How to hide private audio and video files from your music library on Android
Short answer: in Audify, tap ⋮ next to a song and choose Hide Song. Albums, artists, playlists, folders and videos have a hide option in their ⋮ menu too. The item leaves your lists, shuffle and search, and the file stays on your phone, untouched. To bring it back, open More → Hidden files, pick the tab and choose Unhide. Hiding only tidies Audify: there is no lock, and other apps still see the file.
How to hide a song, album, playlist, folder or video
- 1. Songs: tap ⋮ and choose Hide Song. It works wherever a song is listed: the Songs tab, folders, search results, and album, artist or playlist pages. On the Now Playing screen, ⋮ → Hide Song hides the song that is playing.
- 2. Several songs: touch and hold. On the Songs tab, touch and hold a song, select the others, then tap ⋮ at the top and choose Hide Songs.
- 3. Albums, artists and playlists: open them first. Open the album, the artist or the playlist, tap its ⋮ menu and choose Hide Album, Hide Artist or Hide Playlist. Favourites is the one playlist you can't hide.
- 4. Folders and videos: tap ⋮ and choose Hide. On the Folders tab and the Videos tab the option is simply called Hide, and on Video Folders it is Hide Folder. You can't hide the main storage folder or a folder you have pinned.
- 5. Confirm. Tap Hide on the confirmation. The message says the item will be hidden permanently, but you can bring it back at any time, and nothing is deleted. Genres are the one thing you can't hide.
What hiding does, and what it doesn't
The file stays where it is. Audify doesn't move, rename or delete anything. It keeps its own list of what you hid and leaves those items out.
It leaves your music everywhere in the app. A hidden song no longer shows in your songs, albums, artists or folders, in Audify's search, in your recently added and most played lists, or in shuffle. If it is in a playlist, it stays there but is skipped, and it comes back when you unhide it. Hide Song also takes the song out of the playing queue.
Other apps still see it. Hiding works inside Audify only. Your file manager, your gallery and other music players still show the file.
It isn't a lock. Audify has no PIN or password for hidden items: anyone using your unlocked phone can open More → Hidden files and play, unhide or share them. If you need a real lock, use a Safe folder, as explained further down.
A moved file can come back. Audify recognises a hidden song by the entry Android keeps for that file. If you move the file to another folder or memory card, it may show up again, so just hide it again. If a song you never hid is missing, the missing songs guide goes through the other causes.
How to find and unhide what you hid
- 1. Open More → Hidden files. It's a row on the More tab, and it lists everything you have hidden in Audify.
- 2. Pick a tab. Hidden files sorts what you hid into Songs, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Folders, Videos, Video Folders and Video Playlists.
- 3. Tap ⋮ next to an item and choose Unhide. To bring back several at once, tap Select or touch and hold one, tick the others, then tap Unhide. Confirm, and they are back in your library and in any playlist they belonged to.
- 4. Not sure? Listen first. Tap a hidden song and it plays in a small player on the Hidden files screen, which stops when you leave, so you can check it before you unhide it.
Hide, Ignore folders or Delete: which one to use
Hide is for a song, album, artist, playlist or video that you want out of sight but still on your phone.
Hide a whole folder for recordings, lectures or voice notes. Hide on the Folders tab and Ignore folders on More → Scan Media do the same thing: both put the folder on one list, which you see in Hidden files → Folders, and unhiding it there brings the folder back. On the same Scan Media screen, Ignore audios less than skips short clips, 30 seconds by default, and Ignore videos less than does the same for videos, 5 seconds by default. Clips that short never enter your library, so they don't appear in Hidden files either. Hide WhatsApp audio and short clips walks through both.
Delete removes the file from your phone, for every app. If your Audify shows Recently Deleted on the More tab, a deleted song or video waits there for 30 days before it is gone for good. Not every phone has it, so use Hide for anything you might want back.
Hide a folder from every app with a .nomedia file
Android has its own way to hide a folder from all your apps at once. Its media scanner ignores the media in any folder that contains a file named .nomedia, and in every folder inside it. Music players, galleries and other apps that read Android's media index then stop listing those files.
Audify builds its library from that same index, so a folder with a .nomedia file disappears from Audify too. It isn't listed in Hidden files, because Audify never hid it.
To do it, use a file manager that can create files: make a new, empty file named .nomedia, with the dot first, inside the folder. The files disappear once Android has updated its media index. To undo it, delete the .nomedia file; your file manager may only show it after you turn on hidden files in its settings. Use it only for folders you never want to see in any app, because it hides the photos and videos in that folder from your gallery too.
When you need a real lock: a Safe folder with a PIN
If you share your phone and want files nobody else can open, a player's hide option isn't enough. Files by Google, Google's own file manager, has a Safe folder: you hide files in it and control access with a PIN or a pattern. It needs Android 8.0 or later.
Open Files by Google, scroll to Collections and tap Safe folder to choose a PIN or a pattern. Then select the files, tap More and choose Move to Safe folder. Google warns that if you forget the PIN or pattern, you can't get to the files.
Files in a Safe folder can't be opened by any other app, Audify included, so a song in there won't play until you move it out again. Moving it out puts it back in its original folder. Some phone makers also offer a locked folder of their own.
Common questions
How do I hide a song without deleting it?
In Audify, tap ⋮ next to the song, choose Hide Song and confirm. The song leaves your library and shuffle, but the file stays on your phone, and you can bring it back any time from More → Hidden files.
Where are hidden songs in Audify?
On the More tab, under Hidden files. Its tabs list hidden songs, playlists, artists, albums, folders, videos, video folders and video playlists. Tap ⋮ next to an item and choose Unhide to bring it back.
Does hiding a song delete it?
No. Hiding only stops Audify from showing it: the file stays on your phone, and other apps still see it. Delete is a different option, and it removes the file from the phone.
Can I lock hidden songs with a PIN?
Not in Audify. It has no PIN or password, so anyone using your unlocked phone can open Hidden files. For a lock, move the files to the Safe folder in Files by Google, and move them out again when you want to play them.
Will hidden items stay hidden on a new phone?
Partly. More → Set up new device sends all your files to the new phone, hidden ones included. Hidden songs, albums, artists and folders stay hidden there, but hidden playlists and videos show up again, so hide those again on the new phone.
A song disappeared from my library. Did I hide it?
Check More → Hidden files first: songs, albums and folders you hid, and folders you ignored on Scan Media, are all listed there. If it isn't there, the song may be shorter than the Ignore audios less than setting on the Scan Media screen.
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Sources
“You can hide files in your Safe folder and control access with a PIN.”Files by Google Help, Protect your files with Safe folder
- Protect your files with Safe folder — Files by Google Help
- MediaStore (MEDIA_IGNORE_FILENAME) — Android Developers
- Access media files from shared storage — Android Developers