Would you like to remove the applications you don’t use frequently from your iPhone home screen but don’t know how to proceed? Have you tried to hide some apps so that they are invisible when your “iPhone by” ends up in the hands of too nosy relatives and friends but you haven’t found the right option to do so? If the answer to at least one of these questions is yes, don’t worry: you’ve come to the right place at the right time!
With today’s guide, in fact, I will explain how to hide iPhone apps by showing you all the solutions at your disposal. First, you will find the detailed procedure to remove one or more applications from the main screen of your smartphone. Next, I’ll give you directions to hide a specific app from iOS search and also to set a passcode and prevent unwanted access.
If that’s exactly what you wanted to know, let’s not go any further and see together how to proceed. Make yourself comfortable, take all the time you see fit and dedicate yourself to reading the next paragraphs. By carefully following the instructions I am about to give you and trying to put them into practice, I assure you that you will be able to hide all the apps you want and secure your iPhone from prying eyes. Happy reading and good luck for everything!
Index
- How to hide apps from Home on iPhone
- How to hide iPhone app icon
- How to hide a screen on iPhone
- How to hide apps from search on iPhone
- How to hide iPhone App Library
- Other solutions to hide iPhone apps
How to hide apps from Home on iPhone
If your intention is to hide iPhone apps from the Home screen of your “iPhone by”, you must know that you can both remove the icon of a specific app that completely hide the screen in question and, consequently, all the apps present. Find everything explained in detail right below.
How to hide iPhone app icon
All you need to do to hide iPhone app icon is remove it from the Home screen. Keep in mind, however, that by doing so the app in question will still be visible in the App Library and, if the search option is not disabled , it can be found via the Search function of iOS.
To proceed, take your iPhone, locate the app you want to hide, make a long tap on its icon and select the Remove app option from the opened menu, just like you would to uninstall iPhone apps .
At this point, on the screen Do you want to remove [app name]? , press on the item Remove from the Home screen and the icon of the app in question will be hidden from the Home screen.
Alternatively, if you want to hide multiple apps at the same time, make a long tap anywhere on the Home screen until all the app icons present begin to “vibrate”. At this point, press the (-) button that appeared in the upper left corner of the icon of the first app you want to hide and tap the Remove item from the Home screen.
Then repeat the procedure for all the other apps you want to hide and, when you have finished, press the Finish button , at the top right, or anywhere on the screen.
It will be useful to know that it is also possible to automatically hide all newly downloaded applications from the Home screen. To do this, press the gear wheel icon to access the iOS Settings , tap the Home Screen item and, in the New apps downloaded section , put the check mark next to the App library only option .
If you have second thoughts, you can restore a previously hidden app icon at any time by proceeding from the App Library (the last page of the Home screen). From here, make a long tap on the application icon you have hidden and select the Add Home option from the opened menu.
Keep in mind that the app in question will not be restored to the screen and to the exact position in which it was before being hidden: to move it, make a long tap on its icon and, without releasing your finger, move the app on the screen and in the desired position.
How to hide a screen on iPhone
In addition to being able to remove the icon of a single application, you should know that it is also possible to hide a screen and, consequently, all the icons placed on that specific screen. Even in this case, however, the applications will still be present in the App Library.
To hide a screen on the iPhone , scroll on the screen of your “iPhone by” and go to the screen you want to remove. At this point, make a long tap anywhere on the screen in question and, as soon as the icons of the available applications begin to “vibrate”, press the icon of the dots located at the bottom.
Now, remove the check mark for all the screens you want to hide and press the Finish button , at the top right. Similarly, but by placing the check mark under the screen of your interest, you can proceed to show a hidden screen again.
Finally, I would like to point out that after hiding a screen, you can also delete it by pressing the (-) button that appeared in the upper left corner of the screen thumbnail and selecting the Remove option . All apps on a deleted screen will automatically be hidden from the Home screen and only available in the App Library.
How to hide apps from search on iPhone
As I mentioned in the previous lines of this guide, hiding an app from the Home screen can still be found via the iPhone search function. To prevent this from happening, you can prevent a specific application from appearing in the search results.
If you want to hide apps from the search on the iPhone , access the iOS Settings by pressing the gear wheel icon and tap on the Siri and search item . Now, scroll down until you find the list of all applications installed on your iPhone and tap on the one you want to hide.
In the new screen that appears, in the While searching section , move the lever for the Show apps in Search option from ON to OFF and you’re done.
From this same screen, by moving the levers relating to the items Show on the Home screen and Suggest app from ON to OFF , you can also avoid the display of suggestions, contents and quick commands of the app in question among the results of the search functions, in the widgets and as notifications.
Finally, I point out that you can also hide the Search option which, starting from iOS 16 , is shown on the Home screen. To do this, press the gear wheel icon to access the iOS Settings , tap the Home Screen item and move the lever for the Show on Home screen option from ON to OFF . Keep in mind, though, that the iPhone search function will always be available by swiping from top to bottom anywhere on the screen.
How to hide iPhone App Library
How do you say? Would you like to hide iPhone App Library ? If so, I’m sorry to inform you that, at least at the time of writing this guide, there is no option available to do so.
This means that if your intention is to completely hide an application, you can remove the icon from the Home screen, you can exclude it from the search results but you can neither prevent it from appearing in the App Library nor hide it.
Other solutions to hide iPhone apps
As I explained to you in the previous lines of this guide, there is no solution to completely hide an app on iPhone. However, you can prevent access by taking advantage of the Screen Time feature , which monitors how long applications are used and blocks access with a personalized PIN.
If you think this is a valid solution, access the iOS Settings by pressing the gear wheel icon , press on the Usage time item and, if you have not already activated the function, tap on the Enable option “Usage time ” , To start the activation procedure.
Once this is done, press on the item Use code “Usage time” present at the bottom and type twice in succession the code you intend to set to block and unblock access to applications on the iPhone.
When the operation is completed, access the App Restrictions section , type the PIN you set just now and tap on the Add usage limitation item , and then select the categories of apps to be blocked (eg Games , Social , Fun , Creativity etc. ). You can also decide to limit individual applications, by first tapping on the arrow next to the category of your interest and selecting the single app from the proposed list.
Press, therefore, on the Next button located at the top right and set an app usage limit of 0 hours and 1 min (i.e. the minimum possible). If you want to set the block only for certain days of the week, click on Customize days and choose the days in which to apply the block.
Finally, make sure that the lever next to the option Block at the end of the limit is moved to ON (otherwise you do) and tap on the Add item in the top right, to put passwords to iPhone apps . At this point, start one of the apps you have decided to limit, wait a minute and it will be blocked: to use it, you will need to type the unlock PIN you set previously.
If even this solution does not completely satisfy your needs, the last option available to you is to jailbreak your iPhone, a procedure that allows you to unlock iOS and have the ability to install apps from sources other than the official App Store. (operation possible, in reality, even with solutions that do not require jailbreak, for example AltStore ) and to apply customizations that are not normally allowed.
I would like to inform you, however, that jailbreaking Apple’s warranty , exposes the iPhone to security risks and does not allow you to run some streaming apps (eg Sky Go , Netflix etc.). To know more, you can refer to my guide on how to jailbreak iPhone .