only a backup kept off the phone survives. See the features if that sounds useful, and read are photo vault apps safe first.

Sources

Quick answers

Does Google Photos back up the Locked Folder? Only if you turn on Back up Locked Folder. Otherwise its contents stay on that one phone.

Can I move my Locked Folder to a new phone? Yes, with backup on: sign in with the same Google account and unlock with the new phone’s screen lock. Without backup, nothing transfers.

Can I recover Locked Folder photos without a backup? Google documents no way to. Uninstalling Photos, clearing its data or losing the phone deletes unbacked items.

Why can’t I see my Locked Folder on the web? Google says items you did not back up are not available outside the phone.