GOOGLE has upgraded its Android phones with a new feature that lets you “hide” apps.
It works like a kind of “digital safe” inside your phone where you can lock away things you don’t want other people seeing.
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The feature is called Private Space and it’s part of the latest Android 15 update.
Google says you might want to keep social, dating, or banking apps in there.
But you could also store photo or file apps that contain snaps you’d rather keep private.
It’s available right now if you’ve got Android 15 installed.
Google explains: “Private space in Android 15 acts like a digital safe on your phone.
“You can create a separate private space to organize sensitive apps, like your social, dating or banking apps.
“When private space is locked, apps remain virtually invisible to others and are hidden from your apps list, recent apps view, notifications and settings.
“To access private space, there’s an additional layer of authentication to keep apps secure and away from prying eyes.”
And if you want to make it even more private, you can hide the Private Space itself.
That means people won’t even see that it’s there.
HOW TO USE PRIVATE SPACE ON ANDROID
First make sure that you’ve updated to Android 15.
You can check your phone’s version by going to Settings > About Phone > Android Version.
And if you want to update, go to Settings > System > Software Update.
Note that the names of these settings may vary slightly depending on your phone model.
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Once you’ve got Android 15, you can then go into Settings > Security & Privacy.
Next you’ll want to look for Private Space, and follow the Set Up instructions.
This will create a new area at the bottom of your app drawer where you can find your hidden apps.
However, you can also hide the Private Space completely by going into settings.
Google explains: “For additional privacy, you can choose to hide the existence of private space from view on your phone.”
IPHONE USERS HAVE THIS TOO!
Don’t worry if you’re reading this and you’re panicking because you have an iPhone.
Apple recently built a very similar feature into the iPhone as part of the new iOS 18 update.
Just going into Settings > General > Software Update to check if you have it.
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Then simply go to the Home Screen, touch and hold on an app icon, then choose Require Face ID.
After that, select the option to Hide and Require Face ID.
You can then find the hidden app in the Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library – that’s on the far-right Home Screen panel.
It’s impossible to see what’s inside the locked Hidden folder from the outside.
iOS 18 devices – can your iPhone get it?
Here are the devices that can get the new iOS 18 update
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
- iPhone XR
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
In fact, you can’t even tell if there’s anything in there at all.