iOS 15 Update: How to Find Hidden Apps on iPhone

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. Sign Up. *

Are you experiencing a lost iPhone app? Apps can be hidden intentionally but also accidentally. Maybe you've misplaced an app in a folder to declutter your Home screen, deleted an app temporarily for storage space, and then forgot, or you've looked everywhere and just can't find an app. Luckily, there are ways to recover them! Here's how to find hidden apps on your iPhone.

Related: How to Hide Apps on iPhone

Jump To:

• How to Get App Back on iPhone Home Screen
• Uncover Hidden Home Screen Pages to Find iPhone Apps
• Where Are My Apps on My Phone? Use the App Store to Find Them
• iPhone App Disappeared? Use the Siri & Search Feature
• How to Find Hidden App Purchases in App Store

How to Get App Back on iPhone Home Screen

The App library makes it possible to compartmentalize and store apps without having them clutter up your Home screens. If you’ve lost an app recently, you may have hidden the app in the App Library by mistake. If you've lost your App Store itself, we have an article that can help with that, too. To get an app back on your iPhone home screen after hiding it, you can easily find it. Here’s how to find a hidden app in the iPhone App Library:

1. First, find your App Library by swiping left until you've gone one screen past your last Home screen page. Your App Library is made up of groupings or folders of apps that auto-sort.
   
   
    
2. If you don't immediately notice your app in the App Library, the fastest way to find it is to search for it. If you do see it, skip to step 4. Tap the bar that says App Library with a magnifying glass to search.
   
   
    
3. Type the name of the app.
   
   
    
4. You should see the app icon appear in the results list.Press and hold the app icon until a menu appears and tap on Add to Home Screen.
   
   

Now the app is accessible on your Home screen, and you can rearrange it as you see fit!

Return to top

Uncover Hidden Home Screen Pages to Find iPhone Apps

Are you wondering, “can you hide apps on iPhone?” The answer is yes! You can hide apps in several different ways, and you can even hide entire Home screen pages. Similar to a butt dial, this can happen accidentally. To check if you have hidden Home screen pages on your iPhone:

1. Long press the background of your Home screen until the icons jiggle.
   
   
    
2. Tap the dots at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
    
3. You will see all of your Home screen pages. If a Home screen doesn’t have a checkmark, that means it is hidden.
   
   
    
4. Tap the empty circle to make the Home screen page visible.
   
   
    
5. Tap Done.
   
   

Pro Tip: Missing or lost apps might also be located in app folders. These are created when apps are grouped together by dragging. A folder can have up to 12 pages of apps, so the app you are looking for might be invisible unless you keep swiping through pages.

Return to top

Where Are My Apps on iPhone? Use the App Store to Find Them

Do you find yourself asking, “where is my missing app?” If you're trying to find an app you suspect is buried in an app folder on your iPhone, the easiest way to find missing apps is to search the App Store. See the ask Siri method below if you are trying to identify the folder where the app is located instead.

1. Open the App Store.
   
   
    
2. On the bottom menu, choose Search. iPhone 6 and earlier: Open the App Store app and tap on the Search tab.
   
   
    
3. Next, type the name of your missing app into the search bar.
   
   
    
4. Now, tap Search and your app will appear! 
   
   

The advantage of this method is that your app will either show “Open”, indicating that it is still installed on your phone, or there will be a download icon indicating that somehow the app was deleted from your phone and needs to be reinstalled. If the download icon appears, download the app again and see if it appears on the Home screen as it used to. 

If Open appears, you can tap it to access your app immediately, and then go through your folders later and move the app back to a more visible place, so you don't have to repeat this search procedure every time you need your app.

Pro Tip: If you are wondering how to see recently deleted apps, go to your purchases by tapping your profile icon or your photo in the upper-right corner. As previously mentioned, any apps with the download icon indicate that these apps have been deleted from your iPhone and you can see them all by tapping Not on this iPhone. Now you know how to find deleted apps on iPhone!

Return to top

iPhone App Disappeared? Use the Siri & Search Feature

Still scratching your head, saying, "I can't find an app on my iPhone?" Don't fret! Another way to find your missing app is to use Siri & Search to search both your device and the App Store.

1. To activate Search, swipe down from the center of the Home screen. (You can also access Search from the Today View by swiping right on the first Home screen.)
   
   
    
2. Type the name of the missing app in the search field; try to match it exactly if possible. The Search feature will present you with a list of results. Your missing app should be among the top results.
   
   
    
3. If the app is on your device, the app icon will appear right under the search bar.
   
   
    
4. If the app icon appears with an iCloud symbol, it is on your phone but needs to be redownloaded. Just tap the icon to begin the download.
   
   
    
5. If the Search App Store option appears under the Search in Apps heading, it isn't on your iPhone. But if you tap it, you’ll be redirected to the App Store where you can download it.
   
   

Return to top

How to Find Missing Apps on iPhone: View Hidden App Store Purchases

Oops! Did you hide an iPhone app too well, and now you can't find it in your App Store purchases either? We'll help you find App Store purchases you may have hidden for privacy reasons.

1. Open the App Store.
   
   
    
2. Tap on the profile icon or your photo in the upper right corner.
   
   
    
3. Tap on your Apple ID. You may need to enter your Apple ID password. Use Face or Touch ID if prompted.
   
   
    
4. Tap Hidden Purchases to find hidden apps.​
   
   

Return to top

Sometimes an app will disappear. Does this mean that there is an app missing on your iPhone? It’s possible. Whether you have a missing app on your iPhone, a hidden app on your iPhone, or have simply deleted your app, we've taught you various strategies about how to find a hidden app that disappeared from iPhone.