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Google Expands its Photos’ Secure Locked Folder Feature
1 Nov, 2021 / 08:04 AM / Reeny Joseph

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Google is expanding several of its privacy and security features including Google Photos’ secure Locked Folder feature, the VPN offered alongside Google One, and the Pixel’s new centralized security hub. The plans were detailed in a blog post rounding up the company’s security initiatives.

For starters, Google Photos’ Locked Folder feature, which currently lets Pixel owners hide sensitive photos and videos in a passcode- or biometric-protected folder, is coming to iOS “early next year.” The feature launched for the Pixel 3 and later in June and in late September. Google said it would be releasing for all Android phones “soon.” Now we have a timeframe for when Google Photos users on iOS will be able to protect sensitive images like nudes.

Users will be able to password-protect their most sensitive images, so they don't show up accidentally while scrolling through their gallery. Locked Folder will also arrive on iPhones as well, but those users will have to wait until early 2022

Google One’s VPN service is expanding to 10 new countries this week: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The service is already included at no extra cost with 2TB and up Google One cloud storage plans in Canada, France,Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Finally, Google has confirmed that it plans to release the Security Hub that debuted on its new Pixel 6 phones on all Android phones. The hub is designed to offer a simple overview of the security of your device, and give warnings if settings like Find My Device or a Screen lock aren’t enabled. 9 to 5 Google previously reported that the feature has been appearing on older Pixel devices running Android 12, and now Google says it has “plans to roll this out to entire ecosystem in the future.”

Google has not specified if it will be possible to directly save new pictures into the Locked Folder when taking them; however, this feature is already available using a Pixel camera app. Images stored in a Locked Folder will not be backed up to the cloud.

Google highlights features like the Security Hub found on its own devices like the new Pixel 6, HTTPS-First Mode on Chrome for a secure connection, and URL checks in Google Messages for safer browsing.