Image: Josh Slate/ZDNET.
Not so long ago, you didn’t have a choice: if you wanted to keep an app on your iPhone, it had to appear on your home screen. If you wanted it not to be there, you had to uninstall it. And if it was an Apple application, the choice was even more restricted: you didn’t have the option to uninstall it, even if you don’t use it.
Fortunately, Apple has finally given iPhone owners a little more freedom when it comes to their home screen. Now, not only can you hide apps that you rarely use, but you can also remove any pre-installed Apple apps that aren’t useful to you – although you still can’t uninstall them completely.
Making an app disappear from an iPhone’s home screen is very simple, but some people still don’t even know that it’s possible. To do this, you need an iPhone running iOS 14 (or later). The manipulation takes one to five minutes, depending on the number of applications you want to hide.
Here are two methods to quickly and easily hide apps on your iPhone without uninstalling them.
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How to remove apps from the home screen?
Method One: Hide One App at a Time
1. Locate the app
Locate the app you want to hide. Click and hold on it until the context menu appears. Select the option Delete the appwhich is displayed in red.
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2. Hide the app
To hide the application, then click Remove from Home Screen. The procedure is the same as uninstalling an app up to this step.
The hidden app will remain installed on the iPhone, but its icon will disappear from the Home screen and all folders there. To find out how to find a hidden application and return it to the home screen, go below.
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
Second method: hide multiple apps at once
1. Bring up the context menu
To hide multiple apps quickly, you can use the same method as moving them. To do this, start by pressing and holding an empty space on the home screen.
The applications then start to flicker, and a circular icon with a – appears in the upper left corner of each of them. Click on the – of the first app you want to hide.
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
2. Hide the app
The same menu as in step 2 of the previous method will then appear. Select Remove from Home Screen to hide the app. Once the app is hidden, you return to the home screen, with the apps still moving. Repeat the same process for each app you want to remove from your Home screen.
When you’re done cleaning, exit app editing mode by clicking OK at the top right of the screen, or by clicking on the Home button on the iPhone (for models that have it).
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
Find your hidden applications
If you chose to hide your apps instead of uninstalling them, you think you need them again. So here’s how to find them, or even reintegrate them into your home screen if you change your mind.
1. Open the App Library
To view the App Library, swipe all your home pages to the left, to view the last screen on the right. It looks like a list of unnamed apps, organized into squares, with a search bar at the top of the page that says “App Library.”
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
2. Find the app
To locate the application you want, you can browse the categories offered, or type its name in the search bar. When you click in the search bar, you also get the list of applications sorted alphabetically. Useful if you don’t remember the exact name of the app you’re looking for.
If you just need to use the app once, click its icon to open it from the Library. If, however, you want to reinstate it to your home screen, go to step 3.
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
3. Bring the hidden app back to your home screen
To return a hidden application to the home screen, press and hold the application icon. Be careful, this will not work if you click on the name of the application or on the gray bar located to its right. A new context menu appears. Select On the home screen.
The application will be reinstated on the home screen in the first free location. To move the app icon, tap and hold it until you see the icons flicker, then drag it to the chosen location.
Image: Michael Gariffo/ZDNET.
frequently asked Questions
Is it better to hide or uninstall apps that I don’t use often?
This depends on several factors:
- The weight of the application: If the application is heavy, reinstalling it will take time. At the same time, this means that it takes up storage space. So, if you are running out of local storage, consider uninstalling it. If you think you’ll have to reinstall it often and you don’t have a storage problem, just hide it.
- Regularity of use: If you use the app more than once a week – or regularly, but not enough to grant instant access, hide it rather than uninstalling it. You will save time!
- The origin of the application: if it is an Apple application preinstalled in the OS, you will not be able to uninstall it completely. But hiding it will still allow you to ventilate your home screen by freeing up space.
Will hidden apps still appear in searches?
Yes ! The search bar found on the left-most screen – or pulling down from the middle of a home screen – will still show the apps you have installed, even if you have hidden them.
Do hidden apps behave differently?
Generally speaking, no. They continue to receive automatic updates (if you have enabled them), take up the same storage space as if they were on the home screen, and launch at the same speed as if they were not. not hidden.
Hiding apps doesn’t really affect them, other than the space they free up on your home screens. The apps themselves remain entirely unchanged.
Source: ZDNet.com