How to hide iPhone apps

We all love to download apps to our great iPhones, but sometimes, you don’t want all your apps to be so visible. It might be to keep the home screen as clean as possible or to keep specific apps hidden from prying eyes, like a banking app or a gaming app you don’t want your kids to access. Whatever the reason, you can download apps and keep the ones you want hidden from either your purchased list or home screen view with a few easy steps.

How to hide iPhone apps from your purchased list

1. Open the App Store on your iPhone.
2. Tap your profile image (or initials) in the top right of the screen.
3. Select Purchased or My Purchases if you have a Family Sharing account.
4. Scroll down to the app you want to hide and swipe to the left on top of it.
5. Select Hide. The app is now hidden.
   

   This just hides the apps from your list of Purchased apps. The app still remains visible on your device. It just won’t show up as a purchased app when checking your Apple ID’s app download history.

   

How to unhide iPhone apps from your purchased list

1. Open the App Store on your iPhone.
2. Tap your profile image (or initials) in the top right of the screen.
3. Tap your name at the top and use Face ID or enter your passcode to confirm sign in.
4. Scroll down to Hidden Purchases.
5. You’ll see a list of apps you have chosen to hide from the purchase list.
6. Tap Unhide beside the one you want to unhide, and it will reappear under your purchased list.

   

   

7. You may need to download the app again to the device using the download button (the cloud with a down-pointing arrow when you choose it in the app store). You will not, however, need to purchase the app again if it requires a fee.

How to hide iPhone apps from your home screen

1. Find the app on your home screen.
2. Press and hold the app and select Remove App.

   

   

3. Select Remove from Home Screen. This will remove the app from your Home Screen, but it doesn’t delete the app or its data.
4. An easy way to access the app if you need it is to pull down from the top of the iPhone screen to reveal the search bar.
5. Type in the name of the app, and the icon will appear. You can alternatively find it in the App Library.

How to hide a full page of apps from the iPhone home screen

If you want to maintain a nice, clean look for your phone while still being able to access apps you might not use as frequently, you can actually hide an entire page of apps.

1. Press and hold anywhere on the home screen page until the apps all start jiggling.
2. What was previously the search bar at the bottom is now a series of dots. Tap this to pull up icons of each of your iPhone home screen pages.
3. Select the checkmark under the page of apps you want to hide, so it disappears.
4. Select Done. This page of apps will now completely disappear from your iPhone home screen.

How to hide apps from search on iPhone

If you really want to keep an app you have under wraps, you can hide it so it doesn’t even appear in search.

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and select Siri & Search.
3. Scroll down and select the specific app you want to keep hidden.
4. Toggle Show App in Search to off by tapping on the left side, so it goes from green to gray.
5. The app still remains installed on your device, but if you pull down from the top screen or use Siri, the app will not appear as though it even exists on your phone. To access it, you will have to go to your App Library or Purchased Apps. As long as you haven’t hidden it from the purchased apps list, it’ll still appear.

How to hide apps in a home screen folder

There’s a sneaky way to hide apps from the home screen view while still keeping them easily accessible. You can use iPhone folders.

1. Press and hold anywhere on the home screen until the apps start to jiggle.
2. Place your finger on the app you want to hide and drag it on top of another app. This will automatically create a folder for the two apps and assign a suggested name (you can change this at any time). If you already have folders set up, you can simply drag the app to your existing folder and continue on to the next step.
3. Now, you’ll see these apps appear in a folder. There are dots at the bottom of the folder that signify pages. While the apps are still jiggling (or press and hold to make them jiggle again), drag the app you want to hide to the next page. You’ll see the second dot brighten to signify that you’re on page 2.
4. Once you have more apps in a folder, you can continue to drag the app to the third, fourth, and additional pages.
5. This buries the app such that when you view the folder on the home screen, it only shows the apps you choose to appear on the first page. Someone can’t find the app you buried unless they tap this folder and scroll through all the pages.

   

   

What else to know about hiding iPhone apps

Keep in mind that when you hide an app on your iPhone, including new models like the iPhone 15 Pro Max, this doesn’t delete the app entirely, nor does it remove the app’s data. The app is still there; it’s just not as easy to locate. It is also still taking up room on your device.

If you have apps you don’t use often, you might be better off uninstalling the app from your iPhone altogether. This will save space, so you can make better use of all the goodies in the latest iOS, which right now is iOS 17. If you find the app is one you want again later, you can always download it again. If it was a paid app, you should be able to add the app back to your device without having to pay, as long as you are using the same Apple ID and account.

Hiding apps is a great way to reduce clutter on your phone, so you have a cleaner look overall while still being able to access apps you want to use but might only need occasionally. It’s also a great way to keep certain apps private, like banking, social media, fitness apps, and more.