How to Hide Apps on Android

A smartphone is your private device. However, sometimes, we are left with no choice but to share it with friends or family. You may not feel comfortable handing your phone over if you have some apps or information that you don’t want others to see.

However, if sharing becomes necessary you can feel like you are compromising your privacy. We will go through this tutorial and show how to hide apps on Android.

How To Hide Apps On Android

Method 1: Using the disable option

If you are using an Android phone, there are chances your phone comes with pre-installed apps. These apps can use your phone resources and lead to poor performance.

If that’s the case, you can hide these apps by disabling them and enable them later if needed.

1. Go to Settings app > Apps
2. Tap on “Applications Manager” and then “All.”
3. From there, tap on any app you want to hide, and tap on “Disable.”

Method 2: Creating a Guest Account

Guest accounts are convenient when it comes to hiding your apps or other personal information. To enable it you need to do the following:

1. Go to the device settings menu
2. From there, find System > Advanced > Multiple users
3. You will get access to the menu where you will see “Guest.”
4. To move to the guest account, tap on it.

Method 3: Using Nova Launcher to Hide Apps

You can use third-party launchers to your advantage, especially Nova launcher. It is a popular launcher that provides excellent functionality out of the box. One such functionality that you can utilize is the ability to hide apps from the app tray or the home screen.

Once you have installed Nova launcher, follow these steps:

1. Go to Nova Launcher Settings
2. Tap on App & Widget > Hide Apps
3. Now select the apps that you want to hide
4. You are done! The chosen apps are now hidden.

Other Android launchers also support the hide app feature. If you do not like Nova launcher for some reason, then you can check Apex Launcher.  Many stock launchers, including Samsung’s, now have the feature.

Method 4: Locking Apps

Hiding your apps might not be possible in every scenario. That’s where you must lock apps from being accessed by others. This serves the same purpose for privacy and security since no one using your phone can use a particular app. To lock apps, you can use a plethora of third-party solutions.

You can use AppLock, as a great free-to-use option that will lock apps as needed. After installing the app, you need to enable Advanced Protection and set a password. There is another app that you can use, “AppLock Fingerprint” that takes fingerprint as a security input rather than a password.

Pros & Cons of Using Android Devices

While Android is the most widespread mobile operating system in the world, with predictions of becoming the dominant OS in general, that doesn’t mean that it is superior to its counterparts in every way, especially when we consider the iOS.

Depending on your phone, your proficiency, and your needs, you may want to opt for a different operating system or learn how to make the most out of the Android version on your smartphone.

If you want to learn how to make your own apps, or to find out how most current Android apps work, you might want to take out Android Programming for Beginners that provides a nice, gentle learning curve for all that want to learn.