Can You Hide iPhone Apps?

Why would you want to hide apps?

iPhones by factory design are programmed with certain apps which people like me will almost never use. For instance I know I’ll never use the Stocks and rarely the Weather App, yet we’re unable to delete them, so rather than have them looking up at you expectantly each time you unlock your screen why not just hide them completely? If you’ve been wondering “Can you hide iPhone apps?” the answer is yes. Here are two apps which allow you to do just that.

SBSettings

SBSettings is an application designed to give you total control over what is displayed on your iPhone. Amongst its many features perhaps the most useful is to hide any of your apps. Available only on jailbroken phones, the ease of use and multitude of options make this app a must have.

First you will need to install SBSettings from the BigBoss section of the Cydia App Store. Once it has installed open the app and select the ‘Actions’ option in the main menu and then ‘More’ at the bottom. This will give you the menu to control everything on your phone.

Hide iPhone Apps

What we’re looking for next is ‘Hide Icons’ and you will see the menu to the right. It has a list of every app you have installed, along with its icon for instant recognition. To hide an icon you just follow the on screen instructions and turn the tab to ‘off’.

Now SBSettings will not delete the apps you switch off but it will hide them. If at any time you’d like them back you just need to open SBSettings, select Actions > More > Hide Icons again and just scroll to the desired app and touch the tab to switch back to ‘on’.

Poof!

Poof! is also a popular app, solely to hide icons. This is ideal for users who already have an app to control everything else.

You will need to install this via the BigBoss section of Cydia and open the application. All that it requires you to do is tap to switch off any apps you want to hide. Like SBSettings, to restore them you just go back in and tap to turn on.

A Word of Warning

One surprisingly common problem with any app used to hide icons is if you hide the app used to do this itself. Many people before you have done this so here is a little fix which will ensure that you can get all of your apps back without having to restore/re-jailbreak.

Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions > Disable Restrictions.

But I don’t want to Jailbreak!

Can you hide iPhone apps without jailbreaking? That’s no problem, there’s a different solution for iPhones which are not jailbroken, rather than hide the apps we simply group them together in a folder. To do this all you need to do is tap an icon, hold it for 3 seconds until it jiggles from side to side and slide one icon over another. This will create a folder and you can add up to 12 apps per folder.

Granted these apps are hardly hidden but you’ll find you have a lot more space for your Angry Birds and Moron Test.