You have hidden apps on your iPhone and you would like to make the previously hidden apps visible again: the problem, however, is that you have forgotten the steps taken at the time and cannot remember them in any way. So, how to find hidden apps on iPhone?
So, without waiting a moment longer, cut out a few minutes of your free time, make yourself comfortable and read carefully everything I have to explain on “How to find hidden apps on iPhone?”: you’ll see that, before long, you’ll be perfectly able to reach the goal you set yourself and do it in complete autonomy. That said, there is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and good luck for everything!
How to find hidden apps on iPhone via “Restrictions”
Did you follow my tutorial on how to hide apps on iPhone and now, alas, can’t you retrace your steps and show the previously blocked apps again? Don’t worry, I’m here for this. In fact, in the following, I will explain to you how to remove the restrictions applied through the time of use function of iOS 12 (or later), to then show you how to find hidden apps on iPhone again through the “Restrictions” function of iOS 11 and earlier. Keep in mind that in order for the “unlocking” of the hidden apps to be successful, you must necessarily remember the codes set during the blocking phase.
Time Of Use (iOS 12 and later)
If it is your intention to show again all or only some of the blocked apps through the Time of Use feature of iOS 12, you must cancel the operation you had performed at the time, performing the “reverse” procedure.
So, first of all, went into the iPhone settings by pressing the gear – shaped button located on the Home screen, touch the item Use time and then choose whether to unlock entire categories of apps, or just some of them: in the first case, you tap on the item App limitations, enter the PIN code set during blocking, tap on the category you want to unlock (e.g. Social Network) and then twice on the Delete limitation button, located at the bottom. Then repeat the operation for each of the categories you want to unlock.
If your goal is to show one or more previously blocked apps (and not an entire category), you must instead press on the Always allowed entry attached to the Usage time panel, identify the apps to unlock in the Choose app and, to add them to the list of allowed apps, touch the green button (+) located next to each of them.
Finally, if the set block concerned the apps integrated into the operating system (such as Mail, Safari and so on), you should instead go to Settings > Usage time > Contents and privacy , tap the Allowed apps item and act on the levers corresponding to the hidden apps previously, to view them again.
Restrictions (iOS 11 and earlier)
How do you say? Do you have an iPhone at iOS 11 or an earlier version of the Apple operating system and you are still confused how to find hidden apps on iPhone cause you do not have the “Time of Use” feature I showed you earlier? In this case, you can cancel the block and show the hidden apps again by changing the settings related to “Restrictions”.
To begin with, tap the Settings button of iOS (the gear- shaped one), touches the General and Restrictions items and, when requested, enter the lock PIN you had previously set. At this point, you can decide to unlock the only apps by clicking on the App and Allow all apps items, or completely remove the previously set restrictions (such as installing new apps, purchasing in-app content and more) by pressing on the Disable restrictions button. In any case, you will be asked to re-enter the PIN to confirm the changes applied.
Jailbroken iPhone app
If you have an iPhone previously subjected to the jailbreak procedure and you used Cydia Springtomize or HideMeX tweaks to hide the apps, you can cancel the change in an extremely simple way.
As for Springtomize, all you need to do is start the app by calling it from the iOS Home screen, tap the Icons placed on its home screen and remove the check mark from the apps you want to show again.
If, on the other hand, you have used the HideMeX tweak, you need to access the iOS settings, tap the HideMeX icon and then enter the Icons > App Hide section. To show the “disguised” applications in this way again, remove the check mark from the hidden apps by tapping on them.
How to find hidden spy apps on iPhone
How do you say? Do you suspect that on your iPhone an app-spy is active that reveals all or part of the information passing on the device and, therefore, you wish to “bring it to light” to get rid of it definitively? In this case, you need to find the right combination to access your management panel.
The reason is easy to say: as I have already had the opportunity to explain you how to find hidden apps on iPhone, but the spy apps do not appear in the list of the applications installed on the device, but, thanks to the elevated permissions obtained through the jailbreak, they can “Hide” and appear only by entering a precise combination of keys (or by visiting a specific Web page).
Before you even panic, let me give you a very important information: the spy apps are available almost exclusively on iPhones previously subjected to the jailbreak procedure. So, if your iPhone hasn’t been unlocked this way, you can sleep fairly quiet.
If, on the other hand, your operating system has been unlocked and you are at risk, you can try to reveal the spy apps by accessing the respective management panels, in two different ways: I always advise you to try both, so as to flush out any threats that sleep undisturbed in the phone.
- Via Browser – Start Safari and try to type localhost: 4444 or localhost: 8888. With a bit of luck (or bad luck, depending on your point of view!), you should be able to view the spy app configuration panel
- Via Dialer – Alternatively, you can try to reach the management panel of the spy app by starting the phone dialer (i.e. the screen that allows you to manually dial a number) and entering the code *12345
Once you reach the hidden app-spy configuration panel, you should use the button (or lever) to show it in the list of installed apps, to proceed with its instant deactivation and, finally, to remove it from the system from Cydia or with the classic procedure provided by iOS.
If you have come this far, it means that you have perfectly learned all the methods of how to find hidden apps on iPhone. Before leaving, however, let me give you some advice: as you have noticed yourself, the jailbreak procedure leaves the field open to apps that are extremely harmful to the integrity of your data and the entire phone; moreover, given the gradual abandonment of Cydia by the community, this procedure has become absolutely inconvenient over time.
In other words, those that could be the “benefits” associated with jailbroken devices almost no longer exist, while the risks have remained unchanged: for this reason, my personal advice is to eliminate the jailbreak as soon as possible, thus bringing iOS back to high levels security products designed by Apple.
Conclusion
There are thousands of applications available on the iPhone. Although most of these applications appear directly on the screen of your iPhone, some are hidden in the system menu. If you have already read this article then you must know “How to find hidden apps on iPhone?”.