If your home screen is disorganized and difficult to navigate, learn how to hide apps on the iPhone so that the ones you don’t use frequently are hidden.
Nothing is more infuriating than an iPhone with a cluttered, disorganized home screen. You can use a handy iOS feature that removes apps from view without permanently deleting them if you want to organize your home screen or even hide a few embarrassing apps you don’t want people to see. Here’s how to hide apps on an iPhone, which is one of the most useful iPhone tricks. Check out how to organize apps on an iPhone for another iPhone hack.
How to Hide iPhone Apps
Whether you want to hide a dating app or a game you’re too old to play, the process for how to hide apps on an iPhone is straightforward. Follow the steps below to remove apps from your home screen without having to uninstall or delete them. Here’s how to free up storage on your smartphone if your apps are taking up too much space.
- To begin, make a folder by tapping and holding an app and dragging it on top of another. You can exit the app once you see that the folder has been created. You can add as many apps as you want to the folder. Your phone will name the folder automatically, but you can change it by clicking on the text above the folder after you create it.
- Drag the app you want to hide into the folder you just made. Tap and hold the app to drag it into the new folder, just as you did in the previous step.
- If you want to hide more than one app, drag them all into the folder as well.
- Then, open the folder and hold down the app you want to hide. Drag it to the right side of the folder while holding your finger on it. A new folder page will be created, and your app will be moved to it. Allow the app to remain on the second page of the folder by releasing it.
- Rep step 4 for each app you want hidden. As you add more pages to your folder, multiple dots will appear at the bottom of the screen. Those dots represent the number of pages in your folder, and you can navigate between them by swiping right or left.
- When you return to your home screen, only the apps on the folder’s first page will be visible.
How to Hide Apps in iOS 16’s New Update
Apple’s latest software goes a step further than hiding apps, allowing you to hide entire app pages for a simpler and cleaner iPhone interface.
- Tap and hold (or long-press) on a white space on your screen.
- Tap the app page dot icons at the bottom of the screen when the widgets begin to wiggle. All of your app pages will then be displayed on your screen.
- Uncheck the box next to the app page you want to hide by clicking the circle with a check mark.
- To save your changes, tap Done in the upper right-hand corner.
When you swipe through the pages on your home screen, the app page will no longer appear—and you now know how to hide apps on an iPhone. If you change your mind, you can undo this feature by following the steps above and unchecking the app page that was hidden. You can also remove the apps from the folder or rearrange their order as you see fit.
Hiding apps isn’t the only way to keep the contents of your smartphone hidden from prying eyes. Here’s how to lock apps on an iPhone and what you should know about WhatsApp security.
How to Find Hidden Apps on an iPhone
Want to locate and launch a hidden app on your iPhone? By following the instructions below, you can easily search for any app, including those stored in a folder or the App Library.
- Swipe left on your iPhone’s home screen to access the Search feature. Enter the app’s name in the Search bar. Tap to open the app when the icon appears.
- You can also ask Siri to open the app for you. Simply press and hold the Side button to enable Siri voice commands, then say “Open [app name].” Siri will locate and launch the app for you.
- If you can’t find the hidden app by searching for it quickly, the App Library can assist you. Swipe left from your home screen to access the App Library. You can then type the app’s name into the search bar or navigate to the category it belongs to.
Now that you know how to hide apps on an iPhone, you can also learn how to hide messages on an iPhone and view (and delete) your iPhone call history to keep your conversations private.
