How to hide apps on Android

On Android, hiding an app almost always means taking its icon out of the app drawer so it does not show at a glance. How you do that depends on your phone: Samsung’s One UI has a built-in switch for it, while a Pixel’s launcher has no such button and needs a different route entirely. It helps to be clear up front that a hidden app is not an uninstalled one and not a locked one. It still runs, it still gets notifications, and it comes back the moment someone knows where to look.

Below are the honest options, what each one actually does, and which phones they fit, so you can pick the one that matches what you are really after.

The options, and which phones they fit#

There is no single “hide” feature across Android. Some methods only move an icon; a couple put a real lock in front of an app; and one just quiets what shows up on the lock screen. Match the method to the goal.

Method	What it actually does	Which phones
Samsung “Hide apps”	Removes icons from the Home and Apps screens; adds no lock	Samsung Galaxy (One UI)
Private Space	A lockable, sandboxed area in the app drawer that hides its apps when locked	Android 15 and up
Secure Folder	A separate, locked copy of an app in an encrypted space	Samsung Galaxy
Third-party launcher	Adds a hide-apps option the stock launcher lacks	Any phone (replaces your launcher)
Disable app	Turns off a preinstalled app and drops it from the app list	Most phones (system apps)
Hide notification content	Keeps an app’s messages off the lock screen	Any Android phone

Hide apps from a Samsung Galaxy’s drawer#

If you have a Galaxy phone, this is the fastest route and it is built in. Following Samsung’s guide to hiding apps, press and hold an empty spot on the Home screen, tap Settings, then Hide apps, and select each app you want out of sight. To bring one back, return to the same screen and tap the red minus beside it, then Done.

Understand what this does and does not do. It removes the icon from both the Home and Apps screens, nothing more. The app is still installed and still running, it can still push notifications, and on many One UI versions it will still surface if you search for its name. This is a tidiness feature, not a privacy wall. Anyone who can pick up your unlocked phone can find the app again in a minute.

On a Pixel, there is no hide button#

Google’s Pixel Launcher has no native option to remove an app from the drawer. That surprises people coming from Samsung, but it is by design, and no hidden menu changes it. You have two honest paths.

The first is a third-party launcher. Apps like Nova Launcher or Microsoft Launcher replace the home experience and include a hide-apps setting the stock launcher lacks. The tradeoff is real: you are swapping the default launcher for a third-party one, which affects gestures, widgets, and how the whole home screen behaves, so only do it if you want that change anyway.

The second path is Google’s own Private Space, covered next, which is the better answer when the point is privacy rather than a cleaner grid.

Lock private apps away with Secure Folder or Private Space#

When you want an app genuinely out of reach and not just off the grid, you need a locked container. Two exist, and both put an app behind your own authentication.

On a Galaxy phone, that is Secure Folder. It creates a separate, encrypted space with its own lock, and apps you place inside run as independent copies with their own accounts and data. You add one by opening Secure Folder, tapping Add apps, choosing the app, and tapping Add. Lock it manually through the menu with Lock and exit, or set it to lock automatically. As Samsung puts it, once a private app lives there, no one will know it is on your device except you.

On any phone running Android 15 or newer, the equivalent is Private Space. Per Google’s private space help, you set it up under Settings, then Security & privacy, then Private space, and give it a lock, which can be different from your main screen lock. It appears as a locked section at the bottom of the app drawer. While it is locked, its apps are stopped and hidden from the launcher, recent apps, sharing menus, and Settings, they cannot show notifications, and they will not turn up in search. It works only for the main user of the phone, not a guest or second profile.

Disable bloatware, and hide what notifications reveal#

Some apps you want gone are ones the phone shipped with and will not let you uninstall. You usually can disable them. Google’s own page on disabling apps that came with your device explains that you cannot delete many system apps but can turn them off so they no longer appear in your app list. On most phones you open Settings, go to Apps, pick the app, and tap Disable; the exact path varies by manufacturer. A disabled app stops running and updating and leaves the drawer until you switch it back on. Clearing out preinstalled apps you never open is also one of the steadier ways to speed up a slow Android phone.

Often the real worry is not the icon but what a notification shows on the lock screen. You can keep an app’s content off the lock screen without hiding the app at all. In Google’s notification controls, the lock screen settings let you turn off sensitive notifications, which shows only that an alert arrived and hides the message text until you unlock. To silence an app completely, turn off its notifications under Settings, then Notifications. If the noise is coming from unwanted senders rather than apps, it is worth stopping spam texts and robocalls at the source instead.

Pick the method that matches the goal, and be honest with yourself about which goal it is. If you want a cleaner drawer, Samsung’s Hide apps or a third-party launcher is enough. If you want something actually private, put it in Secure Folder or Private Space and give it a lock, because that is the only version of “hidden” that survives someone holding your unlocked phone. And if the app is one you simply do not use, disabling it or, where you can, uninstalling to free up storage does more than hiding it ever will.