How to Hide Apps on Android or iPhone

We live in a time where apps mean more to us as they carry half our workforce. That means our smartphone is the jack of all trades. We have our memories in form of photos/videos, downloaded documents, apps that have your information such as banking os password managing apps or even apps that order food. You wouldn’t want any unwanted set of eyes prying on your data now, would you? Of course not!

Applications get our work done in no time but they are kept in the open. Often we hand over our device to family or friends to show that cute photo of a dog you clicked but instead of just going “awww” they wander where they shouldn’t. What if you just texted your better half that your folks don’t know about? Or worst, you also have some explicit pictures in the same gallery.

How to Hide Apps on Android or iPhone

The following ways are extremely easy and absolutely free for everyone to try on their devices.

Hide Apps on Android

Android users have four ways through which they can hide apps that harbor sensitive information.

Stock Launcher

Manufacturers like Samsung have a handy option to hide apps from prying eyes. To enable this built-in option, Samsung users should click on the three vertical dots > Home screen settings > Hide apps > Select apps. Other manufacturers might also have a similar option.

Create a Folder

You can simply create a separate folder to store the applications that store sensitive information. But obviously it isn’t a safe method. This will work only if your relatives/friends won’t go snooping around.

Third-party Launchers

Image Source: Guiding Tech

Launchers are the best thing that happened to Android. No matter which launcher you choose, you can heavily customize your Android device as per your liking. If you are new to the launcher and don’t know where to start, I suggest trying Nova Launcher and Lawnchair 2. The customization can get a bit overwhelming but try one segment at a time.

If you explore the settings of any launcher, you can see that the developers give you the option to hide your applications. The Settings menu might look terrifying at first but once you locate the option to hide your apps, you are good to go.

Third-party apps

There are tonnes of apps that can hide your apps but App Hider by developers Hide Apps (NO ROOT) is an amazing app that does more than just hide applications. The app can let you access multiple accounts from one device and to hide an app, you can import an app. Moreover, the app also hides your photos and videos. You can also create dual apps for using two instances of the same application. The app turns into a calculator vault so that you can enter the password to access the hidden apps.

Hide Apps on iPhone

Hiding applications on the iPhone will be a bit tricky as there aren’t many applications that can achieve this feat.

Create a Folder

No, no copy-pasting business here. You can also create folders on your iPhone. You can create folders by moving one app over another. To not draw unnecessary attention, you can simply rename the folder as Work or anything that doesn’t scream SEE ME!

Spotlight

After you’ve hidden apps that contain sensitive information, you can still find the app through the Spotlight search option. So now, you’ve got to hide it from there as well. To do so, open the Settings on your iPhone and navigate to the Siri and Search tab. Now tap on the Desired app. You can now toggle the app that you want off to exclude from the search.