A lot of us would have faced an issue when it comes to hiding redundant application icons from the Application Drawer on the Android phone especially Nexus series. This article is completely dedicated to the steps involved in fixing the issue of How to Hide Application Icons in Google Nexus 5. There can be several reasons as to why one would try to remove icons, it could be too many applications installed on the phone which makes the interface messy or phone battery draining quickly because of application files running in the background.

 

See also-

How to customize notification pull down bar on Nexus 5

How to Fix Nexus 5 Easily Draining Battery Problem

 

Steps to Hiding Application Icons in Google Nexus 5

There could be lots of ways in which you can hide the application icons on your phone either by disabling the application or by using certain launchers.

Disable the Application

You could do this by following the steps mentioned below. Note- You do not need any external software for this

-> Tap All Apps from the Home Screen

-> Settings

-> App

-> Choose the application from the listed category-  Downloaded, Running or All.

-> Click Disable.

Use Customized GNL Launchers

We will first start by explaining what Google Now Launcher is and what is its use as not many people are aware of it. Google Now Launcher (earlier known as Google Experience Launcher) is a software pre-installed on phone ROM which takes care of Home Screen and the background processes and tasks that are running on your device. The only issue that has been noticed with GNL is the lack of ability to disable Google Now and Search.

 

 

Previously Smart Hide Calculator was widely used by Android users all around the globe to hide applications behind the Calculator User Interface. There is other launcher software available which can be downloaded from Google Play Store like Nova Launcher Prime that can help you in customizing your App Tray. Some key features of this launcher software are as follows:-

Hide Apps
Folders in App Tray
Unlimited Custom Tabs
Allows users to organize apps in Tabs and Folders in App Tray
Dock swipes

Launcher software used to work fine until the launch of Google Now Launcher as the integration of this software isn’t possible with Google Now. One way to still customize the app icons according to  your wish is by using Xposed GEL Settings which uses Xposed Framework. Noted features of this app are as follows:-

Hide Google Search Bar on Google Now
Hide Apps from App Tray
Re-size the Home Screen Grid
Hide Icon Labels on Home Screen

Steps to Hiding Applications in Nexus 5 using Xposed GEL Settings

-> Download the software from Google Play Store

-> Select the application you wish to hide from the list of applications installed on your Nexus 5

-> Software will ask you to reboot your device for the effects to take place. Once you reboot the application will be hidden

This is how you Hide Application Icons in Google Nexus 5