Facebook allows users to share photos and videos by creating albums. By default, any album you create on Facebook is visible to all your friends and followers. However, Facebook does give you the option to create private albums that are only visible to you.
Having private albums that only you can see can be useful for many reasons. You may want to use Facebook like a photo storage service to backup pictures from your phone or computer without sharing them publicly. Or you may want to save pictures just for yourself that you don’t feel comfortable sharing with others.
Whatever your reasons, making an album only visible to you is easy to do. This guide will walk you through the steps.
Prerequisites
Before we get into the steps to create a private album, make sure you meet the following requirements:
- You must have a Facebook account in good standing (not disabled or locked)
- You need to access Facebook from a desktop web browser. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to create private albums from the Facebook mobile app.
As long as you meet those two requirements, you can create an album only you can see by following these steps:
Steps to Create a Private Album on Facebook
Here is how to create a private album on Facebook that only you can view:
- Log into your Facebook account using a desktop web browser.
- Click on your profile picture in the top right and select “Profile” from the dropdown menu.
- On your profile page, find and click the “Photos” tab.
- Click on the “+ Add Photos/Video” button to create a new album.
- Select the photos or videos you want to add to the new album.
- Enter a name for the album in the “Album Title” field.
- Click the audience selector that defaults to “Friends” and change it to “Only Me”.
- Click the “Create Album” button to finish making the private album.
And that’s all there is to it! After following those steps, you’ll have an album on Facebook that only appears under your profile and is not visible to anyone else.
How to Find and View Your Private Albums
Once you create private Facebook albums, how do you access and view them again later?
It’s simple – all your private albums are conveniently found together:
- Go to your profile page and click “Photos”.
- You’ll see a section called “Album” with your public albums.
- Scroll down and there is another section “More Albums” where your private albums are located.
- Just click on any private album to open it and view the photos or videos inside.
As long as you remain logged into your account, you can freely view your private albums. But remember, they are not visible to anyone visiting your profile – the private albums will be hidden from other people.
Tips for Managing Your Private Photo Albums
Here are some useful tips to keep in mind when creating and managing private Facebook albums:
- If you want to add or remove photos from a private album later, find the album under “More Albums”, open it, and use the buttons inside to edit the contents.
- Remember that downloading Facebook photos saves a copy to your device – it does not remove them from the private album online.
- You can change the audience of an album back to “Public” at any time if you later decide to share it.
- Anyone tagged in a private album’s photos will not receive notifications or be able to view the album.
- Deleting a photo from a private album does not delete the photo from Facebook entirely, only removes it from the album.
- If you have trouble finding the “More Albums” section, try searching for your private album by name to access it.
Following these tips will allow you to organize your private photo albums on Facebook just the way you like.
Other Ways to Use Private Facebook Albums
Beyond just storing photos privately, here are some other creative ways you could use Facebook albums that are only visible to you:
- Store receipts and records – Use them to catalog expenses or make sure you have purchase records.
- Plan vacations or events – Save brochures, maps, reservations only you need to see.
- Daily journal – Upload a private photo each day to remember moments in your life.
- Track progress – Catalog milestones towards health, career or other goals for self-reflection.
- Revisit memories – Use as a nostalgia archive only for your eyes to look back fondly.
Those are just a few ideas – a private photo space on Facebook can be useful in many ways unique to how you personally use it.
Privacy Considerations for Private Albums
While Facebook private albums seem hidden securely, there are still a few privacy considerations to keep in mind:
- Facebook admins can still technically access or remove any content.
- Any photos uploaded still use space on Facebook’s servers.
- Malware on your computer could potentially access private album info.
- They could appear in search warrants or legal data requests if you became subject to an investigation.
- Facebook outages or bugs could potentially expose a private album unintentionally.
So while private Facebook albums are relatively safe, they may not be 100% secure from every possibility. Use your best judgment when deciding what to upload privately.
Other Options for Private Photo Storage
If you have special photos you want to store with absolute privacy, other solutions beyond Facebook albums include:
- A personal cloud storage account like Dropbox, iCloud or Google Photos
- A private external hard drive kept securely in your possession
- Encrypted cloud storage services like Mega or Tresorit
- Self-hosting your photos on a personal server or home NAS device
These options make your photos more private and under your control rather than stored on Facebook’s servers. However, they may be less convenient than Facebook albums depending on your needs.
Troubleshooting When You Can’t Create a Private Album
In most cases, the above steps should work to successfully create private Facebook albums. But some users may run into issues along the way. Here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure you are on desktop Facebook – mobile Facebook apps do not support private albums.
- Check that your account does not have restrictions enabled by Facebook for violations that block album creation.
- Try logging out and back into Facebook to reset any glitches.
- Clear your browser cookies and cache in case they are interfering with Facebook’s interface.
- Make sure you use the steps above exactly – small mistakes can cause issues.
- Try accessing Facebook on a different device or web browser for comparison.
If the problem persists across devices, contact Facebook support for personalized troubleshooting help.
Conclusion
Creating private Facebook photo albums only you can see is easy with just a few clicks. Just access Facebook from desktop, create an album, and change the audience to “Only Me”.
Private albums open up great possibilities to store memories, documents, or photos just for yourself without sharing them publicly on Facebook.
While not 100% secure, private albums keep your content hidden from others and give you a convenient personal space on Facebook. So try making one to see if it meets your needs for private photo storage and access!