Generalized progressive hybrid censored mechanisms have been proposed to reduce the test duration and to save the cost spent on testing. This paper considers the problem of estimating the unknown model parameters and the reliability time functions of the new inverted Nadarajah–Haghighi (NH) distribution under generalized Type-II progressive hybrid censoring using the maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation approaches. Utilizing the normal approximation of the frequentist estimators, the corresponding approximate confidence intervals of unknown quantities are also constructed. Using independent gamma conjugate priors under the symmetrical squared error loss, the Bayesian estimators are developed. Since the joint likelihood function is obtained in complex form, the Bayesian estimators and their associated highest posterior density intervals cannot be obtained analytically but can be evaluated via Monte Carlo Markov chain techniques. To select the optimum censoring scheme among different censoring plans, five optimality criteria are used. Finally, to explain how the proposed methodologies can be applied in real situations, two applications representing the failure times of electronic devices and deaths from the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic in the United States of America are analyzed.