How to Hide Apps on iPhone in iOS 18 Without Deleting

Some conversations aren’t meant for anyone else to see. If you’ve ever handed your phone to a friend and felt a twinge of anxiety about what might pop up, iOS 18 finally gives you a way to address that. Apple’s latest update lets you hide apps completely — not just lock them — so they disappear from your Home Screen, App Library, and even Spotlight search. The feature launched in September 2024 and works on every iPhone from the 8 onward.

Official Method: Require Face ID or Passcode ·
iOS Requirement: iOS 18 and later ·
Access Hidden Apps: App Library ·
Supported Devices: iPhone 8 and newer ·
No Deletion Needed: Apps remain installed

iOS 18 delivers four core capabilities for anyone managing their app privacy.

Can I hide apps on my iPhone?

Yes. Starting with iOS 18, Apple built a dedicated privacy feature directly into iPhone. You can hide apps from your Home Screen, App Library, and even remove them from Spotlight search and Siri results.

The feature works on iPhone 8 and newer, and authenticates via Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode — whatever you’re already using to unlock your phone.

Official Apple support methods

Apple’s own guide walks through the process from start to finish:

1. Go to your Home Screen and touch and hold the app icon you want to hide.
2. From the menu, tap Require Face ID.
3. Select Hide and Require Face ID, then authenticate with Face ID or your passcode.

The app disappears from your Home Screen entirely. It won’t show up in App Library’s main view — only in a dedicated Hidden folder at the very bottom of App Library, and that folder itself requires authentication to open.

One important caveat: pre-installed Apple apps like Messages, Phone, and Photos cannot be hidden — only locked. Apple Support confirms the Hide option only appears for third-party downloaded apps. This distinction matters if your privacy strategy depends on concealing Apple’s own apps.

Can apps be hidden on iPhone without deleting it?

Absolutely. The hide feature preserves everything — your app data, settings, and any pending updates. JimmyTech confirms that hidden apps continue updating normally and all data stays intact. When you unhide the app, it’s exactly as you left it.

Step-by-step using Home Screen

The process takes about 10 seconds once you’re comfortable with it:

1. Touch and hold the app icon on your Home Screen.
2. Tap Require Face ID from the context menu.
3. Choose Hide and Require Face ID.
4. Authenticate with Face ID or passcode.

The app vanishes. Not deleted — just invisible to anyone who doesn’t know where to look and can’t authenticate to see it.

Hide and Require Face ID option

Apple actually gives you two distinct choices when you long-press an app:

• Require Face ID — locks the app but leaves it visible on your Home Screen. Notifications show as “Notification” without content preview, but the app icon stays where it is.
• Hide and Require Face ID — removes the app from your Home Screen and App Library entirely, stores it in the Hidden folder, and suppresses all notifications and search visibility.

Help Net Security notes that the Hide option provides substantially stronger privacy — locking alone still broadcasts that the app exists, while hiding removes all traces from casual browsing.

How can I find the apps I hide on my iPhone?

All hidden apps live in a single location: the Hidden folder at the bottom of App Library. Accessing it requires authentication every time — there’s no way around that, which is the point.

Using App Library

Swipe past your last Home Screen page to reach App Library. Scroll to the very bottom. You’ll see a folder labeled “Hidden” with a padlock icon. Tap it, authenticate, and all your hidden apps appear in a list. Apple Support confirms that even viewing which apps are hidden requires Face ID — you can’t see the list without authenticating.

Long-press any app in the Hidden folder to bring up the option to unhide it, or just tap to open it directly (still requiring authentication).

Swipe right on Home Screen

Swiping right from your first Home Screen page takes you to App Library. The Hidden folder sits at the bottom-right corner, separated visually from the rest of the categorized app grid.

How to unhide apps on iPhone

Reversing the process takes about 20 seconds. The steps are symmetrical to the hide action:

1. Open App Library and locate the Hidden folder at the bottom.
2. Tap the Hidden folder and authenticate with Face ID.
3. Long-press the app you want to unhide.
4. Select Don’t Require Face ID.

The app immediately becomes visible again in App Library under “Recently Added.” From there, you can drag it back to your Home Screen or leave it in App Library if you prefer.

How to hide apps on iPhone 15 (and other models)

The process works identically across iPhone models running iOS 18. Whether you’re on an iPhone 8, 11, 13, 15, or 16, the menu options and hidden folder behave the same way. MacRumors confirms no regional or model-specific variations exist — Apple implemented this feature uniformly.

Works on iPhone 8 and later

If you have an iPhone 8 or newer running iOS 18, you have access to the hide feature. The requirement is iOS 18 itself — not a specific iPhone generation beyond that minimum.

iOS 18 tips

A few practical notes that don’t fit neatly into the step-by-step:

• If you have no Face ID or Touch ID set up, your device passcode works as authentication for hiding and accessing apps.
• Every time you toggle hide or unhide, authentication is required — no way to bypass this, which protects your privacy settings from casual tampering.
• Hidden apps may still appear in your App Store purchase history or within Settings > General > iPhone Storage — the hide feature removes them from the interface, not from every system location.

Before iOS 18: older workarounds

Third-party apps offered hiding capabilities on earlier iOS versions, though without official support or biometric protection. JD Supra’s privacy analysis notes that iOS 18 represents a meaningful shift — the old approaches lacked proper authentication and weren’t built into the operating system.

Apple has finally given us the native secure way to truly hide an app that we’ve been asking for.

— Apple Support Guide

This isn’t some clunky workaround. It’s a dedicated privacy feature.

— Help Net Security

Apple’s native solution replaces the folder-based workarounds that iPhone users cobbled together over years — methods that never actually concealed apps from someone browsing your Home Screen. For anyone who felt that gap acutely, the distinction between a privacy feature and a privacy kludge matters. The implication: if you’re running iOS 18 and haven’t explored this yet, you’re leaving a built-in capability unused. For those on older iOS versions, folder organization and Screen Time restrictions still function as a substitute — just without the biometric security layer that makes a real difference when it counts.

Frequently asked questions