iPhone
iPad
Easy
New in iOS 18+
How to Hide Apps on iPhone So Nobody Knows They Exist
Locking an app with Face ID is good. Making it completely invisible is better. iOS 18 introduced the ability to hide apps from your Home Screen, Spotlight search, Siri suggestions, and notification previews. The app still works perfectly — it just vanishes from every visible surface of your phone and lives inside a Face ID-locked hidden folder that nobody knows to look for.
1
Long-Press the App Icon
Find the app on your Home Screen and long-press its icon until the context menu appears.
2
Tap Require Face ID
In the context menu, tap Require Face ID. Two options appear.
3
Select “Hide and Require Face ID”
Tap Hide and Require Face ID. This is the key option — not just “Require Face ID” (which only locks the app without hiding it). Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode to confirm.
4
The App Vanishes
The app icon disappears from your Home Screen. It won’t show up in Spotlight search, Siri suggestions, or notification previews. It moves to the Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library, which itself is locked behind Face ID.
What Exactly Disappears
Hiding an app is more thorough than you might expect. Here’s everything that changes the moment you hide an app:
- Home Screen icon: Gone. No trace of the app anywhere on your Home Screen pages.
- Spotlight search: Typing the app’s name in Spotlight returns no results. It’s as if the app doesn’t exist.
- Siri suggestions: The app never appears in Siri’s app suggestions, suggested shortcuts, or the search widget.
- Notifications: Completely silenced. No banners, no badges, no sounds, no Lock Screen previews. Zero evidence of incoming activity.
- App Library categories: The app is removed from its normal category in App Library. It only exists in the Hidden folder.
- Settings: The app still appears in Settings (for storage management and permissions), but this requires actively navigating to Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
How to Find and Open Hidden Apps
You still need to use the app, of course. Here’s how to access it:
Swipe left past all your Home Screen pages to reach the App Library. Scroll all the way to the bottom. You’ll see a folder labeled Hidden with a lock icon. Tap it, authenticate with Face ID or passcode, and all your hidden apps appear. Tap any app to open it normally.
The Hidden folder only appears if you have at least one hidden app. If you haven’t hidden anything, the folder doesn’t exist — another layer of invisibility.
Locked vs. Hidden: Which Should You Use?
Lock Only
App visible on Home Screen
Appears in Spotlight search
Notification previews hidden
Requires Face ID to open
Everyone can see you have the app
Best for: Banking apps, email — apps where privacy of content matters but having the app is normal.
Hide & Lock
App invisible from Home Screen
Hidden from Spotlight & Siri
All notifications silenced
Requires Face ID to even find
Nobody knows the app exists
Best for: Dating apps, private messaging, journals, health apps — anything where the existence of the app is what you want to hide.
How to Unhide an App
Go to App Library → Hidden folder (bottom of the page). Authenticate with Face ID. Long-press the app you want to restore and tap Don’t Require Face ID. The app reappears on your Home Screen, in Spotlight, and in Siri suggestions as if nothing happened.
If you want to keep the app locked but visible, choose Require Face ID instead of removing the requirement entirely. This gives you the lock-only behavior where the icon is visible but the app requires authentication to open.
Practical Use Cases for Hiding Apps
There are plenty of legitimate, everyday reasons to hide apps. Here are the most common ones:
Relationships and dating. If you’re casually dating but not ready to share that with everyone who glances at your phone, hiding Tinder, Bumble, or Hinge keeps your personal life private.
Health and medical apps. Period trackers, mental health apps, therapy session apps, medication reminders — these are deeply personal and not everyone’s business.
Financial apps. Crypto wallets, investment apps, or expense trackers with detailed spending data. Hiding them adds a layer of security beyond just locking.
Parental control evasion prevention. Parents can hide certain apps on a child’s device as an additional measure alongside Screen Time restrictions.
Work-life separation. Hide your work Slack or Teams on weekends so you’re not tempted (or reminded) to check it during personal time. Pull it out Monday morning from the Hidden folder.
Decluttering without deleting. Some apps you rarely use but don’t want to delete. Hiding them removes visual clutter while keeping the app and all its data intact.
Things to Be Aware Of
Notifications are fully silenced. This is by design — if the app sent visible notifications, it would defeat the purpose of hiding it. But it means you’ll miss messages and alerts from hidden apps unless you actively check the Hidden folder.
The app still uses storage and gets updates. Hiding an app doesn’t affect its functionality. It still receives updates from the App Store, occupies storage space, and can run in the background for things like location tracking or message syncing.
Screen Time still tracks it. If Screen Time is enabled, the hidden app still shows up in your usage statistics. Someone with access to your Screen Time data could see that you used a hidden app, though they won’t be able to see which app it is from the Home Screen.
Requires iOS 18 or later. This feature is not available on older iOS versions. Any iPhone or iPad that runs iOS 18 / iPadOS 18 supports it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not without your Face ID or passcode. Hidden apps are removed from Home Screen, Spotlight, and Siri. They only exist in a Face ID-locked Hidden folder in the App Library.
No. All notifications are completely silenced — no banners, badges, sounds, or Lock Screen previews. The app is fully silent until you open it manually from the Hidden folder.
Swipe to the App Library, scroll to the bottom, and tap the Hidden folder. Authenticate with Face ID or passcode to see all your hidden apps.
Yes. Open the Hidden folder, long-press the app, and tap “Don’t Require Face ID” to fully restore it, or “Require Face ID” to keep it locked but visible on the Home Screen.