How to hide apps on Android

Hiding an app on Android can mean three things. The icon leaves your Home screen. The app needs a code to open. Or nobody can tell the app is there at all. Android’s tools do different parts of this. What you get depends on your Android version and on who made your phone. This guide covers private space, Samsung’s own tools and vault apps that change their icon. We checked each step against the Google and Samsung help pages listed below.

Which method does what?

Method	Phones	Hides the icon	Needs a code to open	Backed up
Private space	Android 15 and later	Yes, when locked	Yes, your screen lock or a separate lock	No
Samsung hide apps setting	Galaxy phones	Yes	No	Not affected
Samsung Secure Folder	Supported Galaxy phones	Yes, for the copy inside	Yes, its own code	No new backups
A vault app’s disguise icon	Depends on the app	Changes it, does not remove it	Yes, the app’s code	Depends on the app

Hide apps with private space (Android 15 and later)

Private space is a separate area on your phone for apps you want out of sight. Google built it into Android 15. It works on Pixel phones and on other phones, unless the phone maker or a work admin turned it off.

1. Open Settings, tap Security & privacy, and under Privacy, tap Private space.
2. Authenticate with your device screen lock. If you have none, the phone asks you to set one.
3. Tap Set up, then Got it. You can sign in to a separate Google Account here.
4. Tap Use device screen lock, or tap Choose new lock to set a separate lock. Then tap Done.
5. Open private space and tap + Install, or touch and hold an app in All Apps and tap Install app in Private space.
6. In All Apps, scroll down to Private space and tap Lock.

An app you install in private space is a new copy. Google says private space does not let you move an app’s data from the main space into it.

Hide the private space itself

By default, private space still shows as a container at the bottom of All Apps. To hide it, open private space and tap Settings next to it. Under Hide, turn on Hide private space when it’s locked. It hides the next time you lock it. To open it again, search for private space and tap Private space: Tap to set up or open. Google shows that same result on phones with no private space, so the search result reveals nothing.

What a locked private space hides

Google says that while you keep private space locked, its apps:

• Stop completely. They cannot run in the background or send notifications.
• Do not show in search.
• Leave the launcher, Recents, the photo picker, the file picker and Settings, including permission settings and the Privacy dashboard.

What it does not hide

Google lists the cases where others can still find private space:

• People who install apps on your phone.
• People who connect your phone to a computer, including through adb.
• Apps that can detect private space and the apps in it.
• Device logs.

Google also recommends a separate Google Account inside private space. With the same account as your main space, synced photos, download history and browsing history can show outside it.

Two more limits matter. Private space is not part of your device backup, and apps in it bypass any VPN on the phone.

Hide apps on a Samsung Galaxy

Hide the icon

1. Touch and hold an empty spot on a Home screen, then tap Settings.
2. Tap Hide apps on Home and Apps screens.
3. Select the apps you want to hide. They move to the top of the screen, under Hidden apps.
4. Tap Done.

Samsung says this removes the icon but does not remove the app from your phone. It adds no lock. Anyone who opens the same setting can tap the red minus icon and bring the app back. Use it to tidy the screen, not for privacy.

Put a locked copy in Secure Folder

Secure Folder holds a separate copy of an app behind its own code. Open Secure Folder, tap Add apps (the plus sign), choose the app, and tap Add. You can then hide Secure Folder too: swipe down with two fingers to open Quick Settings and tap Secure Folder. Or rename it and change its icon under More options, Customize. Our Secure Folder guide covers the code, recovery and backup limits.

Vault apps that change their icon

Some vault apps on Google Play change their own icon so the app looks like something else:

• LockMyPix says on its listing that Premium can make the app look like a calculator, a radio or another app.
• NQ Vault has a Stealth Mode. Its listing says the icon leaves the Home screen. You get back in through a widget or a separate calculator app.

These change what someone sees on the Home screen. They do not remove the app from your Google Play library or from Settings.

What York Vault does

York Vault is on Google Play and the App Store. On Android it offers 12 or more neutral disguise icons, free. Each one has its own name on the Home screen, so the name matches the icon. A calculator front works as a real calculator, and your code followed by “=” opens your library. Each icon has a matching lock screen with no vault word on it. York Vault also blocks screenshots on every screen.

A neutral icon is a disguise, not a hiding place. York Vault still shows by its real name in Google Play and in your phone’s app settings. To keep it out of sight completely on Android 15 and later, install it inside private space. Viewing, export and restore stay free on every plan. See pricing and download York Vault.

On iPhone instead?

iOS 18 and later can hide an app you downloaded in a locked Hidden folder in App Library. The steps are in how to hide apps on iPhone. For photos, see how to hide photos on Android and how to lock photos on Android.