Hiding apps on your phone seems trivial or immature to others but there can be serious reasons behind hiding apps on your Android phone. Some people have family or friends that have no respect for privacy so they can’t help but take measures for their privacy. Others may have much simpler reasons like protecting their private information just in case the phone was lost or stolen or some might not want their toddler to delete or disrupt something important like contacts, bank data, etc. Whatever may your reason be, we have got you covered! In this article we will discuss in detail all the methods you can use to hide apps on your Android phone:
Third party Apps
There are many app hiding apps available on the Play store (and on the internet) to help you do just that. Here are some most popular ones:
- Calculator Vault – You may have already heard of this famous app. It uses an icon of a calculator to disguise itself in your app drawer. When you put in a specified code into this (fully functional) calculator it will reveal all the hidden apps inside it. Other apps of the same type act as dummy apps and contain all the hidden apps you put in that folder.
- Secure Launchers – Launchers such as Apex launcher will add a fake layer of a new interface and app icons. With this illusion in your phone you can hide apps on your phone by adding them into secure folders where you set a passcode to access it. This adds yet another layer of security to hide your apps.
- App Locks – App locks do not use necessarily “hide” your apps but instead protect them by adding a requirement of a password, PIN, pattern, etc. The apps are completely in sight but can’t be opened without the passcode. These app vaults are one of the easiet methods to hide your apps.
How to hide apps on Samsung phones
- Go to your phone’s settings And launch it.
- Scroll down to till you find the option “Display” in the list.
- Again scroll down to the option of “Home screen”.
- In this list you will find an option called “Hide apps”.
- Now you will be presented with a list of all your apps, select the app(s) you want to hide.
- At the bottom of the list tap on ”Done” to effectively hide the apps you selected.
- To unhide those apps, simply repeat the steps and unselect the apps form the list and then tap on done.
How to hide apps on Oneplus phones
Oneplus phones come with a built-in feature for hiding apps called the “Hidden Space” feature. It is just like a secure folder where you can place apps to restrict their access by others. Here is how you can add apps to the Hidden Space folder:
- From the homescreen swipe up to open the app drawer.
- Once you see the grid or list of your apps on your screen, swipe right on the screen from the left side.
- You will enter the Hidden Space, now tap on the plus (+) symbol at the top of the screen.
- From the list of all your apps, select the ones you would like to hide.
- After you are done with that, you also have the option to add password (PIN or pattern) to this feature.
- Tap on the check mark (tick icon) when you are done to save your changes.
- If you want to unhide them, then simply follow the same steps, untick the apps and save your changes.
Secure folder
Some Android phones do have a built-in feature to make these secure folders (many Samsung phones do). To check if your phone has such a feature follow these steps:
- Locate the Settings app and launch it on your phone.
- Scroll downs to find the option of “Biometrics and security”.
- Then go to the option “Secure folder” from that list.
- Follow the prompted steps to setup of your secure folder, adding them into this folder will hide them from your app drawer.
Disabling Apps
Many (though not all) Android devices sadly do not have a built-in feature to hide apps. This option is for those people who were not able/want to follow the methods mentioned above. Disabling apps will remove them from your phone app drawer, plus it will also stop them from running in the background. Therefore it is not recommended to disable system apps that are vital to the function of your phone. It’s best to disable third-party apps, i.e. those which you may have downloaded. Here’s how to do this:
- Locate and open your phone’s settings.
- Scroll done and tap on the option of “Apps”.
- You should now see a list of all the apps on your phone. Select the one you want to disable/hide.
- On that app’s information page you will see the option of “Disable”. Select that button and you are done.
- If you want to undo the disable, simply follow these steps and tap on undisable.