How to hide the app on your Xiaomi phone: from simple to advanced

Hiding apps on Xiaomi smartphones is a challenge that users have for a variety of reasons: someone wants to take away unnecessary system utilities, someone wants to hide personal data from prying eyes, and someone just optimizes the desktop. Unlike “pure” Android, MIUI firmware offers several built-in tools for this purpose, but not all of them are obvious. Moreover, after interface updates (especially in MIUI 14 and HyperOS), the location of settings often changes, which causes confusion even among experienced users.

In this article, we’ll look at 5 working ways to hide apps on Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO, from basic (available without additional programs) to advanced (using ADB or third-party launchers), focus on the nuances for different versions of MIUI and Android, and how to hide not only icons, but also notifications, processes in the multitasking menu, and even application data from scanning with antiviruses. If you’re looking for a way to make the application completely invisible – including its traces in the system – here you’ll find a solution.

We warn you in advance that some methods require caution, for example, disabling system applications through ADB can cause MIUI to malfunction. We marked such moments with special warning blocks - do not miss them!

1. Built-in "Hidden Applications" function in MIUI

The easiest and safest way to do this is to use a regular MIUI tool called Hidden Apps (or App Lock in newer versions), which doesn't remove the app, it just removes the icon from the desktop and from the menu of all apps, and it keeps running in the background, and you can access it through a search or a special menu.

To activate this mode:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → Annexes → Hidden annexes (in MIUI 14 Ways may be different: Settings → Confidentiality → Application lockdown).
• 🔒 If the function is blocked, the system will ask you to set a password, pattern lock or fingerprint.
• ➕ Click Add Apps and select the ones you want to hide.
• 🔄 Once you add the icons, they disappear from the screen. To return them, go back to this menu and uncheck the boxes.

An important nuance: hidden applications in this way are still displayed in:

• 🔍 Search results by system (if you enter the name in the search bar) MIUI).
• 📊 Multitasking menu (if the application was launched).
• ⚙️ List of all applications in settings (Settings) → Annexes → Application management).

💡

If you want to hide an app from search by system, use the method with Nova Launcher (section 4) or disable indexing for a specific app in Google settings (Settings → Google → Search and Services Google → Search in Apps).

This is a way for most users, but it doesn't provide complete privacy. If you need to hide the app "silently", read on.

2. Archiving of applications (without deletion of data)

The MIUI Archive feature allows you to freeze the application by removing its icon from the desktop and stopping background processes, but saving all data (including cache and settings), which is convenient for system utilities that cannot be removed by standard means (for example, Mi Video, Mi Music or GetApps).

How to archive the application:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select the desired application and click Remove (or Disable if the Remove button is inactive).
3. In the window that appears, select Archivate (not Delete completely!).
4. Confirm the action. The icon will disappear, and the data will remain in the memory of the device.

To return the archived application:

• 📦 Go to Settings. → Annexes → Archived.
• 🔄 Click on the app and select Restore.

Limitations of the method:

• It does not work for system applications that are updated (e.g. Google Play Services).
• Does not hide the application from the task manager (if it was launched before archiving).
• In some versions of MIUI, archived applications are visible in settings (Settings → Applications → Archived).

3. disabling system applications via ADB (for experienced)

If you need to hide a system application (such as Mi Browser, Mi Pay or Cleaner) that cannot be removed or archived, you can use ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which requires connecting your phone to your computer and basic command line knowledge, but allows you to completely disable unnecessary utilities without root rights.

Step-by-step:

1. Turn on USB debugging: Go to Settings → About Phone. Tap 7 times on MIUI to activate Developer Mode. Go back to Settings → Additional → Developer. Activate USB Debugging.

Connect your phone to your PC

Open the command line.

adb devices

(Your device should be displayed. If not, install Xiaomi or Google USB Driver drivers.)

1. Get a list of all the apps:

adb shell pm list packages

(Look for the name of the app you want, like com.miui.browser for Mi Browser.)

1. Turn off the app:

adb shell pm hide com.name.packet

Examples for turning off Mi Browser:

adb shell pm hide com.miui.browser

Once the command is completed, the app icon will disappear and all its processes will stop. To return the application, use:

adb shell pm unhide com.name.packet

🖥️ Install ADB-Drivers (Platform Tools from Google)|📱 Enable debugging on USB phone-on|🔌 Connect your phone to your PC with the original cable|🔍 Find the name of the target application package|📝 Save the unhide command in case of an error-->

Caution: Disabling critical system applications (e.g. com.android.phone or com.miui.home) can cause a phone to reboot cyclically or the interface to fail completely.

⚠️ Attention: B MIUI 14 and HyperOS some system applications are protected from shutdown ADB. If pm hide returns an Operation not allowed error, try an alternative method:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.name.packet

This command works similarly, but may require confirmation on some devices.

4.Using third-party launchers (Nova, Apex, Lawnchair)

If you don't like the built-in MIUI, you can install an alternative launcher that supports icon hiding, and the most popular options are Nova Launcher, Apex Launcher, and Lawnchair, which not only hide apps, but also group them into folders, change icons, and customize gestures.

Instructions for Nova Launcher:

1. Install Nova Launcher from Google Play.
2. Make it the default launcher (at the first start the system will prompt you to do this).
3. Press and hold your finger in the free desktop space, then select Nova Settings.
4. Go to App Settings → Hide Apps.
5. Tick the apps you want to hide and click Ready.

Advantages of this method:

• 🔄 Ability to hide any applications, including system.
• 🎨 Flexible configuration of appearance (themes, icons, animations).
• 🔍 Applications are not displayed even in the search for a launcher (unlike a standard solution). MIUI).

Disadvantages:

• ⚠️ Applications are still visible in the multitasking menu and system settings.
• 📱 Requires third-party software installation (which may not be desirable on enterprise devices).
• 🔄 When you reset the launcher to factory settings, hidden applications will again become visible.

💡

Third-party launchers are the only way to hide apps from root-enabled search, but they don’t provide complete invisibility in the multitasking menu and Android settings.

5. Hiding notifications and activity traces

Even if you have hidden an app icon, it can expose itself through notifications, processes in the multitasking menu, or usage history, and to make the app truly invisible, you need to turn off those channels.

How to hide notifications:

1. Go to Settings → Notifications → Notifications Management.
2. Find the desired application and turn off the Show notification switch.
3. For full concealment, also turn off the Icons on the lock screen and pop-up notifications.

How to hide from the multitasking menu:

• 🔧 V MIUI There is no direct function for this, but you can use a workaround: Open Settings → Special facilities → Special Options Services: Activate Do Not Save Actions (if any) or install a third-party app like Hide App-Hide Application.

root

ADB

adb shell settings put global hidden_api_policy 1

(This command unlocks hidden APIs, but doesn’t work on all devices.)

How to hide from the history of use:

• 📊 Go to Settings. → Battery and productivity → Battery utilization.
• 🔍 Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Reset Statistics (this will clear the history for all apps).
• 🔧 To disable the collection of statistics for a particular application, use ADB:

adb shell cmd appops set com.name.packet RUN_IN_BACKGROUND ignore

6 Advanced methods: root and specialized utilities

If you need to completely erase the application’s traces from the system (including its data, cache, and log entries), root rights and specialized tools like Titanium Backup or Lucky Patcher are required.

• 🧹 Remove system applications without consequences (with pre-backup).
• 🔐 Freeze applications so they don’t run even through ADB.
• 📂 Encrypt application data, making it inaccessible without a password.
• 🔄 Replace icons with neutral ones (for example, make a calculator from Tinder").