Where iPhone screenshots go, and how to keep them out of Photos

Where a screenshot goes

Apple’s screenshot guide says screenshots are saved to your photo library automatically, and that you’ll find them in Photos under Collections, Media Types, Screenshots.

That puts a screenshot in the same places as any photo: the Library grid, search, memories and, with iCloud Photos on, your other devices. Photos also reads what is in them. Apple’s Utilities page says Photos sorts pictures by content into collections such as identity documents, receipts, handwriting and QR codes. A screenshot of a card or an ID can end up filed under exactly that heading.

Stop it before it saves

The moment after you take a screenshot is the easiest time to keep it out.

1. Check your preview style. Open Settings, tap General, then Screen Capture. Apple’s settings page says screenshots appear full screen by default, and that turning off Full-Screen Previews gives you a small thumbnail instead.
2. With the full-screen preview, crop or mark it up, then tap Done (or swipe up) and choose an option. The guide says screenshots shown full screen are saved to your library from there, while ones shown as thumbnails save automatically.
3. If you only needed it for a moment, tap the Close button in the preview and delete it. Nothing goes to the library.
4. If you want it but not in Photos, use the preview’s share button to send it straight to the place you keep private things, then delete it.

The thumbnail style saves every screenshot by itself. If you take sensitive screenshots, the full-screen preview is the safer setting.

Clean up the ones already there

1. Open Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Media Types, and tap Screenshots.
2. Tap Select and pick the ones you no longer need: codes, bank pages, addresses, other people’s messages.
3. Tap the delete button.
4. Open Recently Deleted under Utilities and delete them again. Apple’s deletion article says deleted items otherwise stay there for 30 days.

For the ones you do want to keep, decide where they should live. A screenshot of a passport or a card is a document; our guide on where to keep a passport photo compares the options.

Also check

• CarPlay screenshots. The settings page has a CarPlay Screenshots switch under the same Screen Capture screen. Leave it off unless you need it.
• Search. A screenshot’s words can be found by typing them. Our guide to keeping photos out of search has the switch.
• Deleted, but not gone. Photos keeps deleted items for a while (Apple’s deletion article); read who can open Recently Deleted.

The full list of places a photo can surface is in where private photos still show up.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps as the place a screenshot goes instead of Photos. You can add photos from Photos, files from Files, and items from the share sheet of other apps. After you import photos, Sealed asks whether to delete the originals from Photos or keep them, and says that deleted originals move to Recently Deleted in Photos.

It helps seal the newest screenshot without opening the vault. The Shortcuts actions Seal Last Screenshot and Seal Last Photo seal your newest screenshot or photo without opening the vault, and you can run them with Back Tap. After a Shortcut seals a photo, the original stays in Photos until the photo is in your vault, and then iOS asks you before it is removed.

It helps find the old ones. Find Private Photos checks your camera roll for passports and IDs, cards, codes, recovery phrases and password screenshots, and offers to seal them. Find Private Photos runs on your iPhone: nothing is sent anywhere, and the text it reads isn’t kept.

It doesn’t stop the screenshot from saving to Photos first. Until you delete them, the originals stay in Photos, outside the vault. The steps above are how you keep it out.

It covers its own screen while it is recorded or mirrored. Sealed covers its contents while the screen is being recorded or mirrored, and that is on by default. Sealed warns you after you take a screenshot while a record’s values are showing, and it does not block screenshots.

It doesn’t hold more than the free limit without Pro. The free plan holds up to 100 photos.