How to Hide Any App on Android or iPhone

Preloaded apps or nosy people, there are several reasons as to why one would want to hide an app on their phone. Earlier, rooting an Android or jailbreaking an iPhone were the only options, but today there are solutions that one can resort to and hide apps in a jiffy. So, stop uninstalling and reinstalling apps and read to find out how you can hide apps on Android or iPhone.

                              How to Hide Any App on Android

Android phones are infamous for having a large number of preloaded apps. Generally, people do not like having so many apps on their devices. It's one thing to uninstall an app, however, there are ones that are a part of the user interface or UI. Here's how you can take care of such apps or any other that you want to hide on your device.

Using the Stock Launcher

Very few people actually know that you can hide apps without the help of third-party software. By disabling any app from your device's settings, you can actually prevent it from appearing in the app drawer. Here's how. 

Step 1: Go to device Settings and locate the Apps tab. This is where all the current apps on your phone will show up.  

Step 2: From the available list, choose the app that you want to hide on your phone. Select it and, on the following screen, select the Disable option. The system will ask you a number of questions, agree with them to proceed. 

Good for Preloaded Apps

While this method is quite seamless, it is only good for a preloaded app or bloatware. Also, any app that you disable using this method will be restored to the factory version and you might have to update it before you can start using it again.

If this does not provide an answer to your problem, we have two more way of hiding apps. 

Hide Apps Using Apex Launcher

Apex Launcher is a popular third-party app that offers a number of customization options for your phone. You can use it to change the user interface on your device, but here we are using one of its features to hide apps in plain sight. 

Step 1: The first thing to do here is to install Apex Launcher on your device. Upon completion, start the app and head over to the Settings tab. 

Step 2: Once there, navigate to the Drawer settings option and locate the Hidden appsoption.

Step 3: From the following screen, select the apps that you want to hide. In order to do so, select the checkbox right next to the app. When finished, simply click Save at the top-right corner of the screen. 

Unhide the Apps to Use Again

While the apps are hidden, they stay in a dormant state. You will not get any notification or update for those apps. In order to use those hidden apps again, you will have to unhide them following the same steps mentioned above.

Hide Using Privacy Hider

Privacy Hider is another free utility that you can use to hide any app on your phone. While it is free, it does show a lot of ads. If you don't like ads, you can opt for the paid version. The cool thing about Privacy Hider is that it masquerades itself as a calculator and works as one too. Unless you have the right password you cannot unlock it or see what's behind.

Step 1: Visit Google Play Store and install Privacy Hider on your device. After the installation, the app will start in its basic mode. You must set it up to hide apps.