How To Make Your Apps Invisible Without A Jailbreak
by Dom Esposito
January 21, 2013
If you’re worried about privacy on your iOS device, this little trick may come in handy. Along with the ability to put apps inside of Newsstand, we can also make any apps completely invisible using a similar process. This is possible by combining two jailbreak-free tweaks and changing a Spotlight preference in the Settings app.
Check out our video overview of this process below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVdWoo3KFM
If you can't see the above video, please click this link.
Step 1: First, place the apps you’d like to make invisible inside of Newsstand. If you’re not familiar with how to put apps inside of Newsstand, check out our tutorial here. Step 2: Next, you’re going to use Rag3Hack to hide Newsstand. This can be accomplished by navigating to the CydiaHacks website in Safari (www.cydiahacks.com) and tapping on “Hide Apps No Jailbreak.” Scroll down and tap on “Hide Newsstand” to begin the process. This will now attempt to reload Newsstand on your device. Step 3: When the install fails, tap on “Done” and then put Newsstand into “wiggle mode.” Now, tap on the “x” in the top left corner of Newsstand and delete it. Any apps that were inside of Newsstand will now become invisible. The apps will no longer be visible on your home screen, but you will be able to launch them through Spotlight search. If you’d like to disable the apps from appearing in Spotlight search, launch the Settings app on your device and tap on “General.” Next, select “Spotlight” in General settings, then tap on “Applications” to remove the check mark on the left side of the row. At this point, the only way to launch any of the hidden apps is to use Siri. If you don’t have Siri, you’ll need to re-enable “Applications” for Spotlight search. To completely reverse this process, reboot your device and all of the apps will return to your home screen. Check out the video tutorial above for a detailed look at this process.
