Hide Unwanted iPhone App Icons With This iOS 9 Trick

For those who believe a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind, the same is likely doubly true when it comes to your iPhone’s home screen. Unfortunately, those who desire complete control of the aesthetic flow of their phones have always had to play around the unavoidable inclusion of Apple’s stock iOS apps on their launch screens.

Whether it’s a free-spirited soul looking to ditch the Reminders app, a Krispy Kreme lover trying to lose the Health app or a regretful Twitter investor wanting to delete the Stocks app, this trick can help you keep the apps out of mind, though they’ll still be accessible through Spotlight search.

The mechanics of the trick are simple enough and involve dragging the desired app out of a folder with a tap of the home screen button. It’s much easier to carry out after following the video above from YouTube user videosdebarraquito who discovered the hack. You may have guessed, but you don’t have to actually name the folder “Disappear” to get the hack to work.

It’s cool to get “locked” icons off the home screen as this was originally only a feature available to jailbreakers or, as the comments will undoubtedly note, Android users.

This trick also works for downloaded app icons, if you want to keep the functionality of the app on your phone but eliminate visual traces of it from your home screen.

If you have second thoughts, the move can quickly be undone by carrying out a restart of your phone, which is kind of a bummer as it’d be nice to rid myself of all signs of Apple News once and for all, but this can at least offer some momentary relief that dies when your phone does as well.