How to Hide Apps on Your Android Devices

Welcome to Techblet.com, this article is about how you can easily hide apps on your Android phone, especially from intruders who might have access to your phone

People hide content on their smartphones for numerous reasons best known to them. While in some cases it may be highly sensitive files/documents and private apps like banking apps, hidden apps in other instances could be multimedia programs, social media apps, and dating apps, which phone users would like to keep away from the prying eyes of others.

There is a litany of ways for hiding your private apps so that people can’t access them without your consent.

We will delve into a number of them here, which will enable you to fulfil your privacy needs. Some smartphones come with the in-built function to hide apps from the main app list, such as Samsung, HTC, Infinix, and others. If your device doesn’t have this feature by default, here is how to keep your apps away from getting used by others:

How to Hide Apps on Android

The First Method — Temporarily Disabling Pre-installed Apps

This process becomes necessary either when you have some apps on your device, that you rarely use or you need to freeze some apps away from the screen while they remain in the background until you really need them to keep your data intact and also limit the amount of memory consumed. You can access this feature if you are using the latest Android OS and the app won’t appear on the list of apps unless you re-enable the option.

• Locate and open your “Settings” app from the home screen on your smartphone.
• Tap “Applications” to view a full list of all installed apps on your device. In case your setting menu has headings over it, tap the “Devices” heading first then.
• Tap on the Application manager and then, select the app you want to hide just by pressing it.
• From the options provided, hit “Disable”.
• Now, your app would not appear on your menu and home page.
• Follow these same steps to locate and “Unhide” any hidden app on your device.

The Second Method — Using Third-Party Apps or Launchers

There are lots and lots of these apps on the Google play store, the likes of Nova Launcher, Go Launcher, PrivacyHider, Applock by DoMobile, and many more.

Nova Launcher

You can get Nova Launcher from the Play Store. It remains one of the best launchers in use right now and gives all the much-needed privacy features, achievable with a couple of clicks. Although downloading the app is free of charge, there will be a need for you to upgrade to the “Pro Version” of the launcher ($1.99) to get the full features for hiding apps.

• Download and install the “Pro version” and then, reboot your smartphone.
• Go to “Nova settings” from the app drawer and click on the “App and Widget drawers”.
• Navigate to the very bottom of the app and click on “Hide Apps”.
• A list of apps will appear; select the particular app you want to hide.
• Stopping here still leaves your app visible if the name is searched for.
• Head to your app drawer and then look for this hidden app there; you should now long press on the app.
• Three options will pop up: “App Info”, “Uninstall”, and “Edit.”
• Tap the “Edit” option to rename the app and change the icon.

PrivacyHider

This app comes with its own cool features, enabling you to hide any app on your Android device by creating a clone of the app and deleting the original app from your launcher. However, it is still necessary for you to hide Privacyhider itself: The process to do this is highlighted here:

• Download and install PrivacyHider on the Google play store
• Open the PrivacyHider app and tap the “+” icon in the top-right corner.
• Select your preferred app to clone and wait for it to be completed.
• You will get a notification saying “The app has been created ”
• You can now uninstall the cloned app from your phone because it now resides within PrivacyHider.

How to hide PrivacyHider itself:

• Open PrivacyHider and swipe from the left of the screen to access additional features.
• Click on “Protection for PrivacyHider” and select from the options shown to you (Dialer, Calculator, and Lock PrivacyHider).
• Selecting Lock PrivacyHider allows you to simply lock the app using fingerprint, pattern or security questions.
• The calculation option allows you to set a password and press “=” sign after entering the password. A repeat of the process will be requested and then enter your recovery email ID.
• Once done, PrivacyHider itself is now totally hidden from intruders because it is now a calculator and can only be opened by typing the password and hitting the “=” immediately.

How to Hide Apps on Oneplus

If you have a Oneplus device, you don’t need to download any launcher before you can hide the app. Oneplus devices come preinstalled with hidden space that lets you hide apps easily.

• To locate the Hidden Space, you will need to open the app drawer and swipe to the right.

• You will see a + icon, click on it and access apps on your phone.

• From there you can select the apps you want to hide, then click on checkmate in the top right corner

• If you like you can use a password or fingerprint lock to prevent people from accessing the hidden space.

• All you need to do is to click on the three vertical dots at the right-hand corner, then select Enable password, and follow the on-screen instructions.

How to Hide apps on your TECNO and Infinix Phones

If you own an Infinix Phone, you can easily hide any app of your choice. You don’t need a third-party app or a launcher.  Your Infinix and Tecno phones already come preinstalled with vault and app lock.

• On your phone- TECNO and Infinix phone, locate phone Master, check for vault if you are using a recent Infinix or TECNO phone. If you are using an old phone, click on Toolbox to locate the vault or Xhide depending on your device.
• You will be required to set a password, go ahead to do that.
• Once this is done, you can now select any app you want to hide and that is it.
• Any time you want to access your hidden app, you need to open Phone Master and enter your vault password.

How to hide apps on Samsung phones

It is quite easier to hide apps on your Samsung phone.

• Swipe up from the home screen to open the app drawer.
• Tap the three-dot menu button.
• Select the Settings option.
• Find and tap the Hide apps option.
• Select the apps you want to hide.
• Tap the Done option.

These are some of the ways you can easily hide apps on your Android smartphone or tab. Using this feature comes with a number of benefits, including ensuring sensitive information on your phone stays protected, keeping intruders from gaining access to private apps on your device, and so on.