App installed from apk, but not in app drawer and in settings

Seems like a spying apps which can install in stealth mode and never being detected.

Try with ADB commands to check if it appears in the list of installed apps and eventually delete it.

1. Download Minimal ADB and fastboot . Unzip and run it. (Windows machines)


2. On the phone, enable USB debugging in Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging. If the Developer Options is not present: Go to Settings > About then hit 7 times on Build number then go back to Settings.


3. Depending on your phone, you'll need drivers for your device to be detected (Windows).


4. Connect the phone to the computer. On the terminal window, type adb devices [press enter] this checks if the phone is detected. Output : xxxxxxx devices


5. Type adb shell [press enter]


6. Type pm list packages -f [press enter]. A long list of apps with their packages name will output, just check if your app is listed.


7. Then to delete the app, type cd /system/app [press enter] or cd /system/priv-app [press enter] depending on the app location and then type rm app_name.apk [press enter] (app names are case sensitive).

Note: An alternative for Minimal ADB and fastboot which is available for Linux, Mac and Windows as well, can be found in the answers on Is there a minimal installation of ADB?.

Since you are using Nova Launcher, I remember you can hide apps. Check if you didn't do so inadvertently.

• Go to Nova's Settings menu, by either long-pressing on the home screen and selecting the “Settings” icon in the bottom right, or heading into the app drawer and tapping the “Nova Settings” icon.


• Open the second entry App & widget drawers


• In the Drawer groups section, select the **Hide apps* option.


• Then check if the app appears there and eventually uncheck the check mark.