How to Find and Unhide Apps on iPhone (iOS 18)

By the Forevault team. Updated 5 November 2026. 7 min read. Apple Support pages linked in this guide were checked on that date.

Part of The iPhone Privacy Guide, every setting that keeps your photos, apps and messages private.

To unhide an app on iPhone, swipe left past your last Home Screen page to open App Library, tap the Hidden folder at the bottom and authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. Then touch and hold the app and tap Don’t Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode). The app returns to your Home Screen. This works on iOS 18 and later.

That covers apps hidden with the iOS 18 feature. An app can also be missing because you removed it from the Home Screen, or because a whole Home Screen page is hidden. Each case has a different fix, and this guide takes them in order. Every iOS detail links to the Apple Support page it comes from. To hide an app yourself, see how to hide apps on iPhone.

Find hidden apps in the Hidden folder

Apple’s Personal Safety guide describes the place to look. Go to the Home Screen and swipe left past all your Home Screen pages to reach App Library. The Hidden folder sits at the bottom. Tap it and authenticate using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.

Apps you hid with the iOS 18 lock-and-hide feature are in there, and nowhere else in App Library. If the folder is missing, nothing is hidden this way on that iPhone. Apple states that the feature needs iOS 18 or later, and that locked or hidden status is per device and does not sync through iCloud. An app hidden on one iPhone is not hidden on your other iPhone or iPad.

The same Apple page lists a second route. Open Settings > Apps > Hidden Apps, which also asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.

Unhide an app

Swipe left past your Home Screen pages to open App Library.
Tap the Hidden folder at the bottom and authenticate.
Touch and hold the app, then tap Don’t Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode) and authenticate again.

Apple says the app then appears on your Home Screen and near the top of App Library.

Two limits are worth knowing. Apple says apps that come with iOS 18 or later can’t be hidden, only apps you download separately. And Apple notes that children under 13 in a Family Sharing group can’t lock or hide apps. So if the app you are looking for is a built-in one, it was not hidden with this feature. Look at the other sections below.

Find apps you removed from the Home Screen

Removing an app from the Home Screen does not delete it. Apple’s page on organizing the Home Screen and App Library says that after you remove an app from the Home Screen, it is still in App Library.

To find it:

Swipe left past your last Home Screen page to open App Library.
Tap the search field at the top and type the name of the app.
Tap the app to open it.

To put it back on the Home Screen, touch and hold the app in App Library and tap Add to Home Screen. That option only appears if the app is not already on a Home Screen page, according to Apple’s App Library guide.

If you search and the app does not appear anywhere, it may have been deleted. In that case check the App Store, described below.

Restore hidden Home Screen pages

Apps can also vanish because a whole page of your Home Screen is hidden. Apple’s Home Screen page describes the steps:

Touch and hold an empty area of the Home Screen.
Tap the dots near the bottom of the screen.
Tap the circle under the page you want to show, so it has a checkmark.
Tap Done.

Apple says to unhide a page, repeat the steps you used to hide it. Apps on a hidden page still appear in App Library, so searching there finds them even before you restore the page.

This is a different thing from the Hidden folder. A hidden page just takes a page of icons out of your swipe path. It does not lock anything, and anyone who knows the trick can bring it back.

Check the App Store for apps you installed

If an app is gone and you think you once installed it, the App Store keeps the record. Apple’s personal safety page lists App Store purchase history as one place that can show apps you downloaded, even when the app is hidden.

To open your list, follow Apple’s steps for the purchase list:

In the App Store, tap your photo or initials.
Tap Apps & Purchase History.
Tap Your Apps.

You can hide an app from this list too. To bring it back, tap your photo or initials, tap your name, tap Hidden Purchases, find the app and tap Unhide. Apple says hiding an app from the list does not remove it from your complete purchase history in Settings. If you deleted the app and want it back, unhide it first and then download it again.

Look in Screen Time and Settings

The Personal Safety guide also points to Settings > Screen Time as a place to see which apps are used on the phone. It lists Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging as another. Both can show app names that you do not see on the Home Screen.

Apple adds that parents or guardians in a Family Sharing group can see that an app was downloaded and how much time it is used, for users aged 13 to 17. Age limits vary by country or region.

If you think someone hid an app on your phone

Start with the facts that Apple’s own page gives. An app hidden with the iOS 18 feature is locked, and opens only with the Face ID, Touch ID or passcode set on that iPhone. A person who hid an app on your phone had to authenticate to do it. So the first check is the Hidden folder, which asks for the same authentication.

Then work through the places Apple lists, in this order:

The Hidden folder at the bottom of App Library.
Settings > Apps > Hidden Apps.
Settings > Screen Time.
Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging.
App Store purchase history, and Hidden Purchases.

Apple lists these Settings routes because an app’s name can still show up outside the Hidden folder. If you are worried about your safety or about someone monitoring your device, Apple’s Personal Safety User Guide covers that situation in more depth, and a trusted person or a local support organisation can help you plan next steps.

A practical point on passcodes: anyone who knows yours can unlock the Hidden folder, so changing the passcode is the first step on a phone others have used. For the same reason, how private the Hidden album is depends on who knows the passcode.

Frequently asked questions

How do I unhide apps on iPhone?

Open App Library by swiping left past your last Home Screen page. Tap the Hidden folder, authenticate, touch and hold the app and tap Don’t Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode). The app returns to your Home Screen.

Where is the Hidden folder on iPhone?

At the bottom of App Library. It appears on iOS 18 and later, and only has content if you have hidden an app that way. You can also see the list under Settings > Apps > Hidden Apps.

Why can’t I find an app on my iPhone?

It may be hidden in the Hidden folder, removed from the Home Screen, sitting on a hidden Home Screen page, or deleted. Search App Library first, since removed apps and apps on hidden pages stay there.

Can you hide built-in iPhone apps?

Apple says apps that come with iOS 18 or later can’t be hidden with this feature. Only apps you download separately can be hidden.

Does a hidden app still show in the App Store?

Yes, it can. Apple says hidden apps may still show in App Store purchase history, and hiding an app from the purchase list does not remove it from your full purchase history in Settings.

Does hiding an app on one iPhone hide it on my iPad?

No. Apple says locked or hidden status applies only to that device and does not sync through iCloud.

When a vault app fits

A hidden app only conceals an icon. If what you want to protect is the content, such as photos and videos, a place built for them is a better fit than an app lock. Forevault is our vault app for iPhone. Files are encrypted on the device with AES-256-GCM. You can open it with a pattern on a 5×5 grid, a passcode or a password, and Face ID is optional. Separate vaults can use separate patterns, and the lock screen doesn’t list them. It has a 12-word recovery phrase, an encrypted backup to your own iCloud with “Test a restore”, and export to Photos or Files is always free. There is no account and nothing is collected. The free tier covers 100 photos, 10 videos and 3 vaults.

It protects against someone holding your phone, not forensic analysis. There is no calculator disguise. For the photo side of hiding, read how to hide photos on iPhone. Download Forevault on the App Store.