How To Hide Contacts On iPhone To Protect Your Privacy

How To Hide Contacts On iPhone For Greater Privacy

Learn 5 Different Solutions To Hide Contacts On Your iPhone!

Do you wish to hide your Contacts on your iPhone so that your privacy is secure from others? But, you don’t have any idea to do that. Don’t Worry! We are here to help you. In this guide, we have discussed some effective solutions on how to hide contacts to protect your privacy.

So, let us directly move to the solutions to hide contacts on iPhone to protect your privacy.

Note: All the solutions that I am going to discuss below will be applicable for all iPhone models such as iPhone 13/11/12/8/X/XS/XS Max/XR/7/6 and all the other iPhone models available in the market.

Solution 1: Lock Down Your App Switcher

If you use iOS 8, then you have seen that whenever you open the app switcher in public, it displays all your contacts and people you have recently talked to.

If you are out in public or in your friend group and you want your contacts to remain hidden then you need to lock down your app switcher to do the same.

Below, follow the steps to lock down your app switcher.

Step 1: Go to Settings > Mai, Contacts, Calendars.

Step 2: Then, go to the “Show in App Switcher” option and turn off this option.

Lock Down Your App Switcher To Hide Contacts On iPhone

Note: You can’t disable this option in iOS 9 as it has been removed.

Also Read: How To Retrieve Deleted Contacts On iPhone Without Computer

Solution 2: Hide Large Amount Of Contacts By Making A Group And Then Hiding The Rest

You can make a group of contacts together and then hide everyone else. We do this, as you can’t move contacts from one iCloud group to another. So, you need to create a group and then hide the original iCloud group. Doing this will hold all the contacts you don’t wish to see.

Here, we have shown you how to do this.

On your Mac computer, hit on “All iCloud” and then the “+” button.

How To Hide Large Amount Of Contacts On iPhone

After that, tap on “New Group”.

Hide Large Amount Of Contacts On iPhone

Next, type the suitable name for this group.

How To Hide Contacts On iPhone

Note: If you don’t have a Mac, then you can use iCloud to do it. Log in to iCloud and click on “Contacts”.

Hide Contacts On iPhone

Now, click on “+” button in the bottom right corner of the contacts pane.

Hide Contacts iPhone

Then, click on “New Group” and then enter a proper name.

How To Hide Large Amount Of Contacts On iPhone 13,12,11

Now, the group has been created, and it’s time to copy any contacts that you wish to show in your address book to that group. Here, we will show this process on iCloud, and almost the same steps can be applied on Mac.

You can drag every contact one by one to the new group, or you can use “Command” key on Mac or “Ctrl” key on a Windows keyboard to choose multiple contacts. You can also choose the range by using the “Shift” key. After selecting contact or contacts, you need to drag it to your new group.

How To Hide Large Amount Of Contacts On iPhone X, XS, XS Max

Now, go to your iPhone. Open the contacts and tap on “Groups”.

iPhone Contacts Hide

After this, tap on “Hide all Contacts”.

Hide All Contacts On iPhone

Next, you need to tap only the group you wish to show. Here, we have only shown you our special “VIPs” group.

Hide Groups Contacts On iPhone

If you have many contacts in your other accounts, then you can transfer them to your iCloud account on your Mac by dragging and dropping them using your Address Book. If you don’t use a Mac, then you can use the vCard method to do this.

Also Read: How To Restore Contacts From iTunes Backup

Solution 3: Disguise Specific Contacts With A Nickname

If you want to hide a few names of your contacts and you don’t wish to remove them from the contact list then you can give those contacts a nickname. This will help to hide the real name from the address book.

To do this, choose the contact, tap on “Edit” button. Now, scroll down and tap on “Add Field” option.

Disguise Specific Contacts With A Nickname

Next, hit on “Nickname” and then you will go to the edit field and give a nickname to that contact.

Disguise Certain Contacts With A Nickname

Now, others will don’t know whom you are talking with and this keeps your privacy secure.

Also Read: How To Recover Deleted Contacts From iPhone With or Without Backup

Solution 4: Hide Contacts From Spotlight Search

The hidden contacts still appear in the Spotlight searches. So, if you wish to remove your contacts from searches, then you can easily do this.

Simply open the Contacts app and then go to General > Spotlight Search.

Hide Contacts From Spotlight Search

After that, uncheck “Contacts” and “Phone” as well as any other items that you don’t wish to appear in the Spotlight on your iPhone.

Hide Contacts From Spotlight Search On iPhone

Also Read: How To Get Contacts From iPhone With Broken Screen

Solution 5: Hide All Contacts On iPhone

You can also hide all your contacts on your iPhone.

Here are the steps to hide contacts on iPhone.

Step 1: On your iPhone, open the Contacts app.

Step 2: Then hit on Group icon from the left top corner of the screen.

Step 3: After that, tap on “Hide All Contacts” and then choose “Done” option.

Now, no one can see your contacts on your iPhone.

Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]

Question 1 – How Do I Protect My Contact List On iPhone?

Answer – To protect your contact list on iPhone you need to hide them using the above solutions.

Question 2 – How Do I Hide A Contact List In Contacts?

Answer – You can easily hide a contact list in contacts.

Here are the steps to do so.

Step 1: Open the Contact app and then hit the contact to open it.

Step 2: Press the 4 small square icon and then tap on Edit.

Step 3: Now, scroll down to Additional info and hit the arrow to expand the section.

Step 4: Next, check the Hide in contacts list and Hide social activity boxes.

Question 3 – How Can I Protect My iPhone Privacy?

Answer – To protect your iPhone privacy you need to hide them and the steps to hide them are listed above.

Question 4 – How To Unhide Hidden Contacts On iPhone?

Answer – You can easily unhide the hidden contacts on your iPhone.

The steps to unhide hidden contacts on iPhone are mentioned below.

Step 1: Open the Contact app and tap on the contacts icon.

Step 2: Then tap on 4 small square icon and then hit on Hide/Show.

Step 3: After that, hit on “All hidden contacts”.

Question 5 – How To Find Hidden Contacts On iPhone?

Answer – To find the hidden contacts you need to follow the below steps.

Step 1: On your iPhone, open the Contacts app.

Step 2: Then tap on groups.

Step 3: Now, tap on All Contacts.

Wrap Up

In today’s world, people like to protect their privacy and it is really good. Many users like to hide their contacts to protect their privacy. So, this guide had discussed some solutions that will help you to hide contacts on iPhone to protect your privacy.