How to handle sensitive screenshots on iPhone (bank transfers, OTPs, IDs)

• They capture exactly the information you meant to keep short-lived: account numbers, balances, OTP codes, QR codes for payments or tickets, ID numbers typed into a form.
• Photos can read the text in images. Searching your library for a bank's name or the word “OTP” can bring the matching screenshots straight up.
• With iCloud Photos on, each screenshot also appears on your iPad, Mac and any other device signed in to your Apple Account.
• They pile up. Unlike a photo you chose to take, most screenshots were never meant to be kept at all.

Since iOS 17 the floating thumbnail lets you use a screenshot and throw it away in one go.

1. 1Take the screenshot (side button and volume up together on Face ID iPhones).
2. 2Tap the thumbnail in the bottom corner before it slides away.
3. 3Crop out anything the other person does not need — your balance, other transactions, your full account number — and use the Share button to send it.
4. 4Tap Done and choose Delete Screenshot. Choose Save to Files instead if you need to keep it outside Photos; Copy and Delete puts it on the clipboard for pasting once.

If you swipe the thumbnail away, the screenshot is saved to Photos as usual.

1. 1Open Photos and scroll down to Media Types (on older versions: Albums → Media Types).
2. 2Open Screenshots. Every screenshot is collected here, newest first.
3. 3Use the search tab for words that tend to appear in sensitive ones: your bank's name, “transfer”, “OTP”, “code”, “boarding pass”, an ID number prefix.
4. 4Tap Select and pick everything you no longer need.

1. 1With the screenshots selected, tap the Delete (trash) button and confirm.
2. 2Open Recently Deleted (under Utilities, or Albums on older versions). Deleted items stay there for up to 30 days.
3. 3Unlock it with Face ID, tap Select, then Delete All or choose the ones to remove now.

With iCloud Photos on, deleting removes them from your other devices too. Copies you sent through chat apps or email stay in those conversations, so delete them there as well if needed. More details in how to permanently delete photos on iPhone.

Some are worth keeping: a ticket QR code for next week, proof of a payment you might have to dispute, a recovery code (although those belong somewhere better — see how to store 2FA backup codes safely).

• Hide them: select, tap the More button, then Hide. They leave the Library and the Screenshots collection and move to the Hidden album, which requires Face ID — see how to hide photos on iPhone.
• Or move them into a locked note with a separate Notes password, then delete the originals from Photos and Recently Deleted.

Remember that anyone who knows your iPhone passcode can open the Hidden album, because the passcode is always accepted in place of Face ID.

Lockboxy gives the screenshots you keep a home behind a passcode separate from your iPhone passcode, encrypted with AES-256 on the device, with no account and no server.

• Auto-Hide Screenshots (in Settings, free, off until you turn it on) copies new screenshots into the vault when you open Lockboxy. The originals stay in Photos, so delete them there yourself, then empty Recently Deleted.
• You can also send a single screenshot into the vault from the Share Sheet in Photos, or import a batch from your library and choose to remove the originals; iOS shows its own confirmation before anything is deleted.
• The vault's own content is hidden from screenshots and from the app-switcher preview.

The free plan holds up to 30 photos, videos or screenshots. If you forget the vault passcode without having created a Recovery Key (Premium), the content cannot be recovered. More in the Lockboxy FAQ.