How To Tell If Someone Has Hidden Apps On Android in 2023

There are millions of android users in today’s world. From children to elder people, the popularity of Android has increased very much.

And the usage of smartphones has spiked in recent years as there have been huge advancements in technology and digital devices.

Android users download lots of apps, and hiding apps on their devices has been an increasingly popular way among android users.

You may want to find hidden apps on android or iOS devices for several reasons. So, is it possible to tell if someone has hidden apps on Android? Yes, it is, and that’s what you’ll know about in this article.

Nowadays, children and teenagers have become much more tech-savvy and could be hiding numerous apps on their devices for their private use, using messaging and chat apps, and watching videos.

Those apps may be potentially dangerous social media apps that they may be hiding, so it is necessary to know what apps they have installed on their devices.

Such hidden app may be pre-installed on your devices or could be hidden with the help of other apps and system settings to maintain device productivity and security checks.

In this article, I will be guiding you about “How To Tell If Someone Has Hidden Apps On Android.”

Signs Your Children/Spouse Has Hidden Apps On Their Android.

Here are some of the signs you can look out for to tell if someone has a hidden app on android devices.

1. Hiding/Turning off their phone 

One of the signs you can look to tell if someone has hidden apps on Android is if they immediately hide or turn off their mobile when you come around.

They don’t use it in front of you or when you come close to them. 

2. Never leave their phone.

Another sign to remember is when your kid or spouse constantly carries the phone wherever they go, even in their bathroom.

They ensure that the device is always within their reach, even when the phone is charging.

3. Refusing to Give Out Passwords

One good way to know if your kid or spouse has a hidden app on their device is to ask if you can borrow their phone for a while.

More usually than not, phones with hidden apps need a password to open the menu.

If they decline to give the password or even let you look through the device, you’ll know there’s definitely something up. 

4. Having Multiple Apps of the Same Type

Have you noticed that your child’s device has two apps with the same name? If that’s the case, you might be able to deduce something.

Multiple programs, such as two calculators, could imply that one is a vault that keeps apps and media hidden from prying eyes.

If you want to be sure, try starting both of these apps and observe what the difference is.

The built-in calculator on the phone starts up without displaying any logos or information.

On the other hand, a fraudulent one can take several seconds to load and indicate a firm logo before sending you to the real calculator.

4 Ways To Tell If Someone Has Hidden Apps On Android

Following are the 4 ways to tell if someone has hidden apps on their android phones.

1. Using App Drawer

You can view the entire list of installed applications that you have installed on your android device.

You can find your app drawer by tapping the icon with usually three vertical dots (varies from one Android to Android) present at the top of the device’s screen.

After you click this icon, you’ll see an app drawer screen where you can view a complete list of apps that have been installed on your phone in alphabetical order.

You can see what apps have been installed recently. Now to view the hidden apps, follow the given steps:

Step 1: Visit your app drawer section.

Step 2: Tap on the 3 vertical dots icon on your screen top right corner.

Step 3: Go to the Home Screen Settings, and tap on the Hide Apps option.

Step 4: Now, you’ll see the hidden apps that are not viewable in the app list. If you can’t see the Hide Apps menu, there are no hidden apps on the device.

2. Using Settings

You can also tell if someone has a hidden app on their android devices through their settings. To know this, follow the given steps:

Step 1: Go to Settings on your Android and tap on Manage Apps.

Step 2: On the next screen, you will see the complete list of apps present on your device under the All tab.

Now, you can view all the apps that are installed, disabled, and hidden along with the default system apps.

3. Using File Explorer App

The next method in this article to tell if someone has hidden apps on their Android is using a third-party app in the Google Play Store i.e.ES File Explorer.

See the following steps to use the ES File Explorer app to view hidden apps on Android.

Step 1: Go to the Google Play Store and download ES File Explorer.

Step 2: After the installation is completed, launch the app.

Step 3: Open the menu bar and tap on Tools.

Step 4: Scroll down the Tools menu and search for the option Show Hidden Files and turn this option on.

Now, you can see all the hidden apps installed on the android device. Also, you can hide the apps again if you want, so you can do it by disabling the Show hidden files option.

4. Using Parental Control App

The final method on this list to tell if someone has hidden apps on their Android is using a parental control app called fenced.ai.

Fenced.ai is a parental control tool used to monitor and track all children’s online activities.

Fenced.ai offers a multitude of features of which, one of which is seeing the installed apps on your device.

With this app, you can watch all the installed apps on the device. You can also view the messages on social media apps such as Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, their application screen time, etc. it helps to unveil the hidden apps on their device too.

Conclusion

People may be hiding apps for various reasons, as I have mentioned above. Likewise, children occasionally visit fishy websites unknowingly and click on multiple links, which redirect to certain apps downloading themselves.

That is why checking on the hidden app in Android is a huge way to ensure that the phone has no tracking apps installed.

Such malware and spyware apps can be hidden in your device, and you don’t want that.

Once you detect these secret apps, you should remove them immediately to protect your data and secure your phone.

Through this article, I hope you are clear on “How to tell if someone has hidden apps on their android.”

With the methods and steps mentioned above, you can find the hidden app on somebody else’s android phone.

Frequently Asked Questions