Hide an app—and know
where it still appears.

There are two different ways to “hide” an iPhone app. Remove from Home Screen only clears the icon while leaving the app searchable in App Library. Hide and Require Face ID moves an eligible downloaded app to the protected Hidden folder and suppresses its information from several system surfaces.

Neither method deletes the app. Choose based on whether you want a cleaner Home Screen or real privacy from someone using your unlocked phone. If it also needs to stay installed, see how to stop an app from being deleted on iPhone.

1. Find the app on the Home Screen. The full hide feature applies to eligible apps downloaded from the App Store.

2. Touch and hold the icon. Tap Require Face ID, Touch ID, or Passcode.

3. Tap Hide and Require Face ID. Authenticate, confirm Hide App, and the icon disappears from the Home Screen.

4. Find it in App Library. Swipe left past every Home Screen page, open Hidden at the bottom, and authenticate. Opening the app requires authentication again.

Touch and hold the app, tap Remove App, then choose Remove from Home Screen—not Delete App. The app stays installed and appears normally in App Library and Search.

This method is useful for decluttering or adding friction to an automatic tap. It is not private. Anyone can locate and open the app through App Library or Search without extra authentication.

To restore the icon, find the app in App Library, touch and hold it, and choose Add to Home Screen or drag it onto a page.

Built-in apps cannot use the full hide feature. Only eligible App Store downloads can move into Hidden. A default browser or app marketplace may also be ineligible, depending on region.

The app can still leave records. Its name may appear in Screen Time, Battery usage, App Store purchase history, and Settings > Apps > Hidden Apps.

Hiding is local. The status does not sync through iCloud, so repeat the action on other devices.

Authentication includes the device passcode. Someone who knows that passcode may open Hidden. Use a private passcode and review Face ID access.

Open App Library, tap Hidden, and authenticate. Touch and hold the app, tap Don't Require Face ID, and authenticate again. The app leaves Hidden and reappears near the top of App Library; add it to the Home Screen if needed.

If you actually want to remove the app, not just unhide it, that same menu has a Delete App option. Touch and hold the app inside Hidden and choose Delete App directly—there is no need to unhide it first if deletion is the goal.

You can also confirm which apps are hidden under Settings > Apps > Hidden Apps after authentication.

If your goal is reducing your own use rather than privacy, hiding alone is light friction. Screen Time adds daily limits, while Fella keeps selected apps blocked all day with one 5-minute emergency unlock per session.

Beyond hiding individual apps, iPhone can hide entire Home Screen pages. Touch and hold empty space on any page until the icons jiggle, tap the row of dots near the bottom, then uncheck the pages you want out of the way. Unchecked pages stop appearing when you swipe, but every app on them stays installed and reachable through App Library.

This is a faster way to declutter a phone full of one-off apps without hiding each one individually behind Face ID. It doesn't add any privacy—apps on a hidden page are still visible instantly through Search or App Library—so treat it as tidying, not protection.

To bring a page back, repeat the steps and recheck it.

Removing an icon or hiding an app doesn't stop it from surfacing elsewhere. Go to Settings > Siri & Search, select the app, and turn off Show in Search and Show in App Library. This is a separate control from Hide and Require Face ID, and it's the piece most people miss when an app they "hid" still pops up the moment they type its name in Spotlight.

These toggles reduce visibility rather than lock content, so combine them with Hide and Require Face ID for an app you actually want protected, not just less discoverable.