Whenever you receive a new message on iPhone, it displays a brief preview of the content in the New Message Notification. This setting can be a great feature if you want to know what the message says without opening it.
However, it can also be a privacy issue, especially if you share your phone with others. Luckily, you can turn off the message preview option in iOS 11.
How to turn off message previews
When a message comes in, your iPhone displays an alert with the sender’s name and a preview of the message. While this can be convenient, it also poses a privacy risk as others around you can see the contents of your messages even when your iPhone is locked. If you’re concerned about prying eyes, here’s how to disable text message previews on your iPhone.
While text messaging is a great way to communicate with friends and family, it can be a bit insecure at times because of the sensitive information being sent over the app. If you use your phone to communicate with co-workers or clients, it can be particularly worrisome because your boss or supervisor might read your messages. Luckily, you can prevent the display of message previews on your lock screen by changing a few settings on your phone.
To change your notification settings, open the Settings app and tap Notifications. Scroll down and select Messages. To turn off message previews on the lock screen, tap the option labeled Show Previews. Once you’ve turned off message previews on the lock screen, they won’t appear in New Message Notifications or in the Notification Center until you unlock your device.
However, you can still receive notifications for incoming messages by turning on “Reduce Motion” in Notifications or using the Focus feature. With this setting, your screen will only be dimmed when you pick up the phone to check your messages or if someone swipes to unlock it. This can be useful when you’re in a public space or don’t want to be bothered by people reading your personal texts. You can also customize your notifications and set up reminders in the Messages settings menu.
- Go to Settings
With iOS 11, iPhone users now have a lot of control over how they get notifications. For example, they can choose to turn off flash notifications for incoming phone calls, set full-screen banners for messages instead of the default banner alerts, and disable text message previews on the lock screen. Changing the way that messages are notified can be an important privacy measure.
It also provides a level of customization that many users find convenient. For instance, some users may want to enable a quick voice message button that allows them to record and send a verbal response to a text. Then there’s the option to see attachments in messages. This lets users open shared files and photos in a message conversation.
Some users who are concerned about privacy might want to change the way that iMessage and SMS messages are notified. They can do this by going to the Settings app and then selecting Messages. Here, users can tap the Notifications tab and then tap Show Previews to change the current setting. Users can select Always, Never, or When Unlocked.
The last option prevents message previews from showing on the Lock screen but still shows them as regular New Message Notifications that appear in the Notification Center. This is an excellent option for people who share devices and don’t want bystanders to be able to sneak a peek at their messages.
Some users might even be concerned about the possibility of someone else seeing a message preview while their device is locked. In this case, they can disable the feature by heading to the Settings app and then selecting Messages. Next, they can tap Notifications and then choose the option to not show messages on the Lock screen.
- Scroll down to Notifications
When your iPhone receives a message, it shows the sender’s name and the first few words in a notification on your lock screen. This can be handy if you want to quickly check your messages, but it can also pose a privacy risk when your phone is unlocked and anyone could see what your message says. If you don’t want to miss out on any notifications, but you don’t want others to read your private texts, you can disable the Message Preview feature.
You can do this by going to your Settings app and tapping Notifications. You can adjust how you want to be alerted to new notifications, including where they appear, what time you want them to sound, and how they are grouped together. You can also enable Focus Mode to help you concentrate on work or other tasks by temporarily silence all notifications or limiting them to the ones that matter most to you.
Scrolling down to your notifications allows you to view a list of the most recent alerts that you have received, along with the date and time they were received. You can also scroll up to view notifications that have been sent in the past. You can choose to delete a specific notification or select Clear All to remove all notifications from an organized group, such as a certain app’s messages or email.
If you are having trouble seeing your notifications, there may be an issue with the apps that are sending them to your device. You can try restarting your iPhone or reinstalling the apps that aren’t working properly. If this doesn’t fix the problem, it’s likely that you need to update your iOS.
- Tap Messages
Whether you are at work or in the middle of a conversation with your friend, there will be times when you do not want prying eyes to read your message. This is why it’s important to know the multiple tricks and hacks that are available to hide text messages on an iPhone.
When you receive a message on your iPhone, the app icon will appear on the screen with a blue light surrounding it. This is to indicate that the message has been forwarded from another device, such as an iPad or Apple computer, and not just from a phone number. The message will also be accompanied by a brief preview of the Message contents.
By default, the Messages app will display this preview of the Message on the lock screen, making it easily accessible to anyone who may see your phone. However, this feature can be disabled, and we’ll show you how to do so in the following steps.
Open the Settings app and tap Notifications. Scroll down to Messages and tap Show Previews. Select Never to disable the preview of Messages on your lock screen.
If you choose to disable the preview, you will still be able to access your Messages, emails and other notifications from the lock screen. In addition, you can use the Focus feature to temporarily silence all notifications or restrict them to specific ones.
Alternatively, you can also choose to disable the New Message Alerts on the lock screen by going to Settings and scrolling down to Messages. You can also enable the Digital Touch feature in Messages to send your friends and family drawings, heartbeats, fireballs, kisses, and more. These Digital Touch messages are also viewable on watchOS, so you can express yourself with a variety of different options.
- Tap Show Previews
Some apps, such as Messages and email, will show a preview of their content on your lock screen when you receive a notification. This feature can be convenient, but it can also compromise your privacy and security if someone else has access to your phone. Fortunately, you can disable this feature by following these steps.
Open the Settings app and navigate to Notifications. Scroll down to the bottom and tap Show previews. Here you can choose whether to display previews of your notifications on the lock screen when you aren’t using the device, or if you want to only see them when you unlock your phone. You can also set the option to never show notification content on the lock screen, which will hide any previews for any app you enable.
You can also adjust the position, location, and style of your alerts, as well as set which notifications are repeated. You can also use the Focus feature to temporarily silence or hide certain types of notifications, which is useful if you’re in public or working on something important.
If you’re not concerned about prying eyes on your lock screen, it may be easier to just turn off all notifications so you can’t see what other people are talking about. However, that can be a bit overwhelming, and it also means you won’t get any updates on your favourite apps.
If you do have a concern about someone seeing what you’re writing, you can use Screen Time to password-protect your built-in apps so that they can’t be opened without the passcode. However, you can’t currently password-protect Messages or other messaging apps, but you can protect them with another method, such as Touch ID or Face ID.