Are you concerned about vanishing apps from the iPhone Home screen or App Library, especially if it’s your child’s phone? Sometimes, kids might hide them to prevent monitoring. Now you might be wondering how to unhide apps on iPhone. Keep reading this guide; we’ll share a list of effective methods to help you regain control of your devices and ensure your kids’ overall digital safety.
Why might apps disappear on your iPhone?
Sometimes, when you open your iPhone, you notice that an app is missing. This might raise questions, especially when your children also use the same device. In most cases, the apps don’t permanently vanish. Here are some possible causes!
- Automatically offloads unused apps: It’s important to note that whenever your iPhone runs low on storage, iOS automatically offloads those apps you only use often. You might see the app’s icon with a small cloud symbol, in which data remains intact. Whenever you tap the icon, the app starts downloading again.
- App removed from the Home Screen (not deleted): It is more likely that you or someone else removed the app from the Home Screen rather than deleted it. In this scenario, such apps would still exist in your iPhone’s App library that you can access by swiping left past your last home screen.
- Hidden Home Screen pages: iOS even lets users hide Home screen pages. If this feature is activated on your device, all apps on that home screen page might appear to have disappeared.
- Parental controls stepping in: Similarly, Screen Time, a built-in iOS parental control feature, allows users to restrict or hide apps based on age ratings, content type, or app categories. If you have activated this feature, then you won’t find unsafe or age-inappropriate apps.
- Purchased but not downloaded: If you’ve switched iPhones or reset the device, some of your purchased apps may disappear from the Home screen.
- System glitches or accidental deletion: It may also occur due to temporary software bugs or failed updates.
Unlock your iPhone’s hidden secrets and regain control.
How to unhide apps on iPhone? (iOS 18+)
iPhone has various places where the app might get tucked instead of permanently deleted. We are sharing different proven methods with detailed step-by-step guidelines to unhide apps on iPhone iOS 18+.
Use Spotlight Search or App Library to re-add the app
Spotlight search and the App Library are the quickest ways for users to locate and unhide apps that appear to be missing on iPhone. Let’s see how you can deploy both methods to re-add the app!
Via Spotlight search:
Spotlight lets you instantly search by app name, no matter which Home Screen page it’s on. Here’s how!
- On your iPhone, swipe down, typically from the middle of the Home Screen. This action would open the Spotlight Search.
- A search bar opens where you’ll simply type the app name
- If that app appears, tap and hold its icon. Select Add to Home Screen, or you can drag it to your preferred Home Screen page.
In App Library:
Similarly, the App Library automatically organizes all installed apps into categories, letting you quickly find apps without manually scrolling through pages.
- To open the App library, just swipe left past the last Home Screen page.
- Once open, you can browse categories or search at the top. If the appsn finds, tap and hold the app > Add to Home Screen.
Unhide Home Screen Pages
If you feel that a bunch of your app icons have gone missing all at once, it is more likely that you’ve hidden the Home Screen page where they used to appear. Here is how you can unhide an app on the iPhone Home Screen page.
- Go to any Home Screen page and tap and hold anywhere until the icons start jiggling.
- Next, you’ll click on the row of dots at the bottom of the screen. This will open up a display of all your Home Screen pages.
- Now just scroll through the list until you find the page you want. Keep in mind that hidden pages will have an empty circle beneath them, while unhidden pages will have a checkmark underneath.
- Just touch the circle under the page you want to unhide. After this, tap Done in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Removing apps from folders
You may accidentally bundle apps into folders. It would be harder to spot them on your Home Screen. To get the apps out of their folders, follow the steps below!
- Tap the folder containing the app to expand it.
- Once the folder is open, tap the app you want to remove from the folder. To do this, hold it until the folder icons start jiggling.
- Then you can easily drag and drop the app from the folder to the Home Screen and tap Done.
Reveal hidden App Store purchases
Many people overlooked that the App Store also allows users hide apps from their purchase history. To unhide apps in the iPhone App Store, follow the steps below!
- Start by opening the App Store from your Home Screen
- Here, simply tap your profile picture or the Account Button (a circle with a grey silhouette of a head &shoulders inside).
- Now scroll down the page and click the Hidden Purchases option under Downloads and Purchases. This would show a list of all the apps you’ve hidden.
- Tap ‘Unhide’ in any app you want to stop hiding so it appears in your Purchased list again.
- You may now see a cloud icon next to the app, prompting you to redownload it. If you’ve paid for the app, you won’t need to purchase it a second time.
Check Siri & Search settings
Siri & Search is an Apple built-in feature letting users find and access apps, content, and information quickly using Siri voice commands or the scratch feature. Sometimes you hide apps to prevent anything potentially embarrassing from popping up in those results. Now, if you want to unhide those apps, follow the steps below!
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down and tap Siri & Search.
- You’ll see the list of apps, find the app(s) you want to unhide and tap on them.
- Now a new page will open from where you’ll tap the toggles for Show App in Search, Show Content in Search, Suggest App, and Show on Home Screen to On (Green).
Adjust Content & Privacy Restrictions
As mentioned earlier, iPhone’s Screen Time feature lets you temporarily hide apps for your kids’ safety. To show up your desired app in the Home screen, you can undo Screen Time restrictions as follows!
- Open up the Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > select Allowed Apps.
- From there, toggle on the apps you want to unhide, and the button will turn green.
Reset Home Screen layout (Last Resort)
Last but not least, resetting your Home Screen will display all the apps you’ve downloaded in alphabetical order. It’ll also remove all the folders you created that contain app icons. Follow the procedure below to unhide apps!
- Open the iPhone’s settings > General > Reset > Reset Home Screen Layout.
- A dialog box will pop up, giving you the option to either Reset Home Screen or Cancel. You’ll simply choose the Reset Home Screen to go ahead with the changes.
Parental tips to find hidden apps on your child’s iPhone
Today, a significant portion of children have their own internet-connected devices. While the Internet can support learning and offer educational resources and fun activities, parents’ guidance and protection play a key role in preventing kids from being exposed to risks.
Learn how to find hidden apps and unhide them on a child’s iPhone, ensure appropriate content, prevent access to harmful apps, and monitor usage.
According to a survey conducted by Kaspersky, 37% of young people reported encountering online dangers, including risky content. This figure rises to 47 % for those who are online constantly.
As a well-wisher of your kids, it’s really mandatory to monitor their activities. Here are some strategies that you must follow to ensure their overall safety.
Periodically Review Hidden Purchases and Settings
Take time from your busy routine and review your kids’ device usage on a regular basis. For instnace you can check their app store to get information about hidden purchases. You’ll spot earlier whether your kids have downloaded inappropriate apps or not.
Stay involved
Foster a friendly bond with your kids and spend quality time with them. Show interest in their digital world and they would be more likely to trust and share everything about their digital activities. You can guide your kids towards safe digital habits.
Use parental control tools
While the above tips may be effective, you may be too busy to spend time with children. In this scenario, FlashGet Kids might act as your virtual assistant and keep you 24/7 updated about your kids’ every digital move. It incorporates multiple features that enhance children’s safety online and offline.
- Screen mirroring: Keep track of their children’s activities in real time, such as seeing whether they have opened inappropriate apps or websites or spoken with someone.
- App monitoring: Provides you with a detailed report on which apps your kids have used and for how long.
- App blocker: Let you block the inappropriate apps and even restrict kids from accessing newly downloaded apps.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, iOS indeed provides different features to manage the device and one of them is hiding the apps. You can easily unhide them by following the guidelines provided throughout the article.
When it comes to kids, they may also benefit from the iOS built-in feature to hide their newly downloaded apps, allowing them to spend a lot of time there without realizing whether it’s safe. That’s why, for parents, it’s advisable to regularly review app installs and leverage the device’s built-in safety features to ensure a safer and smoother iPhone experience.
FAQs
Absolutely yes, you can even unhide the system apps like Safari or the camera. Thisis becasue they get hidden via Screen Time or focus mode. To unhide, simply go to settings > Screen time > Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps, and make sure the app is enabled.
iOS usually automatically sends the newly downloaded app to app library to make your Home Screen organized. However, you don’t worry, you can change this by going to Settings → Home Screen → Add to Home Screen. Now all the new apps appear directly on the Home Screen.
To prevent your apps from being hidden accidentally, you should keep in check theScreen Time and Focus mode settings. Along with this, ensure Siri & Search settings allow apps to appear in search.
