Hiding Apps and Folders on iOS 7 Without Jailbreak

There are many reasons that a user may have to hide an app from their home screen. Stock apps on iOS cannot be uninstalled, so some users choose to hide them inside a folder or use a jailbreaking tool to completely remove them, letting up room for the apps that they actually want.

You may have your own reasons for hiding an app or a folder from prying eyes, for instance apps that contain sensitive data, or apps without pin protection.

If you don’t want to jailbreak your iOS device, there is a bug in iOS 7 that you can utilize to hide apps or folders from the home screen – by way of the nested folder. A nested folder is a folder that is kept inside another folder. In this post, we will show you how to use this to completely hide apps from view on your iOS 7 device.

Step 1: Creating A Nested Folder

First, identify the apps you want to hide. Keep them all in one folder (we will call this Folder A). In our example, we will be hiding Cloud apps.

To create a folder, simply hold and drag one app on top of another. Then, continue adding all other apps you want to hide into that folder.

Once you have your set-to-hide folder ready, it’s time to create a dud folder. You will be putting Folder A into this dud folder, but the act itself is a little tricky, the first time around.

1. Drop any app to another app to create a new folder (See image 1).

2. When an app is on top of another app, quickly let go of the dragged app, and tap-and-drag Folder A before the zoom occurs (See image 2).

3. Once you find yourself inside the folder, let go of Folder A (See image 3).

4. Press the Home button and there you have it, a nested folder (See image 4). We’re calling this dud folder Folder B.

Step 2: Hiding The Folder & Apps

5. So now you have Folder A and two apps inside Folder B (dud folder). Remove the two apps from Folder B (See image 5).

6. Then move Folder B to a full home screen (See image 6).

7. Once placed, drag Folder A out of Folder B to the dock. Folder B will disappear (See image 7).

8. When you let go of Folder A while it is on the dock, Folder A will disappear as well.

That’s it. All your apps in Folder A are now hidden. As now, only you know of their existence, if you ever need to use those apps, you can access them through the Search function. And if you ever need to bring them back to your home screen, just restart your iOS device.