I need help hiding apps on my iPhone to better organize my home screen. I couldn’t figure out how to hide certain apps after trying a few settings, and I want to make them less visible instead of deleting them. Any tips or step-by-step guidance?
If you’re trying to hide apps, iOS doesn’t let you completely banish them unless you delete them, but here’s a few tricks you might like:
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Remove Apps from Home Screen: Long-press the app icon till it jiggles. Tap ‘Remove App,’ then select ‘Remove from Home Screen.’ The app goes into the App Library, where it’s still accessible but off your main screens. Out of sight, out of mind!
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Use App Library: Swipe all the way to the right until you see the App Library. Organize your apps there, and only keep absolutely essential ones on the Home Screen. The rest? Hidden-ish.
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Hide Entire Home Screens: Pinch your Home Screen (like zooming out). You’ll see all your pages. Uncheck the ones you don’t need. Ta-da! Whole pages of apps…poof.
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Restrictions Through Screen Time: If you’re hardcore about this, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps. Toggle off apps you wanna hide (like Safari or Mail). Just be ready to forget they exist and be slightly confused later.
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Folders: If subtlety is your jam, dump those apps into a folder and name it something boring, like ‘Utilities’ or ‘Stuff I Don’t Use.’ Works like a charm when you wanna hide things without risking a full-on cleanse.
Hope this helps organize things! But let’s be real—are you actually gonna forget where apps are, or will you remember 10 minutes later when you need them? Anyway, give these a shot!
So, hiding apps, huh? Well, it’s not like Apple makes it super straightforward, but what else is new? Anyway, @byteguru covered some decent ideas, but let me toss a couple more into the mix while lowkey disagreeing with the folder suggestion. ‘Utilities’? Nah, that just screams “Hey, I’m buried in here.”
Instead, consider** Search bar stealth mode**. Don’t put apps on any screens at all. Let them chill exclusively in the App Library. When you need them, swipe down on your Home Screen to pull up the search bar and type the app name. It’s peak ninja energy. Honestly, this works better than fumbling through weirdly named folders.
Also, if you’re the ultra-organized type, try rearranging app access via Siri Shortcuts. Why look at icons when you can summon the essential ones with your voice? Bonus: It makes app icons even more irrelevant.
And here’s a spicy take: why hide when you can just commit to chaos? Organize nothing, let the apps blend into a visual mess. Your brain will filter out the clutter, and the app you’re looking for will rise like Excalibur through the confusion. Or not.
But for real, hiding isn’t much of an option unless you’re using Screen Time to restrict certain apps altogether. Just don’t forget to turn them back on when you’re like, ‘Where’s that one app again?’ Because I don’t trust Apple with subtlety OR recovering lost apps easily.
Alright, since @espritlibre and @byteguru hit many bases, let me throw in a few alternative ideas for hiding apps on your iPhone that go beyond just banishing them to the App Library or using a cryptically named folder.
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Home Screen Custom Icons: If you’ve got the time (and let’s face it, aesthetic ambitions), recreate custom icons using Shortcuts. You can set the shortcut to open the app while displaying a completely unrelated icon, like a plant or a random symbol. This keeps the app accessible while disguising it. Downside? It takes a while to set up, and there’s a slight lag opening apps this way.
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The “Offloading” Trick: Go to Settings > iPhone Storage > Select the app to ‘Offload App.’ The app stays listed but removes its data/file size—perfect if you don’t use it often and want it semi-out of view. Bonus: less clutter and storage saved! Pro-tip: the app icon disappears from all screens unless reinstalled from the App Store. Downside: It’s semi-removed and requires redownloading when needed.
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Alphabet Soup Party: Rename folders and apps with emojis or random letters—make them visually unrecognizable to anyone messing with your phone. Sure, this doesn’t “hide” apps in a real sense, but good luck finding Safari when folder names look like
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Hardcore Minimalist Mode: Delete everything non-essential from your Home Screen, including widgets. Want to access an app? Use the search bar exclusively. Call it less “hiding” and more “active forgetting.” Downside? Tedious if you’re not big on search navigation.
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Settings Reorder Hack: Apple lets you reset the Home Screen layout entirely (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Home Screen Layout). For pseudo-hiding, reorganize after a reset, moving less-used apps into neglected Home Screen corners.
A few notes:
Folder juggling is okay, but it makes apps incredibly easy to find once you habitually check folders. Similarly, ‘pinching to hide pages’ is neat in theory but often more effort than people stick with.
Instead, these unique methods add flexibility depending on how much you value aesthetics, storage, or ninja-level invisibility. Do any of these methods outshine @byteguru’s ninja-search approach or @espritlibre’s weirdly chaotic Excalibur strategy? Not necessarily, but variety counts!
Final word of caution: Hiding may cause apps to metaphorically pack their bags in places you’ll forget yourself! Happy semi-stealthing!