Android lets you hide apps from prying eyes: here are five tricks on how to do it
Most Android users have many apps installed on their smartphones, sometimes even dozens and dozens. These apps are not always really useful, but sometimes it would be useful to hide them. A person who has a partner, for example, might want to make a dating app invisible. Someone who has children who use their cell phone might want to hide online banking apps or apps they use for work.
In short, there could be many reasons for wanting to hide an app without uninstalling it, and there are ways to do so. Some user interfaces made by smartphone manufacturers, such as Samsung, OnePlus and Redmi, have an option to hide apps very easily. A second option to make an app disappear on Android is to use a custom launcher, while a third is to change the app's name or hide it in a folder. Finally, you can use multiple user profiles each with its own apps. In all these ways we can, more or less, hide some apps from the home screen of our smartphone and this, in case of device theft, can also prove to be a wise security measure.
How to hide apps with official UI
The One UI launcher built into Samsung smartphones allows us to hide apps in a very simple way: just make a long tap on a free part of the home screen and access the settings. Here we'll find "Hide apps" and, right after that, the list of apps that we can select to make them disappear. On Redmi smartphones, on the other hand, MIUI lets you hide apps from Settings > Security > Lock apps. Here too we'll find a list with toggles next to each app, just select the ones we want to hide. On OnePlus smartphones, however, we'll have to open the drawer and swipe from left to right until we get to "Hidden Space". Here we'll have to tap on "+" to find the usual list of selectable apps.
How to hide apps with third-party launchers
If our smartphone's launcher doesn't allow us to hide apps, we can install one that does. POCO and Evie are two examples, but among many others available.
How to hide apps by changing name and icon
More simply, you can hide an app by changing its name and icon to make it unrecognizable. Basically, we disguise it so that no one will ever think of opening it. Just tap on the app you want to hide in the drawer and then choose "Edit": a window will open where you can change the app's name and, in some cases, even its icon.
How to hide an app in a folder
Another easy way to make an app disappear that you want to keep out of sight is to bury it in a folder with an unattractive name. The famous dating app mentioned above, then, can go into the "Projects" folder, for example, which we'll put in the "Company" folder, which we'll put in the "Work" folder.
How to hide an app by adding a user profile
Finally, a very effective way to hide apps is to use two or more user profiles on the same smartphone. This way we can use one profile for apps that don't cause problems and a specific one where we can park all the apps that are better to hide from the eyes of others. To create a new user on an Android smartphone just go to Settings > System > Multiple users.