Samsung recently paused the rollout of One UI 7, the latest version of its Android-based operating system. While the exact reasoning is unknown, some have attributed the pause to a bug that can expose private photos stored in your Secure Folder.

One UI 7’s Secure Folder Has a Big Security Issue

The issue here only really applies to those who keep photos in the Gallery app stored within the Secure Folder on their Samsung phone.

According to reports from SamMobile, when enabled, a feature in the Gallery app will automatically generate stories based on the photos you have saved to it. When the story is generated, the app sends out a notification, which you can then tap on to reveal the story.

That’s the heart of the problem. Even though the story’s contents are stored within your Secure Folder, the phone is giving access to them outside that folder—which isn’t how it’s supposed to work.

This feature appears to be turned on by default. This means your phone could be auto-generating these stories and exposing your private photos without you even being aware of it until you, or someone else, taps on the notification.

Thankfully, There’s a Fix

The good news, though, is that you don’t just have to deal with your photos being exposed. With a couple of taps, you can turn the feature off entirely.

To stop the Gallery app from auto-generating stories using your secured photos, head into your Secure Folder, launch the Gallery app, and tap the menu button.

From there, select Settings > Auto create stories. Then, make sure the toggle for that option is turned off.

Related

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Do more with your Secure Folder.

Of course, this isn’t really a proper solution, as the contents of your Secure Folder should only be accessible from within the folder itself. That’s the entire point of it being a secure folder.

However, it is nice to at least have a way to turn the feature off while we wait for Samsung to sort everything out with the release of One UI 7.

Considering Samsung already makes it annoying to back up your Secure Folder, it’s very surprising to see a security issue like this pop up. But it’s also very curious to see the company pause an entire operating system update without any real information on why.

At the moment, it is unclear if this issue only affects devices that received the OTA (over-the-air) update to One UI 7 or if devices like the Galaxy S25—which launched with it—have the same issue. So, I’d recommend verifying the Auto create stories option is disabled inside your Secure Folder on any device running the newest version.