How do I get rid of the hidden app folder in the App Library?

Hello~ Just for clarification…what’s a lie? Also you don’t have to use this feature nor can you remove it…that’s the truth.

~Katana-San~

Hello~ It cannot be removed. Just don’t use it. When I scroll to the App Library page I see an innocuous grey square…not really a big deal.

~Katana-San~

Re: “Please create a way to remove the hidden app folder.”

You are not speaking to Apple here. Nobody who you are addressing in this forum has the access to iOS needed to make such a change.

Booboodc wrote:

I did not request to have anything apps hidden in my iPhone. It needs to be fixed

Let’s see: You probably also didn’t ask for:

• Apple Home
• Apple Tips
• Journal
• Playground
• Apple Store
• Apple Support
• App Library (huge numbers of users hate that and want it gone)
• And dozens of other features of iPhones

But they are all there, whether you like it or not.

You can suggest that Apple remove the Hidden App folder, but over the years countless users have asked for it, so it is now there and is unlikely to go away.

My apologies in advance for a very long post.

After reading all of the posts concerning this topic, I’d like to offer a few comments that might provide a different perspective.

When I first noticed the “Hidden” group in my App Library, I tried, and failed initialy to see what was in it. I thought my phone had been hacked. I then did a quick search and discovered it was a feature and that by looking in Settings | Apps, and looking at all the apps, that I could determine which - if any - apps were included in this group (There were none).

I can understand why Apple might have been asked to put in such a feature: many people would want this feature: especially families who must share a single device for all of their computing and communication needs. Even at tje basic level, these devices aren’t cheap, but they open up worlds and access to services many of us here might take for granted. Far from hiding unseemly or even nefarious content and applications, the ability to keep some users of the phone from, e.g., making unapproved purchases on Amazon or getting into other such apps to make purchases or change account settings for any number of things, certainly would appeal to many. Others have mentioned other situations where this could apply, as well as unintended consequences of such a hidden set of apps or data.

What would really meet the many needs of the users would be to make iOS a true multiuser platform from the end users’ perspective. Parents, could create a “sub-login” for their individual family members. In each account, they could specify what could be seen and used on their own screen. In this example, the kids would have their own face-id for login, and they would see the few apps that the main user wanted them to see. The Parental control scenario…

I would opt for an enable/disable setting in Settings, with Disabled being the default. However, this whole concept is not an easy one to implement, and it is full of problems and unintended consequences of it’s own. I imagine Apple chose the current feature implementation as the lesser of several evils, though I have no direct knowledge of their processes.

I encourage you all to keep thinking about this. I would rather have the ability to disable this feature as I don’t necessarily have need of it. Thank you for your patience and attention!

aasha144 wrote:

How do I get rid of my hidden app folder from the App Library? Because it’s shows that something I hide🤔.

so can u plz fixed it ,the hidden app folder only visible in settings .please

Hello~ There are 10 pages in this thread explaining that this can’t be removed. Read through for a thorough explanation.

~Katana-San~

I guess you'll just have to walk around with 3 legs then, because you cannot remove the hidden app folder and you'd have known that had you bothered to read past the first post as opposed to wasting your time and ours by having to answer the question which has been answered over and over and over.

And no, you can't remove it. Just ignore it if you have no use for it.

Regards.

It doesn’t choose to hide any apps. You have to decide you want to hide an app. Mine is empty because I’ve never hidden an app.

Hello~ It can’t be removed. If you’re mugged and forced to open your iPhone other measures can be taken and at that point you still have much bigger issues.

~Katana-San~

No.

CambridgeKev wrote:

You seem to miss the point. Yes if you want to hide things from your family or friends it is a useful tool but many people do not want to do that. They have open relationships and do not want to create conflict by being presumed to have something to hide.

Such conflict can lead to domestic violence and make people, particularly females, feel unsafe.

Likewise, parents will also not be able to monitor their children’s activities and in this corrupt day and age of on-line grooming having apps that are hidden means that they may not be able to keep their children safe.

I see nothing wrong with having the app should one wish to hide things from their family but I think it would be better if the folder could be switched off and removed for those of us that have nothing to hide

if you’re in a relationship with anybody that involves activities reminiscent of Cardinal Richelieu’s six lines, they’re always going to find something to twist and to utilize. Always.

They’ll always find something nefarious about an ~empty feature phone, if they’re inclined. Merely being empty can be represented as suspicious.

And from many years in emergency services and many related calls, these situations only escalate.

As for parents and educators and parental controls, any strategy they implement will fail, if the kid is inclined to bypass the controls. Kids are naturally curious, observant, and resourceful.

This can’t be fixed with settings. Or with any tech. This is fundamentally a people issue.

Product marketing claims aside, you can’t fix people problems with tech.

Thank you for your thoughtful post. I see your point; Apple considers iOS devices as personal, which is probably why they haven’t implemented separate use accounts as they have on Macs (and also how Microsoft has implemented Windows). Given that it is a personal device, I think the hidden folder is a workaround for users who might occasionally let a child use their phone.

The fact that this has been a requested feature constantly for years has led to the hidden photos folder, hidden notes, hidden files, and now with iOS 18 hidden apps. Plus the competitive reason that Android has had it for quite a while.

Please submit your user account idea to Apple using the link Katana-San posted. I suggest keeping it brief, just suggesting multiple user accounts.

Kdatl1 wrote:

I want either the option to delete the hidden folder space or have a pw to unlock it. I am older. One day, my children are going to need access to my phone, which they do have access to now, but wouldn’t be able to unlock that folder to see nothing is in it. It is MY phone and I should have the option to modify security or eliminate this folder.

If you have never been an executor of an estate, you probably won’t understand this, so scroll on.

An iPhone accessed by a person with physical access and passcode and with abusive or other ill intent is going to be a Bad Day far beyond that hidden folder. The contents of the hidden folder — and why you’d even have anything there, given your general concerns — are negligible in the scale and scope of the resulting mess of the full breach you are positing here.

That written, log your feedback with Apple, same as has been recommended before, too: Product Feedback - Apple

Think of it this way: If it was optional, then anyone who saw that you had it on your iPhone would immediately know that you had something to hide. By having it on all iPhones that avoids any questions.