Hidden Android Apps, How to Find Them

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 20 December 2021, 10:12 pm

There are many reasons why someone might want to hide an app-and Android has plenty of ways to do it. What if you want to do the opposite, though? Is it possible to find apps that have been hidden?

Many home screen launchers and some specialized apps have the ability to hide stuff. This is the method most people will use, but all launchers work differently. Rather than focus on specific methods for hiding apps, we'll show you how to find apps on any Android device.

How to Find Hidden Android Apps

First, swipe down from the top of the screen once or twice-depending on the manufacturer of your phone-and tap the gear icon to open the Settings, according to Business Insider.

Next, go to "Apps." On some devices, you'll need to tap "See All Apps." Others will go straight to the full app list. If your phone has the option, make sure you are looking at "All Apps."

Now you can see the entire list of apps installed on the device. Even apps that have been hidden by the home screen launcher will appear here. The only way to hide an app from this list would be with some pretty serious hackery.

Also Read: 10 Best Apps to Spy on iPhone (No Jailbreak & No App Installation)

That's all there is to it! This will likely be a pretty long list of apps, so it does require a certain level of attention to detail. The hidden apps won't be labeled. But it will work regardless of the app they're using to hide stuff. Just make sure you're not needlessly violating someone's privacy by doing this.

Android's Privacy Dashboard

Privacy is a growing concern for smartphone users. Apple has been leading the charge when it comes to better privacy features, but Google is improving Android as well. A feature called the "Privacy Dashboard" lays it all out for you.

The Privacy Dashboard is a feature that was introduced for Android 12. Along with some other things, Google made a big emphasis on privacy in this release, and the Privacy Dashboard is the centralized location for a lot of it, according to LifeWire.

What Does the Android Privacy Dashboard Do?

As its name implies, the Privacy Dashboard is literally a dashboard for all things privacy-related on your Android device. It's an overview that shows which apps are using which permissions and how often.

When you open the Privacy Dashboard found in the Settings menu, you'll see two different sections. We'll start with the circle chart at the top of the screen. This chart provides a quick and easy way to see which permissions have been used the most in the last 24 hours, according to HowtoGeek.

You can see that "Location" has been used the most, followed by "Camera" and "Microphone." This chart correlates with the list of permissions in the section underneath, so if you expand to "See Other Permissions," those will appear in the chart as well.

Underneath the chart is the permissions in list form. Each permission is labeled by how many apps have used it in the last 24 hours. Select a permission to see a handy timeline of that 24-hour period.