How to Hide Icons on a Smartphone

You can't remove native apps on the iPhone.
... Andrew Burton/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Removing icons from your Home or Start screen on your Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry device is easy, as these operating systems provide a straightforward way to hide, or unpin, apps you don't frequently use. However, the same can't be said for iOS: when you remove an icon from your Home screen, the iPhone deletes the program and all related data along with it. To hide certain apps on the iPhone, you must create a new folder to hold your unwanted icons.

1 Android

2 Press the Home button

Press the Home button, and then slide to the screen containing the icon or icons you want to hide.

3 Press and hold the appropriate app

Press and hold the appropriate app, and then drag the icon onto the Remove icon on the top of the screen.

4 Release your finger

Release your finger when the Remove icon turns red. Repeat the steps to remove additional icons from your Home screen.

5 iOS

6 Press the Home button-2

Press the Home button, and then slide to the screen containing the icon or icons you want to hide.

7 Press

Press and hold the appropriate app until it begins to wiggle. Drag the app and any other icons you want to hide to the right to move them to a blank screen.

8 An app onto another app

Drag-and-drop an app onto another app to create a new folder. Enter a name for the container, and then move the remaining icons to the folder you just created.

9 Windows Phone

10 Press the Start button

Press the Start button, marked with the Windows icon, to return to the Start screen, and then scroll down to the tile you want to hide.

11 Hold the appropriate app

Press and hold the appropriate app, and then touch the "Unpin" button, or pushpin icon, in the top right.

12 Repeat the above steps for each tile

Repeat the above steps for each tile you want to hide from the Start screen.

13 BlackBerry

14 Press the End Power

Press the End/Power button to return to the Home screen, and then press the Menu key, marked with the BlackBerry logo.

15 Select the app

Scroll to and select the app you want to hide, and then press the Menu key to confirm.

16 Highlight and then check Hide to remove the icon

Highlight and then check "Hide" to remove the icon from the main screen. Repeat the steps for each icon you want to remove.

  • Information in this article applies to Android KitKat 4.4, iOS 7, Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry OS 7. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.
  • On some models of Android, when you press and hold an icon, a trash can icon appears on the bottom of the screen instead of the Remove icon.
  • As with the iPhone, to hide apps in BlackBerry 10, you must move them to their own folder. Touch and hold the appropriate app until the icons on the Home screen start to blink, and then drag the app onto another app you want to hide. Enter a name for the folder, and then touch "Create."

Ruri Ranbe has been working as a writer since 2008. She received an A.A. in English literature from Valencia College and is completing a B.S. in computer science at the University of Central Florida. Ranbe also has more than six years of professional information-technology experience, specializing in computer architecture, operating systems, networking, server administration, virtualization and Web design.

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