Knowing that a phone’s app ecosystem can make or break the user experience, Android has taken its selection further by allowing third-party apps to be downloaded onto their devices. The operating system gives its users a lot of control over their devices, such as ways to hide apps; unfortunately, this can lead to some confusion about the hidden apps and may raise security concerns.

Fortunately, you can check for hidden apps on your device in several ways:

1. In Settings, open the App menu for a list of all the apps installed, except for system apps.

2. To show system apps, look for a menu button. It’s located in the sorting options on Samsung phones. For Google Pixel phones, tap “See All Apps.”

While searching in the app drawer:

1. Long-press an empty space on the home screen, then select Settings or Options to open the customization options.

2. Look for something titled similar to “Hide apps on Home and Apps screens.” This will open a list of apps where you can see the apps that have been hidden.

For those worried about security, filtering by special permission access can help track down those apps that are allowed to execute functions and access data in the background without the user granting permission every time. While each device reaches the special permissions slightly differently, users should look for something similar to “Special App Access” or “Special Access” on the Apps menu.