How to limit access to photos on iPhone

iOS Photo library access

Apple continues to deliver more granular control over privacy options. The release of iOS 14 adds the ability to decide exactly which photos can be accessed by third-party apps. As always, users can prevent an app from accessing the Photos library or allow an app full access to all images. When specific photos are chosen an app such as Facebook can only read those images, while the rest of your Photos library remains off limits.

Some apps have been known to scan the entire Photos library. Thanks to iOS 14 they can be limited to reading only a limited subset of your Photos library.

Follow these instructions to limit access to your Photos library on iPhone or iPad:

  1. Make sure your device is running iOS 14 or later
  2. Launch Settings and choose Privacy
  3. iOS Photo library access 1
  4. Tap Photos
  5. iOS Photo library access 2
  6. Select the app to modify photo permissions
  7. iOS Photo library access 3
  8. Choose level of Photos access
  9. iOS Photo library access 4
  10. Selected Photos or Edit Selected Photos opens a photo browser
  11. Select the photos to allow access and tap Done