iOS 18 will let you hide and lock apps

Apple is introducing new feature to allow users to lock or hide apps in iOS 18, the company announced at its annual WWDC event on Monday.

Users will be able to lock an app when they hand over their phone to do things like show someone a picture or let them play a game. When you lock an app, if someone tries to tap your phone, they will be required to authenticate using Face ID, Touch ID, or their passcode.

While you have the app lock feature enabled, information from inside the app won’t appear in other places, like search and notifications.

You will also be able to hide an app that you don’t want others to know is installed on your device. You can hide these apps in a hidden folder that’s locked.

iOS 18 will also finally let you customize your icons and unlock them from the grid. The update also brings changes to control center, messages, mail and more.