diff --git a/src/ui/__tests__/ui_nav_link.js b/src/ui/__tests__/ui_nav_link.js
index e5a2ea8a2a70..f264ccf426ec 100644
--- a/src/ui/__tests__/ui_nav_link.js
+++ b/src/ui/__tests__/ui_nav_link.js
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ describe('UiNavLink', () => {
         url: '/app/kibana#/discover',
         description: 'interactively explore your data',
         icon: 'plugins/kibana/assets/discover.svg',
+        hidden: true,
+        disabled: true
       };
       const link = new UiNavLink(uiExports, spec);
 
@@ -24,6 +26,8 @@ describe('UiNavLink', () => {
       expect(link.url).to.be(`${uiExports.urlBasePath}${spec.url}`);
       expect(link.description).to.be(spec.description);
       expect(link.icon).to.be(spec.icon);
+      expect(link.hidden).to.be(spec.hidden);
+      expect(link.disabled).to.be(spec.disabled);
     });
 
     it ('initializes the url property without a base path when one is not specified in the spec', () => {
@@ -85,6 +89,51 @@ describe('UiNavLink', () => {
 
       expect(link.linkToLastSubUrl).to.be(true);
     });
+
+    it ('initializes the hidden property to false by default', () => {
+      const uiExports = {};
+      const spec = {
+        id: 'kibana:discover',
+        title: 'Discover',
+        order: -1003,
+        url: '/app/kibana#/discover',
+        description: 'interactively explore your data',
+        icon: 'plugins/kibana/assets/discover.svg',
+      };
+      const link = new UiNavLink(uiExports, spec);
+
+      expect(link.hidden).to.be(false);
+    });
+
+    it ('initializes the disabled property to false by default', () => {
+      const uiExports = {};
+      const spec = {
+        id: 'kibana:discover',
+        title: 'Discover',
+        order: -1003,
+        url: '/app/kibana#/discover',
+        description: 'interactively explore your data',
+        icon: 'plugins/kibana/assets/discover.svg',
+      };
+      const link = new UiNavLink(uiExports, spec);
+
+      expect(link.disabled).to.be(false);
+    });
+
+    it ('initializes the tooltip property to an empty string by default', () => {
+      const uiExports = {};
+      const spec = {
+        id: 'kibana:discover',
+        title: 'Discover',
+        order: -1003,
+        url: '/app/kibana#/discover',
+        description: 'interactively explore your data',
+        icon: 'plugins/kibana/assets/discover.svg',
+      };
+      const link = new UiNavLink(uiExports, spec);
+
+      expect(link.tooltip).to.be('');
+    });
   });
 
   describe('#toJSON', () => {
@@ -103,9 +152,8 @@ describe('UiNavLink', () => {
       const link = new UiNavLink(uiExports, spec);
       const json = link.toJSON();
 
-      ['id', 'title', 'url', 'order', 'description', 'icon', 'linkToLastSubUrl'].forEach(expectedProperty => {
-        expect(json).to.have.property(expectedProperty);
-      });
+      ['id', 'title', 'url', 'order', 'description', 'icon', 'linkToLastSubUrl', 'hidden', 'disabled', 'tooltip']
+      .forEach(expectedProperty => expect(json).to.have.property(expectedProperty));
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/ui/public/chrome/directives/app_switcher/app_switcher.js b/src/ui/public/chrome/directives/app_switcher/app_switcher.js
index 01236785b5d0..8f54b4aa4a09 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/chrome/directives/app_switcher/app_switcher.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/chrome/directives/app_switcher/app_switcher.js
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ import uiModules from 'ui/modules';
 import appSwitcherTemplate from './app_switcher.html';
 
 function isNavLinkEnabled(link) {
-  return link.enable === undefined || link.enable;
+  return !link.disabled;
 }
 
 function isNavLinkShown(link) {
-  return link.show === undefined || link.show;
+  return !link.hidden;
 }
 
 uiModules
diff --git a/src/ui/ui_nav_link.js b/src/ui/ui_nav_link.js
index fdcd81a9dd42..63847d97de76 100644
--- a/src/ui/ui_nav_link.js
+++ b/src/ui/ui_nav_link.js
@@ -10,9 +10,12 @@ export default class UiNavLink {
     this.description = spec.description;
     this.icon = spec.icon;
     this.linkToLastSubUrl = spec.linkToLastSubUrl === false ? false : true;
+    this.hidden = spec.hidden || false;
+    this.disabled = spec.disabled || false;
+    this.tooltip = spec.tooltip || '';
   }
 
   toJSON() {
-    return pick(this, ['id', 'title', 'url', 'order', 'description', 'icon', 'linkToLastSubUrl']);
+    return pick(this, ['id', 'title', 'url', 'order', 'description', 'icon', 'linkToLastSubUrl', 'hidden', 'disabled', 'tooltip']);
   }
 }