Guides
How to Keep Private Videos Hidden from the iPhone's 'Up Next' Widget and Siri Suggestions
Mehmet Ali Kısacık · Developer of Secure Folder · August 9, 2026 · 5 min read
Key takeaways
- The Up Next widget and Siri Suggestions can expose recently watched videos from the Photos app.
- Apple’s Hidden album reduces visibility but still syncs via iCloud and may appear in widgets.
- Disabling Siri Suggestions for Photos helps but does not remove videos from all widget sources.
- Moving videos to a third-party vault app like Secure Folder: Incogni Vault completely removes them from iOS suggestion systems.
- Secure Folder’s decoy vault and stealth mode provide additional layers of privacy protection.
- All vault content remains on-device and is not uploaded to any server.
Your iPhone's 'Up Next' widget and Siri Suggestions are designed to surface content you recently watched or opened, including videos from the Photos app. That convenience can become a privacy risk if private videos appear on your home screen or in search. Here’s how to stop that from happening, using both built-in iOS controls and a dedicated vault app that keeps content completely out of system integrations.
What the Up Next Widget and Siri Suggestions Display
The Up Next widget (often part of the Smart Stack) shows content the system predicts you’ll want next, including videos from the Photos app. Siri Suggestions similarly recommend recently accessed photos and videos across the system. According to Apple’s support documentation, you can adjust these suggestions per app (Apple Support).
Why Apple’s Hidden Album Isn’t Enough
Apple’s built-in Hidden album (available in the Photos app) moves selected photos and videos out of the main library and locks them with Face ID (iOS 16+). However, that protection has limits. Hidden album content is synced through iCloud if iCloud Photos is enabled, so it also appears in the Hidden album on any other device signed into the same Apple ID (Apple Support), and the album can be accessed with the same Face ID as the phone. That means anyone who can unlock your phone, or one of your other Apple devices, can potentially see the “Hidden” folder. For videos you truly want to keep private, the Hidden album has limits.
Step 1: Turn Off Siri Suggestions for the Photos App
You can prevent Siri from suggesting recent videos by disabling Siri Suggestions for the Photos app:
This stops Siri from recommending content from Photos, but the Up Next widget may still surface recently viewed videos unless you also remove them from the widget’s source.
- Open Settings > Siri & Search.
- Scroll to Photos and tap it.
- Toggle off Show in App Library, Show in Spotlight, and Suggestions.
Step 2: Remove Videos from the Photos App Entirely
The only way to guarantee a video never appears in an iOS widget or Siri suggestion is to store it outside the Photos app. A private photo vault app like Secure Folder: Incogni Vault moves videos into its own isolated storage that iOS cannot index or suggest.
How Secure Folder Solves the Problem
Secure Folder: Incogni Vault is a private vault app for iPhone that imports photos, videos, documents, and notes into on-device protected storage locked behind a separate PIN or Face ID/Touch ID. Because the content is no longer in the Photos app, it cannot be accessed by the Up Next widget or Siri Suggestions. The vault also includes:
All vault content stays on the device and is never uploaded to any server. The only data transmitted is anonymous product-analytics (e.g., feature opens) containing no vault content.
- Decoy vault: A second PIN opens a fake vault with harmless content, leaving no trace of the real vault.
- Stealth mode: The home-screen icon and name can be disguised as one of nine ordinary apps (calculator, calendar, etc.), so it doesn’t draw attention.
- Intruder alerts: Every wrong PIN attempt silently captures a front-camera photo (requires Pro subscription).
Summary of Steps
—
- Disable Siri Suggestions for the Photos app in Settings.
- Use a dedicated vault app such as Secure Folder: Incogni Vault to store private videos outside of iOS’s reach.
- Optionally enable stealth mode and decoy vault for extra privacy.
Common questions
Can the Hidden album still appear in widgets?
Not in Apple's own Photos widget: Apple's documentation confirms hidden content is excluded from it. But the Hidden album isn't fully private either way. If iCloud Photos is on, hidden photos and videos sync to the Hidden album on every other device signed into the same Apple ID (Apple Support), so anyone who can unlock those devices can still see them.
Will turning off Siri Suggestions completely hide videos from search?
It prevents Siri from suggesting those videos, but they may still appear in the Up Next widget if the widget pulls from recent activity. The most reliable method is to store the videos outside the Photos app.
Does Secure Folder: Incogni Vault prevent videos from showing in Up Next?
Yes. Because videos are moved out of the Photos app into the vault’s isolated storage, iOS cannot index them, so they will not appear in the Up Next widget or any Siri suggestions.
Is it safe to store private videos in a vault app?
Secure Folder: Incogni Vault stores all content on-device and does not upload anything. Access is protected by a separate PIN or biometrics. However, if the device is lost, there is no cloud backup, so users should keep their own backups of irreplaceable videos.
Can I still view the videos easily in the vault?
Yes. Once imported into Secure Folder, you can view, organize, and play videos within the app after unlocking it with your vault PIN or Face ID.
Keep your photos yours.
Secure Folder is free on the App Store — everything stays on your iPhone.
Related: