How to Hide and Unhide Apps in Samsung Phones

Previously, you had to root your Samsung phone to hide apps. Now it is possible without doing it. You don’t even need to install a third party to hide apps on your Samsung phone when the feature is built in. Wondering how to hide apps on your Samsung Galaxy handsets like S, Note, M and A series? Find the answer in this article.

Whether you want to hide dating apps like Tinder, games like PUBG, or social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, etc., the following built-in method will come in handy. We have also mentioned a few more methods to hide apps. Check them at the end of the message.

Let’s start.

How to hide apps from home screen and app drawer in Samsung

Samsung launcher comes with a built-in function to hide apps from your home screen and app drawer.

Here are the steps to hide apps using Samsung Launcher:

Step 1: Touch and hold an empty space on the Home screen. Select Home screen settings at the bottom. Otherwise, open the app drawer and tap the three-dot icon at the top. Select Home screen settings.

2nd step: Scroll through the Home screen settings and tap Hide apps.

Step 3: Select the apps you want to hide by tapping on them. For example, I selected WhatsApp. The selected apps will appear at the top. Tap Done to confirm.

What happens when you hide apps

When you use the above method to hide apps on your Samsung phone, the apps disappear from both the home screen and the app drawer. However, they are not uninstalled. So the apps will always appear in the search. You will also receive notifications from hidden apps. To turn off notifications for apps, go to Settings> Apps. Tap the name of the app and go to Notifications. Then turn off notifications.

Hidden apps will also show up on the Recent Apps screen if you are using them. To remove the app from the Recent apps screen, drag it. That brings us to our next question – how to use hidden apps (more info below).

How to use hidden apps on Samsung

Once you have hidden the apps from prying eyes, you must be wondering how to use the hidden apps without showing them. There are several ways to use hidden apps.

Method 1: from the research

Open the app drawer on your Samsung phone and tap the search bar in Finder. Type the name of the app that you had hidden. Tap the app icon to open the app.

Method 2: from settings

Go to Settings> Apps. Find the app you have hidden. Tap on it. You will see the Open icon. Tap on it to open the app.

Method 3: from the Play Store

Open Google Play Store on your Samsung phone and find the hidden app. Tap the Open button below the app.

How to view apps on Samsung

Follow these steps to show apps on Samsung launcher:

Step 1: Open Samsung Launcher settings. To do this, use the application drawer or directly from the home screen. In the first method, open the app drawer and tap the three dots at the top. Choose Home screen settings from the menu. Otherwise, long press on an empty space and tap on Home screen settings.

2nd step: Tap Hide apps in Home screen settings. You will see the list of hidden apps at the top. Tap the app to remove it from the list of hidden apps. Finally, tap Done to save your changes.

More Ways to Hide Apps on Samsung Phones

Method 1: How to hide apps from home screen only

This method will allow you to remove apps from the Home screen only so that they are not directly visible. To do this, touch and hold the app icon on the home screen that you want to hide. Select Remove from home. This will hide the app icon from the home screen only. It will still be visible in the app drawer and in search.

Method 2: Add apps to a folder

Create a folder in the app drawer after removing the app from the home screen. Give the folder a boring or vague name like settings, preinstalled apps, etc. Then add the apps you want to hide in this folder.

You can also place multiple regular apps in the folder. Once the folder reaches the maximum number of apps that can be placed on the first page, start adding apps that you want to hide. The idea behind this is that the person should first open the folder and then swipe the list of apps to show the hidden apps. Rarely would anyone do that.

Point: You can also use Game Launcher on your Samsung handsets to hide the app drawer and home screen.