How to Hide Apps on an Android Phone

By Kevin ArrowsUpdated on January 6, 2024

Kevin is a certified Network Engineer

Android offers us a lot of choices for the range of application. We get many apps pre-installed on our phone and we can also download from Google Play Store. But sometimes we want to have some apps which we want to use personally but hide from prying eyes. Maybe you want to delete some of those pre-installed apps which you haven’t used for ages. If that’s the case then there are few techniques with which you can hide or unhide applications on your android phone.

If you want to hide a pre-installed app on your phone then you don’t need any third party apps, but if you want to hide an app downloaded from Google Play Store then you will have to download third party apps like Nova Launcher and Apex Launcher. But if your android device is rooted you can easily hide/unhide apps without the use of custom launcher application. Let’s discuss all of them in detail.

Method 1: Hiding downloaded apps in rooted android phone

To hide/unhide the app using this method, you need to make sure your phone is rooted first.

How to Hide an App

Download Hide App-Hide Application Icon from Google Play Store (Link).

After installing the app, open it. Now you need to grant root permission for this app. Click Check Now and click Now AppHider has been granted root permission which enables it to hide/unhide apps from your phone.

Let’s say we want to hide Bus Simulator game from my phone. Click on + icon, select the app you want to hide from the list and click Save. After saving you can see the app in hidden list.

You can check that your app no longer exists in applications list.

How to Unhide an App

To unhide the app you have just hidden you need to open HideMyApps .

Click on the app you want to unhide and click Unhide

Now you can see your app back in the applications list.

Method 2: Hiding downloaded apps in un-rooted android phone

By using this method you can hide/unhide any downloaded app on normal phones which are not rooted.

How to Hide an App

Download Apex Launcher from Google Play Store (Link).

After installing it, open Apex Settings from home widgets. Tap Drawer Settings then tap Hidden Apps .

Here you can see the list of application on your phone. Select the app you want to hide and Click

Now the app you have selected no longer exists in application list.

How to Unhide an App

To unhide the app you have just hidden you need to open Apex Settings. Tap Drawer Settings then tap Hidden Apps .

Select the app you want to unhide and click

Now you can see your app back in the applications list.

Method 3: Hiding pre-installed apps

You don’t need any third party app to hide pre-installed apps from your phone. For example Gmail is a pre-installed app which cannot be uninstalled. Following are the methods to hide/unhide Gmail app from your Phone.