# Hide an app from your grid without uninstalling it

Use Hide from Grid in CubbyPad to remove an icon from your browsing pages while keeping the app installed and available in search.

By [Rudra Satani](https://cubbypad.com/about/), maker of CubbyPad · 26 October 2026

## Keep occasional tools out of the main view

Some apps need to stay installed even if you rarely browse for them: an updater, a specialist utility or a tool you open only for one project. Hiding its icon makes the grid easier to scan without removing the software.

In CubbyPad, hiding and uninstalling are separate commands. Hide from Grid affects the arrangement. It is the suitable choice when your goal is fewer icons rather than more disk space.

## Hide and recover the icon

1. Right-click the app in CubbyPad.

1. Choose Hide from Grid.

1. Use search when you need to open the hidden app.

1. To put it back on your pages, open Settings › Hidden Apps and restore its visibility.

## What hiding does not do

Hiding does not reclaim the app’s installation size, stop a running app or change another person’s access to it. It also does not remove the app from Finder. Treat it as a browsing preference rather than a privacy or security control.

If an app is consuming memory, inspect the running app instead. If you want storage back, review whether it should be uninstalled and whether any of its data must be kept.

## Make a deliberate arrangement

Before hiding many apps, decide whether an occasional-tools folder would work better. A folder keeps those apps visible as a group; hiding removes them from the pages. Try the approach that makes them easiest to find again, and keep a layout backup before a large cleanup.

Published by CubbyPad’s maker. See [about CubbyPad](https://cubbypad.com/about/) for the author and product details. For corrections, [get in touch](https://cubbypad.com/contact/).

## Put it into practice.

[Guide

### Move apps and make folders

Drag apps into place, move a group together, rename a folder and hide an app without removing it from your Mac.

Read guide ↗](https://cubbypad.com/guides/folders/)[Guide

### Review unused apps and leftovers

Use Cleanup to see what takes space, choose exactly what to remove, and move selected items to the Trash.

Read guide ↗](https://cubbypad.com/guides/cleanup/)[Guide

### Find apps, files and answers with search

Use names, initials, nicknames, sums and System Settings keywords. Run a Shortcut or open an app’s recent files from the same field.

Read guide ↗](https://cubbypad.com/guides/search/)

## More on app organization.

[### Organize your Mac app grid by icon color

CubbyPad can sort the grid by icon color. It is a useful visual arrangement when color helps you find apps, but it changes the positions you may already remember.

Read article ↗](https://cubbypad.com/blog/organize-mac-apps-by-icon-color/)[### Smart folders or manual folders for your Mac apps?

Manual folders keep the apps you put in them. CubbyPad’s smart folders update for categories such as Recently Installed, Not Opened Lately and Games.

Read article ↗](https://cubbypad.com/blog/smart-folders-vs-manual-app-folders/)[### Move several apps between grid pages at once

Command-click selects several apps in CubbyPad so you can move the group together. Use it when a new folder or page needs more than one icon.

Read article ↗](https://cubbypad.com/blog/move-multiple-apps-between-pages-mac/)

## Make room for your apps.

Every feature. One-time purchase. Made for macOS 26.

[Find your plan](https://cubbypad.com/pricing/)

Source: https://cubbypad.com/blog/hide-mac-app-without-uninstalling/