# How to Hide Apps on Your Mac

Make an app disappear from the Dock, Launchpad, and Spotlight on macOS. Learn the difference between hiding and locking, and when each one is the right move.

Updated: 2026-09-10. Source: https://trycloak.app/blog/how-to-hide-apps-on-mac/

There is a difference between stopping someone opening an app and stopping them knowing the app is there at all. A lock puts a visible door in the way. Hiding removes the door, the frame, and the wall. For some apps, invisibility is the more useful kind of privacy.

This guide explains how to hide apps on your Mac, what hiding actually changes, and when you should hide an app instead of, or alongside, locking it.

## What people mean by hiding an app

macOS has a built-in Hide command, but it only tucks a running app’s windows out of the way. The app still sits in the Dock, still appears in Launchpad, and still shows up the instant someone types its name into Spotlight. That is not really hiding. It is more like minimising.

True hiding means the app stops appearing in the places people look. No Dock icon, no Launchpad tile, no Spotlight result. To a person poking around your Mac, the app simply does not exist. They cannot open what they cannot find.

## Hiding versus locking

These two approaches solve different problems.

- **Locking** is right when it is obvious you use an app and you only need to stop other people opening it. A locked app still shows its icon, but it asks for Touch ID before it will launch.

- **Hiding** is right when the presence of the app is itself the sensitive part. Maybe you do not want anyone to know you keep a particular journal, vault, or messaging app on a shared family Mac.

The two are not mutually exclusive. The strongest setup is to hide an app so it cannot be found casually, and also lock it so that even a deliberate launch asks for your fingerprint. If you want the locking side too, start with our guide on [how to lock apps on your Mac](https://trycloak.app/blog/how-to-lock-apps-on-mac/).

## How to hide an app with Cloak

[Cloak](https://trycloak.app) can remove an app from the Dock, Launchpad, and Spotlight, and bring it back only after you authenticate.

1. Install Cloak from [trycloak.app](https://trycloak.app) and open it. Everything runs locally, with no account.

2. Choose Add App and select the app you want out of sight.

3. Switch on Hide. Cloak removes it from the Dock, Launchpad, and Spotlight.

4. Set a Touch ID unlock so only you can reveal it again later.

When you need the app, open Cloak, pass Touch ID, and unhide it. When you are done, hide it again in a single tap. For specific examples, see [hide WhatsApp on Mac](https://trycloak.app/blog/guides/hide-whatsapp-on-mac/), [hide Discord on Mac](https://trycloak.app/blog/guides/hide-discord-on-mac/), and [hide a hidden vault on Mac](https://trycloak.app/blog/guides/hide-hidden-vault-on-mac/).

If you turn on intruder photos in Cloak, it also takes a picture with the built-in camera of anyone who gets the password or Touch ID wrong, so you know who tried.

## What hiding does not do

It is worth being honest about the limits. Hiding changes visibility, not existence. The app and its files are still on disk, so someone who knows the exact path and goes looking in Finder or Terminal could still locate it. Hiding is designed to defeat the casual snoop, the curious roommate, the child clicking around, not a determined investigator with time and technical skill.

That is exactly why pairing hiding with a lock matters. Hiding handles the people who would never think to look. The lock handles the rare person who does.

Hiding also does not stop an app running in the background. If you hide a messaging app that is still open, it may keep receiving messages and showing notifications. If you want it fully silent, quit the app before you hide it, or turn off its notification previews in System Settings.

## When hiding is the better choice

Reach for hiding when the answer to “should anyone even know this is here” is no. A second messaging account, a private finance tracker, a personal vault disguised as something dull. In those cases a locked icon still invites questions. An app that is not there at all invites none.

For everything else, a lock is usually enough. Use the lighter tool when it fits and save hiding for the apps whose very presence you would rather not explain.

If you want to make an app disappear from your Mac and bring it back with a fingerprint, [Cloak](https://trycloak.app) does it in a minute, locally, with a one-time purchase.

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Cloak locks, hides and encrypts apps, folders and files on your Mac. One-time purchase, no account. https://trycloak.app/