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How to find hidden apps on Android

To find hidden apps on Android, open Settings › Apps › See all apps: apps without an icon still appear there. Then check the accessibility and notification access lists, and your launcher's own hidden-apps setting. This guide covers each step, what a hidden icon does and does not mean, and how Applore flags hidden monitoring apps.

Updated 15 September 20264 min read

Before you change anything

What “hidden” means on Android

An app can be hidden in a few different ways, and each needs a different check:

  • No icon. The app was built without a launcher icon, so it never appears in the app drawer. See hidden app icon.
  • Icon switched off. The app had an icon, but it was deliberately disabled after install. Monitoring apps sometimes do this.
  • Hidden by the launcher. Many phone makers’ launchers can keep an app off the home screen and app drawer. The app keeps its icon but you do not see it.
  • A separate profile. Apps in a work profile, a private space on newer Android versions, or another user on the phone are kept apart from your main apps.
  • A system-like name. The app is visible but named to look like a system service, such as “Sync service” or “System update”.

In the first four cases, the app still appears somewhere in Settings. The steps below show where.

How to find hidden apps without Applore

Menu names differ between phone makers and Android versions. If a path does not match, use the search bar at the top of Settings.

  1. See every installed app. Open Settings › Apps, then See all apps (on some phones, App management or Apps › All apps).
  2. Show system apps. Tap the menu or filter at the top and choose Show system or Show system apps. Apps with system-like names can sit among real system apps.
  3. Sort by recent. If your phone lets you sort by install date or last used, look for apps that appeared around a time someone else had the phone.
  4. Open anything unfamiliar. Tap the app to see its App info page: storage, permissions, and on many phones App details in store, which shows where it came from. An app with no store entry was installed from a file.
  5. Check the special access lists. Search Settings for Accessibility and Notification access. An app without an icon that is turned on in either list is worth a closer look. See check accessibility services.
  6. Check the launcher’s hidden apps. Long-press an empty part of the home screen and open Home screen settings. On Samsung phones, the option that keeps apps off the Home and Apps screens is in these settings. Other phone makers put a hidden-apps list in the launcher settings or in their own app lock settings.
  7. Check other profiles. If you see a Work tab in the app drawer, or a private space, open its settings separately. Search Settings for Users to see whether another user exists on the phone.

Write down anything you do not recognise before changing it. How to keep a record explains what to note.

How to check with Applore

Applore’s free Needs your review check looks for the combination that matters most: an app installed from outside an app store that hides its icon, or has its icon switched off, and also holds accessibility, notification or device admin access. It also checks every app against a public list of known stalkerware, which catches renamed apps by their signing certificate.

  1. Open Applore and look at Needs your review.
  2. Tap a flagged app. About this app answers Is it hidden? in plain words, for example that its icon was switched off, or that it has no icon but provides a keyboard or widget, which is a normal reason to have none.
  3. Check Where it came from and When it was installed.

Known monitoring appHighWorth a lookNot flagged

Applore does not flag an app just for having no icon. For more on apps from outside an app store, see sideloaded apps on Android, and for how levels are decided, see how Applore’s check works.

What Applore cannot do

Apps hidden by your launcher are not treated as hidden by Applore, because they still have an icon. Check the launcher’s hidden-apps list yourself.

Keeping a record and safe removal

If you find an app you do not recognise, note its name, the package name shown on its App info page or in Applore, and the date. In Applore, tap Remove on a flagged app to see five steps before anything is removed, including creating a report on your phone that you choose who to share with. Before you remove a suspicious app explains why the order matters.

Get support

The Applore app includes support contacts for India, the United States and the United Kingdom, plus global options. If you live somewhere else, search for a domestic abuse helpline in your country. Support hotlines lists where to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.

What Applore reads during the check is in the privacy policy. More guides are on the safety hub.

Questions

Can an app hide completely on Android?

Not from Settings, in most cases. An app can remove its icon from the app drawer, but installed apps still appear in Settings › Apps, sometimes only when system apps are shown. Apps in a work profile, a private space or another user are listed separately, and tools that need a rooted phone can hide more deeply. That is why it helps to check several places.

Why would a legitimate app hide its icon?

Many normal apps have no icon because you use them another way: keyboards, widgets, live wallpapers, watch or car companion services, plugins and some system components. A missing icon becomes more worth checking when the app also came from outside an app store, has accessibility or notification access, or has a name that sounds like a system service.

Does Applore find every hidden app?

No. Applore flags apps from outside an app store that hide their icon and hold sensitive access, and apps that match a known stalkerware list. It cannot see apps in a work profile or another user, it may miss new or unknown apps and tools that need a rooted phone, and it skips apps with a normal reason to have no icon.

Sources

  1. Information for survivors, Coalition Against Stalkerware. Checked 2026-09-15.
  2. Spyware and Stalkerware: Phone Surveillance, Safety Net Project, NNEDV. Checked 2026-09-15.
  3. Stalkerware indicators, Echap, CC BY 4.0. Checked 2026-09-15.

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