Want More Privacy? Here’s How to Lock and Hide Apps on Your iPhone
Want More Privacy? Here’s How to Lock and Hide Apps on Your iPhone
Publish Date: 2026-04-28 06:00:00
Source Domain: www.cnet.com
If you lend your iPhone to someone to make a call in your device’s Phone app, that person could accidentally see which other apps you have on your home screen. That person could also accidentally open an app like WhatsApp and call someone you went on a date with one time years ago. Luckily, Apple lets you hide and lock apps on your iPhone so you can enjoy a little more privacy.
When Apple released iOS 18 in 2024, the tech giant introduced a feature to lock and hide certain apps on your iPhone. That way you can keep others out of your apps. You can also hide certain apps in their own hidden folder so people aren’t tempted to open them and invade your privacy.
Here’s how to lock and hide your iPhone apps for an extra layer of security.
How to lock your iPhone apps
1. Long press an app.
2. Tap Require Face ID.
3. Tap Require Face ID again.
Now every time you try to access this app, it will need your Face ID or passcode to open. You can’t lock every app on your iPhone, like Camera, Find My and Settings. But you can lock most apps, such as App Store, Messages and third-party apps.
How to hide your iPhone apps
Hiding apps on your iPhone also locks them. It follows the same process as locking apps. Keep in mind this option isn’t available for all apps. In my experience, you can only hide third-party apps, such as Instagram and Twitter.
Here’s how you can hide these apps on your iPhone.
1. Long press an app.
2. Tap Require Face ID.
3. Tap Hide and Require Face ID.
Your iPhone will then ask for your Face ID or passcode, then it will ask if you’re sure you want to hide the app. A new menu will appear on your phone that says hiding an app will remove its icon and name from your home screen and place it in a Hidden folder in your App Library. The menu will also say you won’t receive any notifications from the app.
Tap Hide App at the bottom of the menu and your iPhone will hide the app. To see your hidden apps, swipe…
