How to hide apps on Android: every brand, step by step
How to hide apps on Samsung, Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, realme, OnePlus, Motorola and Pixel phones, how to get back to them, and what hiding an app doesn’t protect.
· 7 min read
Every big Android brand can hide apps without installing anything, but each does it its own way: a switch in home screen settings, a menu in the Security app, a secret dialler code or a locked space. Here's how to hide apps on Android, brand by brand, how to get back to them, and what hiding does and doesn't protect.
Hiding, disabling and uninstalling
- Hiding takes an app's icon off your home screen and app list. The app stays installed and keeps working.
- Disabling stops a preinstalled app you can't uninstall, under Settings → Apps. It disappears too, but it doesn't run until you turn it back on, so it's no use for an app you still want.
- Uninstalling removes the app and its data.
So if you want an app out of sight but still working, hide it rather than disable it.
How to hide apps, brand by brand
| Phone | How to hide apps | How to get back to 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, with View Hidden Apps on |
| OPPO, realme, OnePlus | Settings → Security & privacy → Hide apps | Dial your access code in the Phone app |
| Motorola | Move the app into Moto Secure's Secure folder | Open Secure folder with its PIN |
| Pixel and others with Android 15+ | Install the app in Private space | Unlock Private space at the bottom of the app list |
Samsung
Touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen, tap Settings, then Hide apps on Home and Apps screens, and pick the apps. Samsung says a search of the Apps screen still finds them, so for an app that must stay private, add it to Secure Folder and hide Secure Folder. Our guide to hiding apps on Samsung covers both.
Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO
Open the Security app and tap Hide apps (on some models, Hidden apps), then turn on the switch for each app. Spread two fingers on the home screen to open them, and add an App lock password so the gesture asks for it, as our guide to hiding apps on Redmi and Xiaomi explains.
vivo and iQOO
Hide App is under Privacy and app encryption, behind your privacy password. Turn on View Hidden Apps to bring them up with a two-finger swipe, as our guide to hiding apps on vivo shows.
OPPO, realme and OnePlus
Hide apps is under Settings → Security & privacy (or Privacy), with your privacy password and an access code such as #2580#, which you dial in the Phone app to open hidden apps. Our guides to hiding apps on OPPO and realme and on OnePlus have the details.
Motorola
Motorola hides apps by putting them in Secure folder, part of Moto Secure, which can then wear a disguised icon or vanish from your app list with Stealth mode, as our Moto Secure guide explains.
Pixel and other phones: Private space
On Android 15 and later, Private space hides apps in a locked area of their own, under Settings → Security & privacy → Private space. While it's locked, Google says its apps are stopped and hidden from your app list, recent apps and even Settings, and you can hide the space itself too. Our guide to hiding apps on a Pixel walks through it. Many phones' launchers can also hide icons on their own: look in your home screen settings.
Hiding isn't locking
A hidden app is out of sight, nothing more:
- Searches, gestures and codes bring hidden apps back, and anyone who knows them can use them.
- Settings and Google Play still list every installed app, as our guide to finding hidden apps shows.
- Notifications can still give a hidden app away, unless your phone hides them too.
For apps that matter, lock them as well, with your phone's built-in app lock, which our guide to locking apps on Android covers brand by brand. And if you'd rather an app stayed in view but looked like something else, here's how to disguise an app.
Hiding a vault app
Hiding a vault app's icon has the same weakness as hiding any app. Hidey doesn't depend on it: rather than vanishing, it can sit on your home screen as a working calculator, and the calculator disguise is free. Anyone who opens it can do sums; only your PIN followed by = opens the vault.
Settings and Google Play still list Hidey by its real name, which is why what's inside is encrypted, not just out of sight. Each photo, video and file you hide is encrypted on your phone, and the original is deleted once the encrypted copy is checked. Hidey's backup to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive is free and encrypted before upload. If you forget your PIN, you can reset it through Google after a 24-hour wait, so whoever controls your Google account could too, unless you turn on zero-knowledge mode (Pro).