How to Remove the Grey Home Bar at the Bottom of an iPhone

There is no switch to turn off the grey Home Bar at the bottom of an iPhone. This article shows you how to turn it off with a workaround you can use instead. 

Why Is There a Bar at the Bottom of My iPhone?

Simply put: Because there's no more home button. The iPhone X brought more screen estate by swapping the iconic Home button for a grayish bar at the bottom of the screen. The screen now shows you more information, and new gestures have made handling the iPhone faster. 

Not only will barely notice the grey Home Bar as you swipe from one screen to the next, you don’t need to select or tap on it to browse your phone. In fact, it's only there to remind you to swipe up from the screen's bottom edge. Notice a Swipe up to unlock message appears above the bar when you wait for a moment.

It's a visual aid on the screen of every app you open, both in Portrait and Landscape mode. But it can be slightly intrusive on some apps (like games and media players) and in Dark Mode.  

Can You Get Rid of the Bottom Bar on an iPhone?

No, the iPhone does not have a setting you can enable or disable to control the display of the bottom bar. Developers can write code that auto-hides the bar on some apps. But, Apple has the final say. 

Until Apple makes a change, the Guided Access in Accessibility Settings can be used as a quick hack to remove the grey home bar. There is one, big limitation: Guided Access works only in one app at a time. You'll have to trigger Guided Access for each app you open. 

How to Hide the Bar at the Bottom of Your iPhone Screen

Guided Access locks the phone to a single app and allows you control over the screen elements on display. It’s an essential child-proof feature to limit what kids can see and use on the screen. Guided Access also works as a temporary fix for the bar at the bottom of the screen. 

1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access.

   

2. On the Guided Access screen, toggle the switch to On. Select the options that appear when Guided Access is enabled.

3. Tap Passcode Settings. Select Set Guided Access Passcode that the iPhone will require to end a Guided Access session. You can also optionally enable Face ID to end a Guided Access with a double-click on the side button. 

4. Toggle the switch to enable Accessibility Shortcut, which later displays a small pop-up with accessibility options on triple-clicking the side button. 

   

5. Accessibility shortcuts use a triple-click on the Power button to quickly access frequently used accessibility features. Select the shortcuts from Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcuts. 

6. Open the app that you want to use without the Home Bar. 

7. Click the Power button on the phone's right side three times to activate Guided Access.

8. The iPhone enters the Guided Access mode. Tap Guided Access and then tap again on Start.

9. To exit the Guided Access screen, triple-click on the Power button. Enter your Guided Access passcode, then tap End. To use Face ID to exit Guided Access, double-click the Side button.