Your complete guide to hiding apps on your iPhone 

Apple allows you to hide apps on your iPhone, so you decide which apps appear on your Home Screen. It’s easy to hide apps you don’t use much without having to uninstall them. The feature is also helpful in preventing your kids from accessing content that’s unsuitable for them. Read on to learn how to do this and how Avira Mobile Security can help make your entire family’s surfing experience safer. 

Can you hide apps on an iPhone? 

Older devices like the iPhone 6 don’t support this feature. If you want to hide apps on these models, you have to delete them. However, you can only do this with third-party apps — Apple’s own pre-installed apps can’t be removed regardless of whether you use them or not. 

Thankfully, Apple recognized that users should decide for themselves which apps show on their screen — a feature it launched with iOS 14. No matter whether they’re ones you don’t use much or apps that Apple pre-installed — you decide what appears on your Home Screen. 

How do I hide apps on my iPhone? 

There are several ways to hide apps on iPhone, from individual ones to an entire screen full. It’s really easy to do — just follow our step-by-step instructions. 

Hide individual apps on an iOS device 

Only want to hide individual apps on your iPhone with iOS 15? To do that, first find the app you want to hide. Then do this: 

1. Touch and hold the app icon: Touch and hold the app icon until the menu opens.
   
2. Select Remove App: Tap Remove App. Don’t worry: The app won’t be removed right there and then. In the next step, you can choose whether you want to just hide the app or delete it.
    
3. Remove the app from the Home Screen: You’ll be given the options to delete the app or just remove it from the Home Screen. Select the second option to hide the app on your iPhone screen. 

Hide multiple apps in one go 

If you want to hide several apps on your iPhone simultaneously, you can do this to save time. Here’s how: 

1. Touch and hold an empty area on the screen: Touch and hold an empty area on your screen until a circled minus icon appears in the top left corner of each app. 
2. Tap the minus icon: Tap the minus icon of the app you want to remove. You’ll then see the Remove App dialog. Tap Remove from Home Screen. Repeat this process until you’ve hidden all the apps you don’t want on your iPhone screen. Finally, tap Done on the top right. 

Hide an entire Home Screen 

In addition to individual or multiple apps, you can also hide an entire Home Screen — something that’s also quick and easy to do. This is handy if you want to hide certain apps from others, like your kids, and improve your iPhone’s protection. First move the relevant app icons to the Home Screen in question. To then hide it, do the following: 

1. Touch and hold the Search button: Touch and hold the Search button at the bottom of the screen until a row of dots appears.
   
2. Tap the row of dots: Tap the row of dots to view all of your device’s Home Screens.
   
3. Hide Home Screens: Remove the tick from the Home Screens you want to hide, then tap Done on the top right.
   

Hide apps from search 

Want to prevent your kids or others from finding hidden apps via the search feature? You’re in luck! Here’s how: 

1. Open the Settings app: Go to the Settings app and open Siri & Search. 
2. Select the app: Select the specific app you want to remove from search.
3. Turn off search: Toggle the Show App in Search slider to the left so it turns gray. That way, you’ll hide the app on your iPhone because it’ll no longer appear in search.
   

This way of managing your apps comes in handy when you want to hide certain apps from others. Among other things, you can hide the App Store and prevent your kids from accidentally downloading stalkerware. You can also hide a password manager so your children won’t be able to access your user accounts while they’re using your device, such as to play games. 

By the way: Avira Password Manager is a practical solution for generating and managing strong passwords. To prevent others from gaining access to your passwords, you can additionally protect Avira Password Manager with Touch or Face ID. 

Find hidden apps in the App Library 

Whether hidden or removed from search, you’ll still be able to find your apps in the App Library even if you’ve hidden apps on your iPhone. Here’s how to access and unhide hidden apps: 

1. Open the App Library: Keep swiping left on your Home Screen until the App Library opens. 
2. Search for the app: Scroll through the apps until you find the app you want. You can also find it using the Search feature. 
3. Show the app: If you want to show the app on your Home Screen again, touch and hold the app icon. You can then use your finger to slide it to the left to the desired location. Finally, tap Done.
   

By the way: If you’ve also removed the hidden apps from the search feature, you’ll need to manually set them to be discoverable again. Otherwise, they’ll be visible on the Home Screen, but remain hidden in the search feature. 

When is it a good idea to hide apps on my iPhone? 

Hiding apps can be useful if you want to organize your Home Screen — especially because loads of apps can make it look overly crowded and it takes a while to find the icon you’re looking for. Clean up your Home Screen by hiding the apps you don’t use much — all without having to uninstall them. 

This feature is also useful for hiding certain apps from others. For example, do you often lend your smartphone to your kids so they can play games or use educational apps? If you do, you can hide sensitive app such as banking apps on your iPhone so your children can’t access them. 

Tip: Create a separate Home Screen for apps your kids are allowed to use and hide the rest so your kids can use your iPhone more safely. 

Boost mobile security on your smartphone 

If you hide apps on your iPhone, you hide them from prying eyes. But if cybercriminals hack your device, they can still find the apps. It’s therefore worth protecting your smartphone by adding an antivirus solution — particularly if you surf the internet using public Wi-Fi hotspots. 

You can surf more anonymously and securely with Avira Mobile Security thanks to its free VPN, which encrypts all your data traffic in public spaces. This way, you prevent unscrupulous characters like hackers from seeing what you get up to online. The tool also protects against cybercriminals who hack Siri and record conversations — enhancing your privacy. Boost your protection for Android and iOS.