How to hide apps or photos on Android smartphones

There are times when you need to give your phone to your parents or friends and you don’t want them to stumble upon some of your private pictures. Here’s how you can hide photos or apps on your device.

How to hide apps or photos on Android smartphones (Image credit: Ankita Garg)

By Ankita Garg: You may ask why someone would want to hide apps or photos on a smartphone. Well, there are a lot of reasons for this. There are times when you need to give your phone to your parents or friends and you don’t want them to stumble upon some of your private pictures. People also keep sensitive details on their personal phones like bank documents or backup of passwords. Some users also use apps like “Notes,” which might include some personal info that you don’t want anyone to see. Regardless of what your reason may be, let’s take a look at how you can hide some of the apps or pictures on your Android smartphone.

How to hide apps on Android smartphones

The process is pretty simple. You only need to know the steps to do that. It is worth noting that most of the brands offer an option to hide apps. So, you don’t need to install or download any third-party service for this. Keep reading to know more about this.

OnePlus: Those who own a OnePlus smartphone just need to slide to the right in the Drawer to enter Hidden Space. If you are not using Drawer, then just slide outwards with two fingers on the home screen to enter the same space. Once you do that, just tap on the Plus (+) icon and your smartphone will display all the apps that you have on your smartphone. You can then select the ones that you want to hide and tap on the tick mark icon. After this, you can close the Hidden Space. You are all set then.

You can unhide the app by following the same process. In case you are wondering anyone can do that and access the app, then don’t worry. OnePlus also allows you to set a password to Hidden Space. This way, no one will be able to access your hidden apps.

Samsung: Users simply need to long-press on the home screen to access more options. Now, tap on “Home screen settings” > Hide apps. You can now select the apps you would like to hide from your Apps tray and Home screen. If you would like to remove an application from your Hidden apps list, just tap on minus (-) icon beside that specific app. Now, tap on Done to apply the latest changes.

Xiaomi Mi, Redmi, Poco: You will have to dig a little deeper into the settings for Xiaomi phones. Just visit the settings section on your Android phone and tap on Apps > App Lock. Here, you will find a Hidden apps tab. All you need to do is tap on the apps that you want to hide. You also get to set a password for the same. If you don’t want to hide an app, then you can simply lock it with a password by following the same process.

Realme: The process is a little complicated on Realme devices, but we will try to make it easier for you. Users need to head to Settings > Security > App Encryption > Enter a privacy passcode > choose the apps you want to hide > enable Hide Home Screen Icons. After this, you will be required to set Access Number for the app. Once done, you will get a message, which will state, “Hide Home Screen Icons, Don’t Display in Recent Tasks & Don’t Display Notifications.” If you want to immediately access the hidden app, then go to the dial pad and enter the access number.

How to hide photos or videos on Android phones

-For photos or videos, you can simply hide the Gallery app on your device if you don’t want anyone to accidentally access your private images. But, what if you want to show some pictures in the Gallery app? Well, for this, you will have to download a third-party app from Play Store that can hide some of your pictures. If you can’t find a good one for yourself, then you can install the Gallery app from InShot. In this app, there is a Private section, where you can hide apps. Of course, you will also have to deal with ads.

-Some smartphones also have the option to hide photos or videos. For example, OnePlus users will find the “Hide” option every time they open an image or video in the Galaxy app. For this, you will have to tap on the three-dotted button, and the app will display the “Hide” feature. When you scroll down in the Gallery app, you will find Hidden Collection section, where you will find all your hidden data. Alternatively, you can also use the App lock feature that some of the phones offer. You can refer to the Realme section for this.