How to find hidden apps on an iPhone

There are various reasons you might want to hide apps on your iPhone. It might be to reduce clutter without outright removing apps you don’t use often. You might also want to hide apps that contain personal and sensitive information, such as banking, social media, and fitness apps. This way, if your iPhone is ever lost, stolen, or someone else gets their hands on it, it’s less likely that they’ll be able to locate the app and access your private information. But once an app is hidden, how do you find it again?

How to find hidden apps on your iPhone

If the app was hidden within App Store, you can go back there to unhide it.

1. Go to the App Store on your iPhone.
2. Select your profile icon at the top, right to open Account Settings. If youre not already signed in, sign in using your Apple ID.
3. Tap your name again and unlock the settings using Face ID.
   

   iPhone home screen with the App Store icon selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   App Store on iPhone home page with the profile icon selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   Apple Account information page with the account name selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

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4. Scroll down and select Hidden Purchases.
5. Look through the list, select the app you want to unhide, and tap Unhide to the right of it. Continue for as many apps as you want to unhide.
6. The app may open within the App Store, where you can select Open to open it up immediately.
   

   iPhone app account settings with Hidden Purchases selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   iPhone Hidden Purchases list with Unhide selected beside one app.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   iPhone app store with the Wanderlog app showing and Open selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

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How to find apps removed from Home Screen or in folders

If you tap an app and select Remove App, it technically isn’t deleted from your iPhone. The app is removed from the home screen and off-loaded from the device, a good way to free up space. But you can also get this “hidden” app back any time.

1. Swipe down from the top of the phone while on the Home Screen.
2. Under Search, type the name of the app youre looking for.
3. The app will show up with a cloud image below it if it has been deleted from the iPhone. Tap the icon. This will begin the re-download. Once done, the app will appear back on the Home Screen (or in the folder where it resided).
4. If the app is actually already on the phone but just hidden in the back page of an app folder (a great way to hide it from view), you'll see to the right of the icon search result the name of the folder its in. From there, you can go to the folder, scroll through the pages to find the app, then long-press on the app icon to pull it out of the folder and move it to exist on its own on the home screen if desired.
   
   

   

   iPhone Siri Suggestions with the Search tab selected.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   iPhone Siri Suggestions with the Search tab showing Tetris and the icon selected as the top hit.© Provided by XDA Developers

   

   iPhone Siri Suggestions with the Search tab showing Reddit and the icon showing as a top hit with the news folder showing on the right.© Provided by XDA Developers

Hide and unhide to your hearts content

If you want to quickly call up an app that you can’t find on one of the latest iPhones, you can also leverage Siri. Simply say “Hey Siri, open X app” and the app will open. This won’t tell you where the app is, but if all you need to do is open it, you might not care. If hiding the apps will keep your Home Screen clean and maintain your privacy, while still allowing you to access them as needed, this might be a good compromise versus removing them altogether from your phone.

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Keep in mind that hidden apps are still running and still taking up storage on your phone. But hiding them reduces clutter and keeps your private and confidential information secure. Most people won’t think to look into your hidden apps folder in App Store, and it’s also protected by Face ID or Touch ID, which adds another layer of security. These tricks are also a good way to find out if your child is trying to hide an app from you that they weren't permitted to download, like Snapchat, Discord, or TikTok.

Play around with the different ways to hide and then find hidden apps on an iPhone, and you might determine that it's worthwhile to use the feature more than you thought you would. It’s easy to hide iPhone apps, and as long as you know how to find them again, you don’t have to worry that they’ll be lost forever.