We all hate people who keep pestering around with our Android devices and invade our privacy. We all have some *ahem ahem* apps installed on our Android phones or tablets that we don’t want others to see. Worst? Someone’s kid takes over your phone and starts playing Angry Birds. Now, we all know kids are cute and adorable, but let’s face it, once they start playing a game, they simply don’t stop.
Thankfully, there are a bunch of apps available in the Play Store via which users can hide certain apps from the app drawer.
How To Hide Certain Apps From The App Drawer
While there are a bunch of apps in the Play Store that will lock an app or hide it for you, they are all pretty clumsy. I use a third party launcher called Nova Launcher which has an in-built feature to hide apps from the app drawer.
Step 1: Download Nova Launcher from the Play Store. Keep in mind that this will replace your existing launcher or home screen. If it does not, tap the ‘Home’ button on your Android device and select Nova Launcher from the dialog box that pops up and then tap the ‘Always’ option.
Step 2: Open the App Drawer, and press the Menu button on your device or the 3 dots at the top-right corner of the screen.
Step 3: Tap the ‘Drawer’ option and then scroll down to select the ‘Hide Apps’ option. From the list of apps that opens up, select the apps that you want to hide from your app drawer.
Step 4: Once you have selected all the apps that you want to hide, simply exit the Nova Launcher settings menu by pressing the back button. And you are done!
So what if you want to access the apps that you have hidden?
Nova Launcher has a very nifty feature – Gestures and Buttons – that quickly allows you to access certain settings, trigger an action or launch an app by doing a specified gesture on your homescreen. Access the ‘Gestures and Buttons’ option from within Nova Launcher’s Settings menu.
I would recommend users to select a gesture to launch their hidden apps that cannot be easily replicated, accidentally, like swiping up or down with two fingers or rotating your fingers clockwise or anti-clockwise on your homescreen.
Conclusion
The only downside to using Nova Launcher to hide apps is that there are only a limited number of gestures via which you can launch an app. On the flip side, the ability to launch your hidden apps by a simple gesture on the home screen is much more easier than entering a passcode every time.
Other launcher apps on the Play Store including Apex Launcher, GoLauncher Ex and ADW Launcher also have the ability to hide installed apps from the Play store. So, you don’t necessarily need to ditch your favorite launcher and shift to Nova Launcher to hide your apps.