How to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge? (and show all apps on Galaxy S7 home screen)

Why you may want to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge

As you may know, iOS does not have an apps screen (aka app drawer). All apps are put in the home  screen. Owners has no control on this.

Android gives more options. All Android phones come with home screen and apps screen (aka app drawer). You can only put frequently used apps  and widgets (btw, iOS does not have widgets) to home screen. In Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge, you can tap the apps icon (9 dots) to navigate to apps screen. Tapping home button (see Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge layout page) to navigate back to home screen.

Some Android phone owners often laugh at iOS users for lacking such flexibility.

But some Android users may feel it is confusing when you have two locations to hold your apps.

Especially for new Android users, they may try to launch all apps from  apps screen. This means it requires at least one more tap.

Now, Samsung offers a new feature that allows you to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge through Galaxy Labs. All apps will be placed in Galaxy S7 home screen.

Please note, this feature of hiding apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge may be not available in some regions/carriers.

How to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge?

To hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, please follow these steps.

Step 1: Go to Settings

You can enter Galaxy S7 Settings using one of the following two methods:

• Tap Settings app icon in Apps screen or home screen (if you put the app in Galaxy S7 home screen).
• Swipe down from top of the screen (status bar), then tap the Gear icon.

Step 2:  Enter Advanced features.

In the Settings page, you can find Advanced features entry as shown below.

Tap Advanced features.

Step 3: Enter Galaxy labs

As shown below, under Advanced features, you can find Galaxy Labs.

Tap Galaxy Labs to try some new (and maybe experimental) features.

If you cannot find Galaxy Labs in Advanced features page, it means your carrier chose to disable this feature. You cannot use hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Step 4: Start Galaxy Labs.

Tap Start button as shown above to check available features in Galaxy Labs for Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Step 5: Enable the feature to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge

As shown in Galaxy Labs page, there are only two features available for my Galaxy S7 edge.

To hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, you need enable “Show all apps on home screen“.

As shown above, by default, this feature is not enabled.

Tap Show all apps on home screen as shown above.

In the Show all apps on home screen page, you can drag the switch (as shown below) to right side, or just tap the switch, to turn on show all apps on home screen.

When you enable show all apps on home screen, the system will automatically hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

But before this feature is enabled, you will get a warning message (as shown below).

All your apps will be shown on the Home screen. Any customizations you have previously made to the Home screen will be discarded.

Tap OK as shown below to  show all apps on home screen and hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Once show all apps on home screen is enabled, the switch should turn to blue as shown below.

Step 6: Enjoy the apps icon free home screen.

Now, navigate back to Galaxy S7 home screen by tapping home button.

You can find the apps icon (9 dots) disappears from the favorite tray as shown above.

Now, you essentially hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge. All apps are shown on the Galaxy S7 home screen.

Does it change the Galaxy S7 theme after I hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 or S7 edge?

No, your wallpapers and widgets in home screen and the theme will not be changed after you hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 or S7 edge.

Additional home screen panels will be added automatically to accommodate more apps because you now show all apps on home screen.

But for widgets added later to the home screen panels created by this feature will be removed from home screen when you turn off this feature.  You have to re-add them.

Can you hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, and show all apps on Galaxy S7 home screen?

If you have any questions or encounter any problems when you try to hide apps screen on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge or to show all apps on Galaxy S7 home screen, please let us know your questions  or problems in the comment box below.

The community will try to help you.

You can get the official Samsung Galaxy S7 user manual (user guide) in your local language here, and Galaxy S7 edge user manual (user guide) in your local language here.

For other guides on using Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, please check Galaxy S7 online manual page.

For detailed Galaxy S7 how-to guides, please check Galaxy S7 how-to guides page.