Hiding Apps on iPhone [2024 Guide]

Your smartphone may reveal aspects of your private life through certain apps. Naturally, you wouldn’t want your siblings, kids, or friends accidentally stumbling upon them while using your phone for a specific task. Deleting these apps isn’t always ideal. Therefore, the solution is to hide apps on your iPhone and shield them from prying eyes. While the iPhone lacks a solid native method to hide apps, there are tricks to keep them concealed. In this article, I’ll share 6 ways to hide apps on your iPhone.

1. Remove from iPhone Home Screen

To prevent your apps from cluttering the home screen, relocate them to the App Library. This method effectively conceals apps without uninstalling them. It’s particularly useful when you prefer certain apps to remain out of sight until you specifically need them. For example, if your child frequently accesses YouTube or if you find yourself mindlessly browsing social media due to its home screen visibility, this approach provides a solution.

• Press and hold the app you want to hide.
• From the quick action menu, select Remove App.
• Then, choose Remove from Home Screen.
• Voila! The app is now neatly tucked away in the App Library.

To access the hidden app, search in the App Library.

2. Hide an entire Home Screen page on iPhone

• Move the apps you wish to hide to a separate home screen page. To create a new one, drag an app to the right until you see a blank page.
• Once all the apps are there, long-press an empty area until the icons start to jiggle.
• Tap the three horizontal dots at the bottom to see all home screen pages.
• Tap the checkmark below the page you wish to hide.
• Finally, tap Done. This hides multiple apps at once on your iPhone.
• If you want to restore the hidden home page, repeat the steps above and uncheck the hidden homepage.

3. Hide an App from Search and Siri Suggestions

Even after removing an app from the home screen, it still appears in search results and Siri suggestions. To prevent this, follow these steps to hide the apps on your iPhone from search and Siri suggestions:

• Open the Settings app and navigate to the Siri & Search section.
• Scroll down to locate the app you wish to hide.
• Tap the app and disable toggles for Show App in Search, Show on Home Screen, and Suggest App.
• After completing this, the app will not appear in Siri suggestions or search results.

4. Hide Purchased Apps in App Store

If you’ve enabled Family Sharing on your device, your purchase history on the App Store may become visible to family members. To prevent this, hide apps in the App Store.

Notably, this method won’t conceal apps from the home screen, search results, Siri suggestions, or anywhere else on your device. It solely hides them from the purchase list, ensuring privacy within Family Sharing.

• Access the App Store and tap your profile picture or initials in the top-right corner.
• Select Purchased to view all installed apps.
• Swipe left on the desired app to hide it.
• Tap Hide. Repeat for other apps, if necessary.
• Tap Done to finish.
• Visit the App Store and tap your profile.
• Then tap your Apple ID at the top.
• To hide apps on an iPhone, access Hidden Purchases and unhide the app.

5. Hide Apps on iPhone using Screen Time

Another method is to utilize Screen Time settings. This feature includes built-in parental controls, allowing management or concealment of downloaded apps. It’s useful for keeping specific iOS apps hidden from prying eyes, such as curious friends or children. Here’s how:

• Access Settings on your iPhone and go to the Screen Time section.
• Tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions. Ensure that the toggle for Content & Privacy Restrictions is enabled.
• Tap on Allowed Apps. This reveals stock iOS apps like Mail, Camera, FaceTime, and more.
• To hide a stock app on your iPhone, turn off its toggle.
• To restore it, repeat the previous steps and turn the toggle ON.
• Go to Settings -> Screen Time -> Content Restrictions.
• Ensure that Content & Privacy Restrictions toggle is enabled.
• Select Apps under Content Restrictions.
• Then, hide apps based on age ratings.

To conceal downloaded apps on your iPhone, opt for “Don’t Allow.” Reserve this choice for when you need to shield all apps aggressively. This option hides all iOS apps, leaving only essentials like Phone and Settings visible.Alternatively, employ an old-school tactic: organizing apps into folders. This method doesn’t hide iOS apps but removes them from immediate view. It proves useful when you want to give the impression that certain apps aren’t on your iPhone. Plus, when apps are buried in folders, you’re inclined to use them less frequently.

To hide an iPhone app within a folder, long-press the app, and drag & drop it onto another app. The two apps will merge into a folder. Ensure the app is not visible by moving it to another page within the folder. Name the folder discreetly to avoid reminding you of the hidden app.

This concludes our guide on hiding iPhone apps. We trust these methods will safeguard your iOS apps and keep prying eyes at bay. How do you conceal your iPhone apps? Share your methods with us in the comments below.

Pritam Chopra

Pritam Chopra is a seasoned IT professional and a passionate blogger hailing from the dynamic realm of technology. With an insatiable curiosity for all things tech-related, Pritam has dedicated himself to exploring and unraveling the intricacies of the digital world.