How to Hide Apps on Android Phone
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(Pocket-lint) – Did you know it’s possible to hide apps on your device without uninstalling or deleting them?
We’ve covered how to delete and uninstall apps from your phone before, but sometimes you just want to keep them away from prying eyes or overly excited fingers.
If you often let family members access your phone, chances are you’ve been thinking about apps they could access while they’re using it. There may be apps that you don’t want others to open, for one reason or another. You probably don’t want your kids accidentally texting your boss or destroying your TikTok feed or worse.
Don’t worry, there are ways to hide apps, so you can still use them, but they aren’t easily accessible to people who click the buttons too eagerly.
It’s important to keep in mind that methods for hiding apps vary from device to device. This can change depending on the version of Android you are running on your phone, but also on the model you are using. So follow this guide to find the best ways to do it.
Hide apps with Android settings
On some Android phones, it’s possible to hide apps using your phone’s settings. You can use them to hide apps from the home screen so they aren’t easily accessible to anyone using the phone, assuming they don’t dive into the app drawer as well.
To do this :
- Open your phone’s settings.
- Navigate to “Home Screen”.
- Look for “Hide apps”.
- Click on it, then tap on the apps you want to hide.
If these settings do not appear, your phone may not have this option and you will need to use one of the other methods described below.
Hide apps in Secure Folder
If you have a Samsung phone, you may have access to a Samsung Secure Folder. This is a hidden folder that lets you secure your apps, photos, and more.
To get there :
- Go to phone settings of your Samsung phone
- Click on Biometrics and Security
- Click on Secure Folder
- Log in to your Samsung account and follow the steps.
- You can then access the Secure Folder on your home screen.
- Click it to add apps
Hide Apps on OnePlus Phone
The technique for hiding apps varies from phone to phone. For OnePlus smartphones, there is a “Hidden Space” function that allows applications to be hidden. To do this :
- Open your phone’s app drawer.
- Swipe right to access the “Hidden Space” folder.
- Then tap the plus icon at the top right.
- Choose the apps you want to hide and tick to confirm.
The Hidden Space folder gives you the option to set a password to ensure that only you can access this folder. Open this folder, then check the three-dot menu and select the Enable password option and set one.
Hide Apps on Xiaomi Phone
On some phones it is not possible to hide apps, but you can protect them with a password. This makes it possible to place a password on certain sensitive apps, so that they cannot be launched without a password, even if the device is already unlocked.
To do this :
- First open your phone settings.
- Navigate to Apps
- Find and click on the “App Lock” setting.
- Then select the apps you want to lock and click “Use app lock” at the bottom of the page.
- You will need to set up a Xiaomi account if you don’t already have one.
With this tool, you can also set up notification lock for certain apps. This is great if you don’t want others to see private notifications from certain apps while they’re busy using your phone.
Hide apps with a launcher
If you’re having trouble hiding apps in any of these ways, there are other solutions. If you’re using a third-party launcher like Nova Launcher Prime, you can access other settings (on multiple devices) that allow you to hide apps.
We’ve put our expertise to the test and put together this comprehensive guide to help you find the best of what the Play Store has to offer.
Launchers replace the standard home screen and offer more customization options that allow you to adjust various settings on your phone to truly personalize it.
Nova Launcher is one of those apps that also lets you hide apps:
- Download and install Nova Launcher and set it as your default launcher.
- Then open Nova Launcher settings
- Click on “Apps and widgets drawers”.
- Click “Hide apps”.
- Check all the apps you want to hide
It’s worth noting that you’ll need the paid version of Nova Launcher to get the best results here, but you can also make some tweaks to “disguise” an app with the free version by changing the icon and name of the app. application rather than hiding it. It might make people less likely to click on the app, maybe.
Written by Adrian Willings.