How to Hide Apps on Samsung Phones (and Show Apps)

Want to hide some of your apps on Samsung Galaxy phones? This is the guide for you.

Samsung is undoubtedly a big name when it comes to Android phones. If you are a Samsung user, you know that Samsung devices have many features. And hide apps is one of the useful features that everyone should know. Here’s how to hide apps on a Samsung phone.

There can be many reasons why someone wants to hide apps. The usual reason for this is to protect apps from children. You know how kids are, once they get hold of something, it’s never the same. Also, there may be other reasons as well. So whatever the reason, you can follow this guide.

Samsung Galaxy phones run on an Android-based user interface. One UI is a custom operating system exclusive to Galaxy phones. Since it is a custom operating system, its user interface is different from other phones. So, if you are using a Samsung phone for the first time, you may need to know its features like hiding apps.

How does this work?

The app you hide will disappear from the app drawer. But the app will still stay on the device. This means that if someone else is using your phone, they won’t be able to see the app, so there’s nothing to worry about.

There are different ways to hide apps on Samsung and other Android phones. No need to use any third-party apps as this is a built-in feature. However, if you wish, you can use any third-party application of your choice. Now let’s start the guide with the first method.

How to Hide Apps on Samsung

Home screen and lock screen customization includes the feature to hide apps. This is the easiest way to hide apps. Here’s how to use it.

1. Open Settings on your Samsung phone.
2. Go to the home screen. Scroll down and you’ll find an option to ‘Hide home apps and app screens.’
   
3. Tap the option and it will open the list of apps.
4. Select the apps you want to hide from the launcher.
   
5. After selecting the apps you want, tap Done.

Another quick way to access the hidden feature is to long press on the home screen. And then tap the Settings/Gear icon. Here you will find the Hide Apps options on the Home and Apps screens.

No one but you will know if the app is available on the phone or not. Well, if someone else digs into the phone other than the app drawer, they might find a trace of it, like on the All Apps page under Settings.

Hide Apps on Samsung Using Third-Party Apps

Since hiding apps from the home screen part of the launcher works, you can also use third-party app launchers. Yes, this trick will work on launchers like nova launcher and others.

Install the launcher you want on your phone. Make it your phone’s default launcher. Now you can hide any app from settings drawer or app launcher. The process of hiding apps may be different for different launchers.

How to view apps

The process of showing is exactly the same as hiding. If you used the built-in option to hide apps, you can follow these steps.

1. On the home screen, press and hold to display the launcher options.
2. From there, select the Settings icon.
3. Now, open “Hide apps on home and app screens”.
4. Delete the apps you want to show and tap Done.
   

Can you use Secure Folder to hide apps?

Yes and no, it’s quite complicated. If you add an app to Secure Folder, it will create a replica of that app hidden in the launcher. But the original app will still be available in the launcher. You can also install apps directly from the Play Store into the Secure Folder and they won’t be visible outside of the Secure Folder.

Secure Folder is a security and privacy feature on Galaxy phones. It can be used to create a copy of applications, keep files safe, etc. So if you want to use an app from scratch and want to keep it hidden, you can use Secure Folder.

So that’s all about how to hide apps on Samsung phones. If I have missed any method, let us know in the comment section.

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