Client and Child Photos on Your iPhone: Keep Them Safe
You took photos of the children you look after, a client's session or a class trip, on your own iPhone. Those photos belong to other people, and parents trusted you with them. Keep them apart from your personal library, send them without location, and delete them when you are done.
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What do I need to know?
- Check your rules first. Schools, agencies and families often say whether you may use a personal phone at all. Their rules come before any app.
- Photos can carry a location. A picture of a child at home can reveal where they live.
- iCloud Photos copies everything. A shot of a client's child can appear on your partner's iPad if it shares your Apple Account.
How do I keep them out of my personal library?
These steps are for iOS 27.
- Shoot in a vault app's own camera where possible, so the photo never enters Photos.
- Move existing photos into a vault, one folder per client, class or household.
- Delete the originals, then empty Recently Deleted in Collections → Utilities. Apple keeps deleted items there for 30 days (Apple).
- Lock the apps you use to message parents or clients. Touch and hold the app, then tap Require Face ID (Apple).
How do I send photos without a location?
Apple's location metadata page covers this:
- When you share from Photos, tap Options and turn off Location. "Location Not Included" appears above the Options button.
- To stop the Camera recording location at all: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never.
Send to the parent or client directly. Avoid group chats and public shared albums unless everyone has agreed.
When should I delete them?
Agree a time with the parents or client, then stick to it. A photographer might keep a session until the gallery is delivered. A nanny might keep a day's photos only until they are sent to the parents.
Set a reminder, then delete from the vault and from any chat where you sent them.
What if someone else sees my phone?
Use Guided Access to keep a borrowed phone in one app. Our page on lending your phone walks through it. If you show a photo, send it instead of handing the phone over.
What this doesn't protect against
A vault does not stop a parent or client sharing photos you sent them. It does not cover photos on a work device or in an employer's system. It cannot replace consent: ask before you take or keep a photo of someone else's child.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile's in-app camera saves photos straight into an encrypted vault, with a GPS on/off switch. Folders keep each client or household apart, and everything is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a key from your pattern.
Cryptile is free for up to 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos. Plus removes the limits for $19.99 a year (7-day free trial) or $39.99 once. The price is the same every day.
Cryptile Send, Files access and shared vaults are coming and are not available yet. Search inside the vault is part of Plus.