Apps are a key part of our smartphone experience, but there are cases where hiding apps may be necessary. The most common is that your smartphone does not allow the uninstallation of the pre-installed apps.
Or you may want to hide apps on your Android or iPhone since you do not need them in the app list. Another case is where you want to continue using the app, but you do not want it to be visible to other people (or children) using your smartphone.
So let’s see how to hide apps on Android, which certainly offers more flexibility on iOS .
Hide apps on Android, without root (Samsung, Huawei, LG …)
As mentioned, on Android it is very easy to hide any app you want. So let’s see what are the various methods to get this result and find out what is best suited to your case.
Alternative launcher
One of the main advantages of Android is that you can change the launcher, which is the app with which you can access other apps and widgets. Not all default launchers allow you to hide apps but do not worry you can go to the Play Store and download one of the many available, among those of third parties.
Among the most popular we recommend Nova Launcher, a historical app that, among its features, also allows you to hide apps from the list (app drawer). To do this, simply go to the Nova settings, then go to the “Apps menu” section and, scroll down, press “Hide app”.
There you will a list of apps where you can choose which apps you want to hide. This method is particularly useful if you want to hide apps and do not plan to use them in the future. In fact, to return to use them you will have to repeat the steps and uncheck the app you want to bring back in the app drawer.
Block the apps
If your purpose is to hide apps to prevent someone from accessing them, you can resort to another solution. We are talking about the possibility of blocking access to the app directly. The concept is very simple: a blocked app can only be accessed with a numeric PIN, a sign or using (on smartphones where it is present) the fingerprint sensor.
One of the best apps that allows this feature is App Locker, app that you can download for free, although to unlock all the features you must make an in-app purchase of 3.19 €.
Samsung Knox (Personal Area)
Who has a Samsung phone can use another method, integrated directly into the system: Samsung Knox or Personal Area. By activating this feature you can create a sort of secondary account on your smartphone, where all the related data will be protected and encrypted.
You can access it only (PIN, sign or fingerprint) and you can also have two copies of the same app (eg two Facebook accounts).
Hide Android app with root
Who has a smartphone with root privileges can resort to an additional resource; we are talking about the Hide App-Hide Application Icon app.
Beyond the unimaginative name, this app does exactly what you need. In fact, the hidden apps with this program will disappear from the launcher, whatever this is and therefore also the default phone. Among other things, Hide App-Hide Application Icon is totally free.
Hide iPhone and iPad apps (iOS, even with jailbrake)
After seeing how to hide apps on Android, it’s time to move to the antipodes, to iOS. In this guide, we will explain how to hide apps on iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, on the Apple operating system the possibilities are less, indeed if you do not have the jailbreak you have only one way to proceed, actually very simple but that is only applicable to the system app.
To hide the app from the iOS home screen, you just have to open the “Settings” (the app with a gear icon) and then press “General”. At this point press on Restrictions and then on “Enable restrictions”.
At this point choose a PIN with which you can protect access to this section. After this step, you will find yourself in front of a list where you can choose which apps you want to hide from the list. In truth there is also a way to hide certain apps, but this is only valid if you want to protect children from inappropriate content.
In fact, always in the section Restrictions, continuing to scroll, you will find the voice App. With this, you access a menu where you can block access to the app based on age classification.
There would also be another way of “hiding” the apps on iOS or, very trivially, take the icons that do not want to directly occupy space on the home and drag them into a separate folder. Those who are so daring to have the jailbrake on their iPhone can go to the Cydia Store and download the app dedicated to this function.