In September last year, a report mentioned that several Google Photos users had complained that their old photographs had been 'corrupted'. Introduced in 2021, the space is meant to keep sensitive photos out of the users' main camera roll.Ĭurrently, the photos and videos locked behind the folder are not able to recover once the users' phone is reset or the Photos application is uninstalled, the report said. With the new capability, users will get a way to back up images and videos saved in Locked Folder. The new feature has been discovered in a hidden settings page in the application's latest version, reports Android Central. If so, it might blur the lines with the “Archive” capability.Tech giant Google is reportedly planning to add cloud backup support to the “Locked Folder” of its photo sharing and storage service ‘Google Photos’. Version 6.23 (via Android Police) of Google Photos contains strings detailing how you’ll be able to “Back up photos & videos in Locked Folder on this device to your Google Account.” It will be interesting to see whether Locked Folder - currently Android-only - will become available on the web as a result. To save these items, remove them from Locked Folder before you make changes. If you uninstall the Photos app or clear your Photos app data, you’ll lose all items in your Locked Folder.Items in your Locked Folder that are saved to your device aren’t moved to other devices during cable or cloud data transfers.As Google Support explains (emphasis ours): Existing images that have already been uploaded are deleted from the cloud if you decide to move them into the Locked Folder. The Locked Folder hides pictures and videos from the main “Photos” grid and search, as well as the system file picker. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features.

Google Photos first rolled out the Locked Folder to Pixel phones before bringing it to other Android devices at the end of 2021, and is now working on adding cloud backup.Ībout APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store.

Google photos cloud backup