How to Hide Apps on Android Smartphone to Maintain Privacy
There are times when you hand over your phone to someone with this constant fear that they might peak through your apps. Like you are dating on Tinder, but you don’t want every other person to know about it. After all, dating can be tough and stressful as it is, you don’t want prying eyes and questionable looks. To escape all these issues, all you have to do is just hide the said app, that’s it. So, here are some of the best ways to hide apps on Android smartphones.
You can always use applications like AppLock to password-protect apps like Tinder, Messenger, etc. This solution will prevent others from launching these apps without your permission. But people can still see the app icon, and that’s all it takes for them to judge you and you don’t want that either.
Just like the Windows computer, you can have multiple users on Android as well. If you want to hide all your activities from the person, all need to do is switch to the guest mode. The guest mode turns your phone into a new device hiding all the third-party apps you have installed. So, the guest doesn’t get to see any of the apps, photos, files, chats, etc. that you have on the other account.
To enter the guest mode, you have to go to the System Settings. To do that, pull down the notification drawer and tap on the gear icon.
Once you are in the System Settings, scroll down to the System Options at the bottom and tap on it.
On the next page, you will see Advanced Settings at the bottom, tap on the arrow icon to expand the menu further.
From the Advanced Settings menu, you will see “Multiple Users”. Tap on it to go to the User Management page.
On the Multiple Users page, you would see 2 users namely Guest and “Your Google Name”. These accounts are present by 
default. Now, tap on the Guest user to enter the Guest mode.
Once you are in the guest mode, the phone would look completely new out of the box. To exit the guest mode, pull down the notification drawer and tap on the user icon.
From the User menu, tap on Remove Guest option. You will get a pop-up window for confirmation. Tap on Remove.
If you have kids at home often using your phone or you share a phone with anyone else, I recommend creating a separate user. This way, you will have personal data and apps stored separately on the phone.
Now, the problem with the guest mode is that the guest user doesn’t see any apps. This might make the person suspect that you have hidden everything for a reason. What do you have to hide? One question your SO might end up asking you. Plus, switching back and forth from guest mode is too much of a task. It also takes a toll on your phone’s resources. In that case, try hiding individual apps rather than hiding everything. You can use a third-party launcher app like Nova for this.
Nova Launcher is one of the best launchers on the Play Store right now. And out of the many features that it offers, one is the ability to hide your apps. You will need to upgrade to the pro version of Nova Launcher($1.99) to get the hide option. If you want to use a free launcher, scroll to the bottom of this point to see my personal favorite.