How to Make a Board on Pinterest Private (Secret Boards Guide 2026)

Quick Summary

• Pinterest does not have a setting called "private board." The equivalent feature is called a secret board, and you turn it on by toggling Keep this board secret in the board's edit menu.
• On desktop, open the board → click the three dots (…) next to the board name → Edit board → toggle Keep this board secret → Done. On mobile, the toggle is labeled Make this board secret.
• Secret boards are hidden from your profile, your followers, search results, and the home feed. Only you and people you invite as collaborators can see them. You can flip the toggle back off at any time to make the board public again.

If you want a Pinterest board only you can see, you are looking for what Pinterest calls a secret board. There is no separate "private board" setting - the secret board toggle is the privacy control. This guide walks through how to convert an existing board, create a new one, invite collaborators, and reverse the change, on desktop and mobile.

The Quick Answer

Pinterest uses the term secret board instead of "private board." A secret board is only visible to you and the collaborators you invite. According to Pinterest's Help Center, secret boards do not appear in search results, on your profile, or in other people's home feeds.

To make any board on Pinterest private:

1. Open the board
2. Click or tap the three dots (…) next to the board name
3. Select Edit board
4. Toggle on Keep this board secret (desktop) or Make this board secret (mobile)
5. Click or tap Done

The board immediately disappears from your public profile.

How to Make an Existing Board Private (Desktop)

Steps:

1. Log in to pinterest.com

2. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner.

3. Open the board you want to make private.

4. Click the three dots (…) next to the board name.

5. Select Edit board.

6. Scroll down and toggle on Keep this board secret.

7. Click Done.

The board is now hidden from everyone except you and any invited collaborators.

How to Make an Existing Board Private (Mobile - iOS)

Steps:

1. Open the Pinterest app on your iPhone.

2. Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.

3. Tap Boards (or Saved if you are on a business account).

4. Open the board you want to make private.

5. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner.

6. Tap Edit board.

7. Toggle on Make this board secret.

8. Tap Done.

How to Make an Existing Board Private (Mobile - Android)

Steps:

1. Open the Pinterest app.

2. Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.

3. Tap Boards.

4. Open the board you want to make private.

5. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner.

6. Tap Edit board.

7. Toggle on Make this board secret.

8. Tap Done.

How to Create a New Secret Board From Scratch

If you have not created the board yet, you can mark it secret during creation so it is private from the very first pin.

Desktop:

1. In the left navigation, click the square-plus icon.
2. Select Board.
3. Enter a board name.
4. Toggle on Keep this board secret.
5. Click Create.

Mobile (iOS & Android):

1. Tap the plus (+) icon.
2. Select Board.
3. Enter a name.
4. Toggle on Make this board secret.
5. Tap Create in the top-right corner.

Per Pinterest's Create a board guide, the secret toggle appears in the same dialog as the name field, so you can mark it secret in a single step.

Who Can See Your Secret Board

According to Pinterest's official help, a secret board is only visible to:

• You (the owner)
• Collaborators you explicitly invite

A secret board will not appear:

• On your public profile
• In Pinterest search results
• In other users' home feeds
• In the related-pins or "More from this user" surfaces shown to other people

Pinterest may still surface Pin suggestions on your own home feed based on what you save to a secret board. Those suggestions are only visible to you - they exist so the algorithm can keep recommending relevant content - but they do not expose the board itself.

How to Invite Collaborators to a Secret Board

Secret boards are not strictly solo. You can invite specific people to view and contribute, which is useful for things like wedding planning, gift ideas, or private moodboards shared with a partner or client.

1. Open the secret board.
2. Click or tap the plus (+) icon near the board name (or the collaborator avatar area).
3. Search by name, username, or email, or use Copy link to share an invitation directly.
4. Send the invite.

Invitees must have a Pinterest account to accept. According to Pinterest's group board documentation, they do not need to follow you, and you do not need to follow them. They will get an email or in-app notification about the invite.

Pinterest does not publish a hard cap on collaborator counts in its official help, so treat very large invite lists as an unknown - if you need a true group board, the standard group board flow is more appropriate.

How to Make a Secret Board Public Again

You can reverse the change at any time.

Desktop:

1. Open the secret board.
2. Click the three dots (…) next to the board name.
3. Select Edit board.
4. Toggle off Keep this board secret.
5. Click Done.

Mobile (iOS & Android):

1. Open the secret board.
2. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner.
3. Tap Edit board.
4. Toggle off Make this board secret.
5. Tap Done.

The board returns to your public profile and becomes visible in search.

What Happens When You Save Pins to a Secret Board

A few behaviors change once a board is secret. From Pinterest's Help Center:

• No notifications go out to the original creator when you save one of their Pins to your secret board.
• The Pin's save count does not increase when you save it to a secret board.
• Source attribution is hidden for Pins saved from a secret board - the original creator will not see that the save came from you.

This is intentional. It lets people use secret boards as a true workspace - drafts, gift ideas, moodboards - without telling other creators what they are collecting.

Limitations of Secret Boards

A few things secret boards cannot do, based on Pinterest's documentation:

• You cannot promote a secret board as an ad. Pinterest's ad products require public boards.
• Pins on a secret board do not contribute to your public Pinterest stats. Saves, impressions, and outbound clicks count differently than public board engagement.
• A "section" within a board does not have its own privacy setting. If a board is secret, all of its sections inherit that. There is no documented way to make a single section secret inside an otherwise-public board.
• Profile privacy is a separate setting. Making a board secret does not make your profile private, and vice versa - they are two different controls.

Secret Boards vs. Profile Privacy vs. Protected Boards

Pinterest has three different privacy concepts that get confused all the time. Here is how they differ.

Secret board

A single board hidden from everyone except you and invited collaborators. The rest of your profile remains public. This is what most people want when they search "how to make a board on Pinterest private."

Private profile

A profile-level setting that hides your entire profile from search engines and from Pinterest's own search. According to Pinterest's Help Center, you must be at least 16 years old to adjust profile visibility, and business accounts must convert to personal accounts before they can enable a private profile. Use this if you do not want strangers finding your account at all.

Protected board (Business only)

A Pinterest Business feature that lives at the bottom of your profile. According to Pinterest Business documentation, Pins on a protected board can still surface in search and other users' home feeds, but the board itself is only accessible to people with a direct link. Protected boards are usually auto-generated by the bulk editor or the Shop the Look pin flow - they are not a manual setting you toggle.

If you want a board only you can see, you want a secret board, not a protected board.

Common Questions

Can other people see that I made a board secret? No. Once a board is secret, it disappears from your profile entirely. Followers will not get a notification that a board became secret. From their side, it just no longer exists on your profile.

Will my followers stop following the board? Followers can no longer access a board after you make it secret. Public followers will lose visibility to the content. If you later turn the board back to public, it will reappear on your profile, but follower counts may not automatically restore.

Can I make a section of a board secret without making the whole board secret? No. Pinterest does not document section-level privacy. Privacy is set at the board level, and all sections of a secret board inherit that setting.

Do secret board pins still show up in my home feed recommendations? Pinterest may use your secret saves to refine the suggestions in your own home feed, but those suggestions are only visible to you. Other users will not see them.

Can I have unlimited secret boards? Pinterest's current help documentation does not call out a hard limit. Older third-party guides sometimes cite a cap, but the official Pinterest help page on secret boards does not specify one as of 2026. If you hit a limit in your account, that is the authoritative source.

If I save a pin from someone to my secret board, do they know? No. The original creator is not notified, the pin's save count does not increase, and source attribution is hidden. This is one of the main reasons people use secret boards for gift research and competitive moodboards.

Will a secret board appear in Google search? No. Secret boards are excluded from Pinterest's own search and from external search engines.

Can I convert a group board into a secret board? You can only change visibility on a board you own. If you are a collaborator on someone else's board, you cannot change its privacy setting - you would need to leave the board, and the owner would have to convert it.

Does the secret toggle affect Pins I have already saved to that board? The Pins stay where they are. They just stop appearing publicly. If you flip the board back to public, they become visible again.

Why would I make a board private instead of just deleting it? Deletion is permanent after a 7-day recovery window, and you lose every pin on the board. A secret board keeps everything intact while removing it from public view. If you are not sure whether you want it gone forever, secret is the safer move. See our guide on how to delete a board on Pinterest for the difference between archiving, deleting, and making secret.

The Bottom Line

There is no "private board" setting on Pinterest - the feature is called a secret board, and it is the answer to "how do I make this board private."

1. Open the board → three dots → Edit board → toggle Keep this board secret → Done.
2. Only you and invited collaborators can see it.
3. You can flip it back to public at any time.
4. Use a private profile if you want your whole account hidden, not just one board.

If you are also tidying up your Pinterest, see our guides on how to delete a board on Pinterest, how to recover deleted Pinterest boards, how to unsave pins on Pinterest, and how to make a pin on Pinterest. For board strategy once you are ready to go public, our Pinterest tips and tricks and Pinterest posting strategy guides cover what actually performs. To reach a wider audience, look at how to find group boards on Pinterest. And if you are using Pinterest commercially, see how to make money with Pinterest and how to turn off AI posts on Pinterest.

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Want to plan ahead instead of saving in secret? Genviral's Pinterest Scheduler lets you schedule pins across multiple boards and accounts in one place.