How to Hide Apps on iPhone Without Deleting Them?

How to Hide Apps on iPhone Without Deleting Them: Privacy is crucial now in the digital era! The ability to hide apps on your iPhone has many great uses, whether you want to keep certain things private or want a more personalized home screen. Thankfully, Apple gives you plenty of options for managing your apps without deleting them from your device. This article will show you the methods to hide apps on your iPhone but in other ways than deleting, which includes a step-by-step guide so as not to leak out any of your privacy. 

Why Hide Apps? 

But before going through how to do it read why someone might need to hide apps on their iPhone. Common reasons include: 

Privacy concerns: Hide finance, social media, or health apps containing your personal information. 

Keep your home screen minimalistic yet organized by hiding the apps that aren’t often used but are too important to be deleted. 

Fatherly: Protect Certain Apps from Your Kids Without Deleting Them 

Regardless of the reason, hiding apps is a smart way of managing your digital life in an organized manner. 

Method 1: Using App Library 

Revealed in iOS 14, the App Library automatically groups your apps by topic and offers a home for them without having to use precious screen place. 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

Come back to the Home Screen: Find the app you want to hide. 

Press and Hold on the App Icon: Menu with the following options. 

Choose Remove from Home Screen: This deletes the app from your home screen but makes it available in the App Library. 

Swipe left on your home screen until you get the App Library then just search for it later. This way, you may have to click categories and then do a search or use the input box directly from there. 

Pros: 

Easy and quick to implement. 

Ensures your home screen stays clutter-free 

Cons: 

This doesn’t hide the app fully though, and it is still accessible in the App Library 

Method 2: Hide Apps with Folders 

Using folders to hide apps is another easy way. You can hide apps within folders, burying them out of the way but still accessible. 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

How to Create a New Folder: Press long in any app, then drag and drop it on another Shift Unlock Create Folder uniqemode.com 

Drag the folder on top of add a new app you can use to hide only that App 

Shift the App to the Last Page of Folder: Once inside a folder, shake it, drag it to any other page within the same folder, and shift the app to the last page. 

We can hide the app icon by putting it in a folder so that is nice to have for kids or adults. 

Pros: 

Simply hide apps without uninstalling them from your home screen. 

Easy to set up and manage. 

Cons: 

Apps are only a double-tap away if somebody checks the folder. 

Option 3: Screen Time Restrictions 

You can hide some apps using Screen Time a feature meant to help users in managing their device usage. This will hide their apps from the view by setting content and privacy restrictions. 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

Launch the Settings App -> Go to Screen Time 

Enable Screen Time: In case you have not already set up the feature, turn it on with a tap 

Access Contents & Privacy Restrictions: Activate the “Content & Privacy Restrictions”. 

Choose ‘Allowed Apps’: You will see a list of which sooner or later you may turn off. 

Turn Off the Apps You Want to Hide: Turn off the toggle on the app of your choice. This will hide it from the home screen and App Library. If you want to keep stock apps such as Safari, Mail, or Camera, this is your best solution.  

Pros: 

 Effectively hides the apps, rendering them truly inaccessible until the restrictions are lifted. Ideal if you want to hide downloaded versions of system apps.  

Cons: 

 You will have to monitor the passcode to access the apps. It may be too restrictive if the app you want to hide is useful and usage is frequent. 

Guided Access: 

This is a feature that allows you to keep your iPhone on one app, which can help you hide others. Procedure On the Settings, click on Accessibility. Turn on Guided Access and set a Passcode. 

 Go to the app you intend to use: 

Then triple-click the side or home button, and select ‘Guided Access. With this feature, you can draw circles on the screen to disable access to other apps or parts of the screen. This procedure does not hide the whole app, and only restricts access to only one app. 

 Pros: 

Useful if you want to use a specific app for a short time. Can restrict the usage of other parts of the device.  

Cons: 

 Does not completely hide apps. Apps show when Guided Access is off. Hide Apps on Your iPhone from Search and Siri Suggestions 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

How to turn off Siri Suggestions in iOS 12 Step-1: Navigate back out of this, head into Settings > Siri & Search. 

Navigate to the App You Want to Hide: Press on that apps name. 

Turn Off Show App in Search and or Show Suggestions: These options will make the app not show up anywhere in search results, Siri suggests applications”. 

It is a way to search, especially if you hide an app in one of the above methods. 

Pros: 

Avoids search and Siri surfacing of apps 

Improves the efficiency of other methods obfuscating your hiding. 

Cons: 

Does not totally hide the app; it is still present through App Library or folder. 

Trick 6: Conceal Purchases in the App Store 

If you want to conceal specific apps that you’ve bought or downloaded over time, hide those purchases in the App Store. 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

Go to the App Store: Click on your profile icon in the top right. 

Visit “Purchased”It will list down all the apps that you have downloaded. 

Swipe Left on the App you Want to Hide, then Click “Hide” Done 

We already know this results in the app being hidden from your device, however, it won’t keep it from showing up on your purchase history. 

Pros: 

Secure shopping history 

Concealed purchases easy to handle 

Cons: 

Not hide the app from your device. 

However, the apps can still be downloaded if someone knows your Apple ID password. 

7: Third Party Apps 

Although Apple does not natively support 3rd party apps for hiding your other apps, there are some applications that can help you to organize your home screen better and ensuring it indirectly hides those application making them difficult to find. 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

Head to the App Store: Find apps that are built for custom home screen layouts or app organization. 

Install and Organize: Use the app to literally follow along as you make your home screen cleaner, hiding apps behind custom folders or pages. 

Bit hiding apps will not let you hide your applications completely, but they make them less appearable so when combined with other methods this is an amazing option. 

Pros: 

Brings more customizable options to your home screen. 

It can be used with other methods to hide apps better 

Cons: 

Not the best option to hide apps 

Some functionality may have cost or subscription requirements. 

Final Thoughts 

How to Hide Apps on iPhone Without Deleting Them

If you want to hide your app from prying eyes or simply clean up clutter on the home screen, these methods will give a good range in terms of confidentiality and accessibility. Whether you need to use the App Library and folders, Screen Time restrictions, or Guided Access, there are plenty of ways for you to lock down an iPhone based on your needs. 

If you use these methods to hide apps from plain sight, remember it may not be foolproof. If you hide apps incorrectly, someone who knows what they are doing can still find them. But these things can go a long way to increasing the privacy level of your iPhone and improving your experience overall. 

Experiment with these methods to arrive at what suits you the best. By being a little creative and putting some effort you could have manage both your privacy and keep iPhone running well, so that no one can hack into it then make home screens clean looking.