Turn off your work apps on iPhone.

Ways to turn off work apps on iPhone

“Turn off” can mean three different things: stop the notifications, get the app out of sight, or stop it opening at all. iPhone has a tool for each, and most of them take seconds to undo.

Turn off notifications for a work app

This is the quickest fix and the easiest to reverse.

1. Open SettingsNotifications.
2. Tap the work app, for example Slack or Outlook.
3. Turn off Allow Notifications.

To turn notifications back on, flip the same switch. If you only want them off in the evening, use a Focus schedule instead, as in the guide to iPhone quiet hours, so you don’t have to remember to switch them back every morning.

Hide, remove or offload a work app

Hide and lock it (iOS 18 or later)

1. On the Home Screen, touch and hold the app until the quick actions menu opens.
2. Tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode), then tap Hide and Require Face ID.
3. Authenticate, then tap Hide App.

The app moves to a Hidden folder at the bottom of App Library and drops out of search. Opening it takes Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. To see what’s hidden, go to SettingsAppsHidden Apps. To bring an app back, open the Hidden folder, touch and hold the app, and tap Don’t Require Face ID. Only apps you downloaded from the App Store can be hidden, so this works for Slack, Teams and Outlook but not Apple Mail.

Remove it from the Home Screen

Touch and hold the app, tap Remove App, then tap Remove from Home Screen. Nothing is deleted. The app moves to App Library, where you can touch and hold it and tap Add to Home Screen to put it back.

Offload it

Open SettingsGeneraliPhone Storage, tap the app, then tap Offload App. This removes the app but keeps its documents and data, so you can reinstall it later without losing anything. It’s a good fit for a long break, but it’s slow to undo, because getting the app back means downloading it again.

Sign out of the work account

If your work email lives in Apple Mail, you can switch the account off without deleting it.

1. Open SettingsAppsMailMail Accounts.
2. Tap your work account.
3. Turn off Mail. For an iCloud account, turn off “Use on this iPhone”.

Turn it back on the same way. For Slack, Teams, Outlook or Gmail, you can sign out from inside each app instead. That’s the most complete way to step away, but signing back in can mean passwords and a security code, so it suits a vacation better than a weeknight. For trips, see how to turn off work email on vacation.

Hide work apps after hours with a Focus

A Focus can show only certain Home Screen pages while it’s on. Put your work apps on one page, then leave that page out of your evening Focus.

1. Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the apps jiggle, and drag your work apps onto one page.
2. Open SettingsFocus and tap the Focus you use after work, such as Personal.
3. Tap the Home Screen preview, select only your non-work pages, and tap Done.
4. Under Apps, silence your work apps, then tap Add Schedule and set your off hours.

The full two-Focus setup is in how to set up a Work Focus on iPhone.

Block work apps on a schedule

To make work apps unavailable during set hours, you need Screen Time. Its Downtime setting blocks apps on a schedule, but it works the other way round: everything is blocked except the apps you allow, so you end up listing most of your phone.

Out of Office blocks only the apps you pick. Choose your work apps with Apple’s app picker and set your hours: Evenings (6:00 PM to 8:00 AM, Monday to Friday, by default), Weekends, custom days and times, or a Vacation date range. During those hours, opening a work app shows a shield instead, with one button: “OK, fine”.

It’s quick to reverse, too. One switch on the home screen turns it on or off, and when it’s on you can tap “End early” or “Extend 1 hr”. A shield doesn’t silence banners on its own, so keep notifications off or a Focus running for the same apps.