How to hide apps on Xiaomi and Redmi phones

Our smartphones have become a mirror image of ourselves. With access to our smartphones, it is now possible to discern every detail of our personal and professional lives, with the vast amount of personal data they hold. It has now become more important than ever to protect our privacy, and one of the ways to do that is by hiding apps that may reveal any information about us.

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While the most common way to lock apps these days is by using biometrics, the ability to hide apps puts selected ones away from prying eyes. Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker behind smartphone brands such as Mi, Redmi, and POCO, also offers a native feature to hide apps on devices running its MIUI operating system. If you have a Xiaomi or a Redmi smartphone, then here are the steps to hide apps on your device.

How to hide apps on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones

Xiaomi and Redmi phones offer a native feature to hide apps, and here are the steps you can follow to do so:

1. Head to the Settings app.  

2. Scroll down and find an option that says ‘Apps.’ Tap on it.  

3.  Look for the ‘App Lock’ feature in the App settings. 

4. Click on ‘App Lock’ and it will prompt you to set up the service first. You will need to set a passcode to enable the feature. 

5. Once you have enabled the App Lock feature, you will see two options: ‘App Lock’ and ‘Hidden Apps.’ 

6. Click on ‘Hidden Apps’ to see a list of all the apps installed on your Redmi smartphone. 

7.  Either scroll down to find the app you want to hide, or search by name. Once you have located the app you want to hide, simply enable the toggle next to it.

With the above steps, you have successfully hidden your apps on your Redmi smartphone. The same steps also work on POCO devices running MIUI.

How to find hidden apps on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones

Once you hide apps on your Xiaomi or Redmi phone, they will be removed from the app drawer of your smartphone. However, you can find your hidden apps by using gestures. You can access hidden apps by performing a pinch-out gesture on the home screen of your device. This will open a pop-up window asking for the passcode you had set earlier for App Lock.

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Once you enter the passcode, it will show you a folder with the hidden apps on your smartphone. Once you are done using the hidden app, close the folder and your apps will be hidden once again. A nifty gesture is all it takes to view hidden apps on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones.

How to hide games on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones

If you have kids at home and are looking for a way to hide games on your Xiaomi and Redmi phones from them, then there is a native way to do that as well. Xiaomi’s Game Turbo feature is not only designed to boost the gaming performance on your Xiaomi and Redmi devices, but also has an option to hide these games. Here’s how to go about using it.

1.  Go to Settings and scroll down to ‘Special Features.’ 

2. Click on ‘Special Features’ and tap on ‘Game Turbo.’ 

3. This will open the Game Turbo interface and showcase all the games installed on your Xiaomi/Redmi phone. 

4. Now, tap the Settings icon in the top right corner. 

5. Click the toggle next to ‘Remove added games from Home screen.’ 

6. Close Game Turbo and your selected games will be hidden from the home screen. 

How to find hidden games on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones

If you want to access the hidden games again, then go to Settings > Special Features > Game Turbo to view all your hidden games. You can launch these games from here and start playing. It is a small tradeoff compared to launching games easily from the home screen, but at least it keeps the games hidden from kids and ensures they don’t spend too much time on their phones.

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In addition to the native support offered by Xiaomi to hide apps on your Mi and Redmi phones, you can also install a third-party launcher to hide apps from the app drawer on your phone. This trick works on all Android phones and is not specific to those running Xiaomi’s MIUI operating system.

However, this would mean replacing the interface and if you are someone accustomed to MIUI then you might need to relearn the user interface. For most Xiaomi and Redmi phone users, the native support to hide apps from the App Lock feature should work.