Have you ever wanted to hide contacts on your iPhone without deleting them? Unfortunately, iPhones don’t have a built-in feature for concealing a particular contact. But don’t fret; there are multiple workarounds to help you hide them.
To hide all contacts on iPhone, go to the Contacts app, tap “Groups” at the top-right corner, and select “Hide All Contacts” from the bottom. You can also use nicknames to conceal the identity of a specific contact.
We took the time to compile a detailed guide on hiding contacts on your iPhone with easy step-by-step instructions to make the whole process easy for you.
Hiding Contacts on iPhone
If you are wondering how to hide contacts on your iPhone, our 6 step-by-step methods will help you accomplish this task without much hassle.
Method #1: Using Contact Groups
Follow these steps to hide all contacts on your iPhone using the Contact Groups.
- Open the Contacts app on your iPhone.
- Tap “Groups” from the upper-left corner.
- Tap “Hide All Contacts”.
- Tap “Done”.
All of the contacts on your iPhone will now be hidden.
Method #2: Using Nicknames
With the following steps, you can mask your contacts on your iPhone using their nicknames.
- Launch the Contacts app and tap the contact you want to nickname.
- Select “Edit” from the top-right corner.
- Scroll down and choose “Add Field”.
- Tap “Nickname” and enter the desired name in the field.
- Launch Settings and navigate to “Contacts”> “Short Name”.
- Toggle the “Prefer Nicknames” option to enable it.
The contact will now appear with its nickname instead of the actual name.
Method #3: Using Spotlight Search Settings
The contacts can still appear with a Spotlight search even after hiding them. To conceal the contacts completely, follow these steps to disable the Spotlight search settings.
- Open Settings.
- Tap “Siri & Search”> “Contacts” from the list of apps.
- Turn off the slider for each setting under the “While Searching” and “Suggestions” section.
Your contacts won’t appear in the searches on your iPhone now.
Method #4: Using Google Contacts
Do these steps to hide contacts on your iPhone using Google Contacts.
- Open Google Contacts using a browser on your iPhone.
- Tap the contact you want to hide.
- Tap the three dots next to the star icon.
- Tap “Hide From Contacts”.
The selected contact will now stop appearing in your iPhone’s Contacts app.
You can also use Google Contacts to hide multiple contacts on your iPhone.
Method #5: Creating a Private Group
Another method to hide contacts on your iPhone is creating a private group. To do this, you need to do the following steps on a PC or Mac computer.
- On your Mac or PC, log in to iCloud and open Contacts.
- Tap the plus (+) icon at the bottom, select “New Group”, and give it a name (e.g., “Personal”).
- Select the contacts and drag them to the new group.
Now, do these steps on your iPhone.
- Open the Contacts app.
- Select “Groups” from the top-left corner.
- Select the newly created group (i.e., “Personal”).
All the contacts other than those in the “Personal” group will now disappear from the Contacts app.
Method #6: Using vCard
Another effective method for hiding contacts on your iPhone is by creating a vCard for them.
- Open the Contacts app.
- Tap the contact you want to hide and select the “Share Contact” option.
- Tap “Save to Files”, pick a folder, and tap “Save”.
- Delete the contact by tapping “Edit” and “Delete Contact” at the bottom.
You can now easily access the contact from the Files app and keep it hidden from prying eyes.
All the contacts saved as vCard on the iPhone appear as electronic business cards in the Files section or the location where you save them.
Summary
In this guide on hiding contacts on iPhone, we have looked into multiple methods to conceal some contacts on your device. We have discussed how you can use Contact Groups, Nicknames, Spotlight Search Settings, Gmail, computer, and vCard to make some or all of your contacts disappear from the iPhone Contacts app.
Hopefully, one of these methods has worked for you, and you can now quickly prohibit others from seeing your private contacts.
Frequently Asked Questions
To find the hidden contacts on your iPhone, open the Contacts app. Go to “Groups” in the upper-left corner, select all the groups, and tap “Show All Contacts” at the bottom. All your contacts will now appear in the contacts list.
You can use your Mac computer to delete multiple contacts on your iPhone. To do so, go to System Preferences” click Apple ID, and click the checkbox next to “Contacts” so the contacts sync between your Mac and iPhone.
Now, open the Contacts app, hold the Command key and click to select the contacts you want to delete. Hold the Control key and click to open the “Delete” menu. Click the “Delete” button in the confirmation box.
