Samsung Secure Folder vs iPhone: Before You Switch
iPhone has no Secure Folder, and Apple's transfer list does not mention it. Before you switch, move what you want to keep out of Secure Folder yourself. On the iPhone, lock and hide apps with iOS, and put private photos in a vault app.
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What do I need to know?
- Do not count on Secure Folder moving. Apple lists camera photos, albums, files and more. Secure Folder is not named.
- Moving items out makes them ordinary again. Do it just before the transfer, not days ahead.
- iPhone splits the job in two. iOS locks apps. A vault app keeps private files apart.
What does Move to iOS transfer?
Apple's Move from Android to iPhone page lists contacts, message history, camera photos and videos, photo albums, files and folders, calendars, call history and more. It adds that "Music, books, and PDFs need to be moved over manually."
Samsung keeps Secure Folder content apart from your regular Gallery. Treat anything inside it as staying behind unless you move it out.
How do I get photos out of Secure Folder?
Samsung's Knox guide gives the steps:
- Open Secure Folder and select the files.
- Tap the three-dot menu.
- Tap Move out of Secure Folder.
The files go back to your regular Gallery. Samsung also notes that photos synced to Samsung cloud can reappear in Gallery, so check there too.
What is the safest order to switch?
- Sort first. Decide which private photos you need at all. Delete the rest inside Secure Folder.
- Move the rest out right before you start the transfer.
- Run the transfer to the iPhone.
- On the iPhone, move them into a vault and delete them from Photos.
- Clear Recently Deleted in Photos, so no plain copy stays for 30 days.
- Wipe the Android phone before you sell or give it away.
If iCloud Photos is on during step 3, the photos upload to iCloud too. Deleting them in steps 4 and 5 removes them there as well.
What replaces Secure Folder on iPhone?
| Secure Folder did this | On iPhone, use |
|---|---|
| Locked copies of apps | Lock or hide the app with Face ID (iOS 18 and later) |
| Private photos and videos | An encrypted vault app |
| Private files and notes | The same vault, or a locked note |
Our guide to hiding apps on iPhone has the steps for iOS 18 and later. See also does iPhone have a secure folder?
What this doesn't protect against
While photos are out of Secure Folder, they are ordinary files on both phones. Anything synced to a cloud account stays there until you delete it. On iPhone, every built-in lock falls back to your passcode. A vault pattern is weaker than a passphrase, so use 8 or more cells.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile is the private-photo half of Secure Folder on iPhone. Photos, videos, files and notes are encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a key made on your device from a pattern, with no account and no server. A different pattern opens a different vault, and there is no vault list.
Cryptile is free for up to 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos. Plus removes the limits and adds search inside the vault and the panic pattern, for $19.99 a year (7-day free trial) or $39.99 once.