Why we need to delete hidden apps frequently? Sometimes we will download some apps for temporary use but forget to uninstall and delete them timely. As time goes on, the cellphone home screen is full of various apps. Even finding a given app has become a difficult thing for us. At this time, you may need to delete those unwanted visible and hidden apps to free up more local storage and have a more accessible home screen.

Do not worry! This article will show you four efficient ways to delete hidden apps that you cannot find on the home screen

Why are some apps not shown on the iPhone home screen?

With iOS 14 or later, The Apple company has introduced a new function called App Library, which gathers all of your apps and places them into different smart categories to the right of your last home screen page.
The new feature keeps your common-use apps well organized on the home screen and the less-used ones hidden in the library. In the settings, If you have selected the option that the newly downloaded application can only be in the app library, then it will not be shown on the home screen.
Besides the above reason, other situations which make the application not shown on the home screen are as below:

Sometimes we have chosen to remove an app from the home screen but later forget it.

We disable native apps through “Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions -> Allowed Apps

Multiple apps filed in the same folder may also lead to some of those apps being invisible from the home screen.

After figuring out the reasons, below is how to deal with those hidden apps.

Delete hidden apps from the iOS setting

From the iOS settings, you can easily find all the downloaded apps to offload or delete. You can easily delete hidden and unwanted apps there. Offloading the app means you only remove the application but keep its data and documents on your phone. Once you reinstall it in the future, the old information will be back again. If you want to free up more storage and no longer need those data and documents, You can choose the deleted app menu.

Open Settings > tap General >select iPhone Storage 

After these three steps, you will see all the apps are in order of memory size

Select the hidden app no longer needed and press the target icon. On the detailed page, there are two options to choose from. One is the offload App Menu, the other is the Delete App menu. You can choose according to your current need.

delete hidden apps

Delete Hidden Apps through Spotlight search

Spotlight search is also a Fast tool to find your targeted unwanted application.

Before searching from the spotlight, please make sure that you have turned on the app visibility from Settings: settings >Siri & Search> show in spotlight

Steps for removing the hidden application from the spotlight

  • Swipe down on any place of the Home Screen and type your target app name.
  • Long-press the target app icon until you see a pop-up menu appears. At the very bottom of the pop-up menu, there will be an option of deleted App. Once you select the delete menu, A second pop-up menu will confirm that you want to delete the application. Tap“Delete” again, and then the hidden app will be completed deleted. 

Remove hidden Apps from the App Library( available for iOS 14 and later)

App library introduced in iOS 14, makes it easy and clear for us to keep all our apps well organized and managed. To access the App Library, please proceed as follows

  • Swipe to the right-most page of your home screen until you see the app library.
  • Tap the search bar at the top to open the list.
  • Use the search field to find your target app. Or scroll through the categories to pick your unwanted app
  • Long tap the app icon until you see the pop-up menu and choose the delete app option
  • Tap the Delete menu again to confirm.

Delete invisible Apps from the App Store

from the app store, you can delete those apps pending updates or updated recently. Here are the steps :

  • Head for the App Store and tap the profile picture
  • Scroll down and check if your target app is here or not. If not there, pull down the screen to refresh it
  • If you find your target app under “Available Updates” or “Updated Recently,” then long-press the app icon until the delete menu pops up and confirms delete.