How to Hide Apps on iPhone

On recent versions of the iPhone, you can completely hide apps from the home screen without deleting any of their data. And you can still quickly open them from the App Library screen. This feature was introduced with iOS 14, which is compatible with all models going back to the iPhone 6.

Hiding apps comes in handy for several reasons. First, it helps declutter your iPhone home screen. Second, hiding helps keeps apps private. Essentially it prevents others from snooping on your personal information. With the hide function, pages of multiple apps can also be removed from the home screen.

However, since apps hidden this way are still be visible in the App Library and on the search bar, you'll have to delete them entirely if you don't want them to be seen at all.

Use the App Library to Hide Apps

There are a few ways to hide apps on your iPhone. The easiest way is to move them from the home screen to the App Library. Here's how:

Touch and hold the app icon on the home screen.
Tap Remove App.
Tap Remove from Home Screen.

The app icons will now be hidden from your iPhone's home screen. If you're looking for all the apps you've hidden, head to the App Library and they will be there. If you still can't find hidden apps, tap Siri and ask for help.

How to Hide Pages on iPhone's Home Screen

With iOS 14 and later, you cannot only hide apps on your iPhone, but you also can hide and remove an entire page from the home screen completely.

Touch and hold an empty area on your Home Screen.
Tap the dots near the bottom of your screen.
Tap the circle under the page that you want to hide.
Tap Done.

To unhide a page, repeat the steps above. Then use the App Library to quickly find apps hidden on different pages.

In the Settings app, you can also set downloaded apps to be sent to the App Library by default. That way they won't appear on your iPhone's home screen again.

Go to Settings > Home Screen.
Select an option such as Add to Home Screen or App Library Only.

How to Hide Purchased Apps

Any deleted or hidden app will still appear in your App Store purchase history, but that can also be hidden in a few extra steps.

Open the App Store app.
Tap the account button, or your photo or initials, at the top of the screen.
Tap Purchased. If you use Family Sharing, tap My Purchases.
Find the app that you want, then swipe left on it and tap Hide.
Tap Done.

Apps can then be unhidden by scrolling down to the bottom of your purchase list and tapping the Hidden Purchases button, selecting the one you want and clicking Unhide.

Apps hidden only on the purchase list will not be removed or deleted from the home screen unless you take those actions separately.