How to find hidden apps on Android, including spy apps
Find apps hidden on any Android phone through Settings, Google Play and each brand’s hidden-app list, check for spy apps, and stay safe before you remove one.
· 8 min read
An app can be hidden on Android in several ways: its icon taken off the home screen, tucked behind a brand's hide feature, locked in a private space, or disguised as something else. Spy apps add a few tricks of their own. Almost all of them still show up somewhere. Here's how to find hidden apps on your phone, how to open or unhide them, how to check for spy apps, and what to do first if you find one.
Start with the full list in Settings
Open Settings → Apps and tap See all apps (on some phones it's App management or Apps → Manage apps). This lists every installed app, whether or not its icon is hidden, usually under its real name. If the menu offers Show system apps, turn it on too, because some apps try to blend in among them.
Check Google Play's list
Open Google Play, tap your profile picture, then Manage apps & device, and open the Manage tab. It lists the apps installed from Google Play, under their store names, whatever icon or name they show on your home screen.
Each brand's hidden-app list
Phone makers hide apps in their own way, and each keeps a list:
| Phone | Where hidden apps are | How to open them |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung | Home screen settings → Hide apps on Home and Apps screens | Search the Apps screen |
| Xiaomi, Redmi | Security app → Hide apps | Spread two fingers on the home screen |
| vivo, iQOO | Privacy and app encryption → Hide App | Two-finger swipe up, if View Hidden Apps is on |
| OPPO, realme, OnePlus | Settings → Security & privacy → Hide apps | Dial the access code in the Phone app |
| Motorola | Moto Secure → Secure folder | Open Secure folder with its PIN |
Each one also lets you unhide an app, and our guide to hiding apps on Android puts them side by side. Our guides cover them one by one: Samsung, Redmi and Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO and realme, OnePlus and Motorola.
Private space on Android 15 and later
Private space is built to stay hidden. Google says that while it's locked, its apps are stopped and hidden from the app list, search, recent apps and even Settings. Its owner can also hide the private space itself. To open one, search your app list for "private space", or go to Settings → Security & privacy → Private space, and unlock it with its lock.
Google also says the search result can appear even on a phone with no private space, and so does the option to reset one in Settings, so neither tells you whether a private space exists. Google adds that someone with a computer, or apps that look for it, may still be able to detect it. Our guide to Private space on a Pixel covers how it works.
Look for spy apps
Spy apps, often called stalkerware, try hard not to look like anything. Watch for an app you don't recognise, especially one with a vague, system-sounding name, and check which apps hold the powerful kinds of access a spy app needs:
- Accessibility: open Settings → Accessibility and look at the downloaded or installed apps listed there.
- Special app access: under Settings → Apps → Special app access, check Device admin apps, Notification access and Usage access, as well as Display over other apps and Install unknown apps.
- Google Play Protect: in Google Play, tap your profile picture, then Play Protect, and run a scan.
Anything with that kind of access that you didn't set up yourself is worth a closer look. For the other signs that someone has used your phone, see our checklist.
Before you remove a spy app
If you think someone close to you put a spy app on your phone, think about safety before you delete it. The Coalition Against Stalkerware, a group of security companies and domestic violence organisations, warns that removing it can alert the person who installed it straight away, and can destroy evidence. It advises talking to a local victim support service or the police first. Use a phone or computer that person can't get at to look for help.
How to remove a hidden app
- Open Settings → Apps, tap the app and tap Uninstall.
- If Uninstall is greyed out, the app may be a device admin app. Turn off its access in Device admin apps first, then uninstall it.
- If it still won't go, restart in safe mode, which runs your phone with downloaded apps switched off, and try again. How to get into safe mode varies by phone, so check your phone maker's help.
What this means for vault apps
Everything above finds vault apps too, including Hidey. Even with its calculator disguise on, Hidey is listed by its real name in Settings and Google Play, as our calculator vault explainer shows. That's why Hidey doesn't rely on hiding: it encrypts each photo and video you put in it, so finding the app doesn't mean seeing what's inside, and our security page explains how. Only its PIN, password or your fingerprint opens the vault, and with Pro, an intruder selfie photographs anyone who types a wrong PIN into Hidey, as our guide to seeing who tried to unlock your phone explains.