How To Hide App Icons On Iphone

Can you hide apps on iPhone? Absolutely! We'll show you how to hide an app on your iPhone using several different methods, each with its own benefits based on why you want to hide the app in the first place. Keep reading to learn how to hide apps for privacy or other reasons.

Related: How to Find Hidden or Missing Apps on iPhone

Why Hide Apps on iPhone?
Where Do Apps Go When You Hide Them on iPhone?
How to Remove Apps from Home Screen Using Siri & Search
How to Hide Apps from Smart Suggestions
How to Hide Apps Using the App Library
Can I Hide Apps from the App Library?
How to Hide Apps on Your iPhone Using App Folders
How to Hide Apps from iPhone Search
How to Hide Apps on the iPhone from Your App Store Purchase History
Can You Hide Apps on the iPhone That Come Pre-installed?

Why Hide Apps on iPhone?

Sometimes you need to hide apps on iPhone from others who might snoop, or from yourself if you're addicted to a particular game or to checking your Facebook notifications like I am. With Smart Suggestions for apps, you can request that an app not be suggested (thereby hiding the app). You can also hide an app on your iPhone by using app folders. To take it even further, you can hide the app from iPhone Search and in your iPhone's App Store purchase history. You can even get rid of most of Apple's pre-installed apps while you're at it.

Where Do Apps Go When You Hide Them on iPhone?

Unless you completely remove an app from your iPhone by deleting it, the app will always be stored in the App Library on the right-most page of your iPhone Home screen. At the very least, this means you can either search the App Library to find the missing app on your iPhone, or use Spotlight Search to find it. So rest assured that as you work through the many methods in this article for how to hide apps on iPhone, you'll still be able to locate the app when you need it! Each section will give you additional details on where apps are located when you use the hiding method outlined in that section.

How to Remove Apps from Home Screen Using Siri & Search

In this section, we'll show you how to hide apps on iPhone in Settings, plus how to unhide a hidden app when needed. Don't worry; when you remove apps from the Home screen, you can still find them with Search, in the App Library, and in Settings. Here's how to hide apps on iPhone Home screen using Settings.

Open Settings.
Tap Siri & Search.
Scroll down to the app section and select the app you want to hide.
Toggle offShow on Home Screen. When you're done, the toggle should appear gray.

To unhide apps on your iPhone from the Home screen, repeat this process, but instead of toggling Show on Home screen off, toggle it back on.

How to Hide Apps from Smart Suggestions

Smart Suggestions uses Siri's intelligence to predict and suggest apps or shortcut suggestions for your use based on your usage patterns. However, this does mean that you may see suggestions for apps you'd rather not use as often (anyone else trying to cut back on Pokémon GO?), or that you use so often that you already have a separate widget set up for them and don't need to see them in suggestions. Here's how to hide apps from being suggested by Smart Suggestions:

Your Suggestions widget will look like a normal cluster of app icons on your iPhone Home screen.
Press and hold the icon for the app you'd like to hide from Suggestions.
A menu will pop up. Tap Don't Suggest "[app name]" and you'll see a bottom message pop up.
Tap on the red option that saysDon't Suggest "[app name]"and give your phone a second or two to respond.

You've just hidden this app from Smart Suggestions! Don't worry, the app is still on your phone, it's just not going to pop up in your Smart Suggestions widget anymore.

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How to Hide Apps Using the App Library

Your iPhone will include the App Library if you are running iOS 14 or iOS 15. We have a list of which devices can update to the latest iOS located here, so if you're using an iPhone 5, iPhone 6, or a similar older model, you may want to review the list. Here's how to hide apps in the iPhone App Library, which allows you to store it away from your Home screen.

Press and hold the app icon for the app you want to hide.
A menu will pop up. Tap on Remove App.
A second menu will appear. Tap onMove to App Library.

This will hide the app in the iPhone App Library. Since it's easy to find hidden apps in the App Library, you can always change your mind and add it back to your Home screen later. If you're interested, here's more guidance on the App Library. If you're hiding apps you don't often use, you can check out our article on offloading unused apps to see how your iPhone can get rid of these apps for you.

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Related: How to Make a Private Photo Album to Hide Pictures on iPhone

Can I Hide Apps from the App Library?

Since the App Library is meant to be an all-inclusive list of installed apps, it's not possible to hide an app from the App Library if it's installed on your device. This means that in order to hide an app from the App Library, it would have to be deleted and then reinstalled each time the user needs it. In rare instances this may be a necessary option, but for most people this won't be practical.

If you have decided to use this option, visit our article on how to delete and uninstall apps, or follow the above step on this page and select "Delete App" when the menu appears.

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How to Hide Apps on Your iPhone Using App Folders

The best way to hide apps within a folder is to fill the first pages of the folder with apps that you're not trying to hide.

Choose a folder that already exists on your iPhone (preferably a boring one, like Utilities) or create a new app folder.
Press and hold any app icon until the Action Menu appears
Select Edit Home Screen.
Hold and drag the app you're hiding into the folder of your choice.
Drag the app to the right so you can place it on the second page of the folder (only the apps on the first page of the folder are visible on the Home screen).
If you really want to hide apps deep down in your folders, you can create up to 12 pages in a folder as long as each page has one app. That means you could have a folder with 11 pages of apps you only sometimes use, and hide your app or apps on the twelfth page.

This method obviously doesn't completely hide apps on your iPhone, but it sure makes it hard to accidentally come across them.

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How to Hide Apps from iPhone Search

Even if you hide apps deep in a folder on your iPhone, someone who is determined to snoop could quickly find your hidden apps using Search. That's why it's good to know how to hide apps from iPhone Search as well. In this section we'll use your Settings app to thoroughly hide your app, including from Search.

Open Settings.
Tap Siri & Search.
Scroll down to the app section and select the app you want to hide.
Toggle off Learn from this App, Suggest App, Show App in Search,Show Content in Search, and both toggles labeledSuggest Shortcuts for App. Some toggles may disappear as you go, but this is normal. Just toggle off any toggles that remain as you go down the list.

Repeat for any other apps you want to hide from iPhone Search. To find and unhide an app in iPhone Search, go back to Siri & Search in the Settings app, tap on the app, and toggle Siri Suggestions back on.

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How to Hide Apps on the iPhone from Your App Store Purchase History

If you have Family Sharing enabled, anyone in your Family Group can see and download the apps you've purchased and downloaded. If you want to keep some of your apps private, you can hide them from your App Store purchase history. Don't worry, you can always find hidden app purchases later, when you need to!

Open the App Store.
Tap on the profile icon or your photo in the upper right corner.
Tap Purchased.
Find the app you want to hide.
Swipe left on the app.
Tap Hide.
Repeat for any other apps you want to hide.
Tap Done in the upper right corner.

Note: This will not delete or hide the app on your iPhone or iPad. This method only hides the app within your purchase history inside the App Store. You also can't hide app subscriptions from the Family Organizer in Family Sharing, even if you hide the app from Purchases. Need to find hidden App Store purchases? No worries, it's easy.

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Can You Hide Apps on the iPhone That Come Pre-installed?

In many cases, Apple allows users to hide Apple apps that come pre-installed on your iPhone. Apple stock apps are hidden the way third-party apps are deleted. But you're actually just deleting the app's icon, because the app's data is not removed.

From Home screen, tap and hold the app you want to hide.
When the Action Menu opens, select Delete App.
If Delete App is missing from the Action Menu, then the app can't be deleted.*
Repeat this process for all the stock apps that you want removed.
If you decide you need any of these apps in the future, simply re-download them from the App Store to get them back.

Note:While you can delete some apps, such as the Calculator and Music apps, others, like the App Store and Camera apps, cannot be deleted.

Now that you know how to hide an app on iPhone in a variety of ways, you can decide which method works best for your purposes! And just in case you hide an app too well, we can show you how to find hidden apps on iPhone as well.

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