Well this is interesting. I plugged my phone into my computer to pull some photos off of it and I just happen to start browsing it via Windows Explorer since the device shows up there. Imagine my surprise when I saw things that were in my Hidden folder show up clear as day. It seems that lock is only at an application level and just browsing the file system it’s there to see.
Does anyone else experience something similar? Is there a note I missed that it’s still be available via other means?
I reverse engineered the Apple Photos library file on my Mac as a side project and can confirm that hidden assets are not actually encrypted or otherwise protected. The respective assets are just not shown in the apps and can be accessed via Finder on macOS.
I didn’t know they were visible when you connect your phone to your PC but I guess it makes sense.
No need for reverse engineering - it has already been done: https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos
Heeey… Reverse engineering the software is a clear violation of TOS/EULA
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