How to Hide Apps on iPhone and Find Them Again

To hide an app on iPhone, touch and hold its icon, tap Require Face ID, then tap Hide and Require Face ID and confirm with Hide App. The app leaves your Home Screen, App Library and search, and moves to a locked Hidden folder at the bottom of App Library. On iPhones with Touch ID or a passcode only, the menu says Touch ID or Passcode instead.

Hide an app

1. Touch and hold the app on the Home Screen until the quick actions menu opens.
2. Tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode).
3. Tap Hide and Require Face ID, authenticate, then tap Hide App.

These steps come from Apple’s iOS 27 guide to locking and hiding apps ↗. The same guide lists the limits: apps that came with your iPhone cannot be hidden, only apps you downloaded from the App Store. Hiding works only on that iPhone and does not sync through iCloud. Children under 13 in a Family Sharing group cannot hide apps, and a parent in the group can still see that a teen downloaded an app, even if it is hidden.

Find and unhide a hidden app

• Open it: swipe left past your last Home Screen page to reach App Library, tap the Hidden folder at the bottom, authenticate, then tap the app.
• See the list: go to Settings → Apps → Hidden Apps.
• Unhide it: in the Hidden folder, touch and hold the app, tap Don’t Require Face ID and authenticate. The app returns near the top of App Library, and you can drag it back to the Home Screen.

If you only want the icon off your Home Screen and do not need a lock, touch and hold it, tap Remove App, then choose the option to remove it from the Home Screen. The app stays in App Library and keeps its data, as Apple’s guide to removing apps ↗ explains.

Hide whole Home Screen pages

To clear several apps at once, hide the page they are on. Touch and hold the wallpaper until the icons jiggle, tap the dots at the bottom of the screen, uncheck the pages you want to hide and tap Done. Check them again to bring the pages back. Apple’s App Library guide ↗ notes that while pages are hidden, new downloads may go to App Library instead of the Home Screen. You can choose where new apps go in Settings → Home Screen & App Library.

Keep the Home Screen tidy afterward

With fewer icons on the page, a single widget can fill the space. Our guides on adding widgets to the Home Screen and changing app icons help you rebuild the page around the apps you kept. For a full one-page setup, see our minimalist Home Screen guide.