Unlike Android, you cannot customize the home screen on your iPhone which means you simply can’t hide an app from showing up on the home screen. However, you could put an app inside a folder on the home screen to hide it from the direct view. To make it even harder to find, you can bury it deep within a folder, like 10th slide in a folder.
🕵️♀️ Hide app in a folder
To create a folder on your iPhone home screen, simply press and hold one of the app icons and drop it over one of the other app that you’re looking to move to a folder.
Once you have created a folder, drag and drop the app you wish to hide into the folder you created above and make sure add it to the second slide of the folder. To drop the app icon on the second slide of the folder, hold and hover the app icon on the right edge of the folder and then drop when the second slide appears.
💡 Hot tip: You can put the app icon you wish to hide as deep as you wish within a folder. We tried up to 13 slides, but it can go further. To create a new slide in a folder, place one app icon on the current last slide.
🔎 Hide app from Search and Siri suggestions
While you may have hidden the app from direct view on the home screen by burying it deep into a folder, it can still appear in Search and Siri suggestions. If you wish to completely hide the app, disable Siri & Search options for the app from device Settings.
- Open Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and find the app you wish to hide from Search and Siri suggestions, tap on it to open its settings.
- Tap Siri & Search from available options.
- Turn off all toggles in the Siri & Search settings for the app:
- Disable “Learn from this App”
- Disable “Show in Search”
- Disable “Suggest Shortcuts”
- Disable “Show Siri Suggestions”
- Disable “Show App”
That’s it. The app won’t appear in the Search or Siri suggestions and shortcuts.
🔔 Hide app notifications
If the app you’re hiding sends notifications, then only hiding from the home screen or Search won’t be enough. If it pushes a notification, it can be discovered and accessed from the Notification Center. To avoid that, follow the instructions below to hide app notifications.
- Open Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and find the app you wish to hide from Search and Siri suggestions, tap on it to open its settings.
- Tap Notifications from available options.
└ If you don’t see this option, then you’ve nothing to worry about. The app doesn’t send notifications at all. - Turn off the toggle for “Allow notifications” at the top of the screen to completely disable notifications from the app.
That’s it. Now you’ve completely taken the app off grid on your iPhone. However, still be careful of prying eyes on your iPhone. Make sure you use a Passcode on the lock screen.
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