Communication plays a very important part in everyone’s life, and we have a lot of communication tools to pass the information to our loved ones. Sending a text message is one of the old and popular ways of communication even now. One can send a text message from the iPhone to anyone in the world. And sometimes, we also send and receive personal messages to our loved ones. But you may not want others to peep into personal messages or read them for varied reasons. You can better handle this by hiding the messages on your iPhone. i.e., you can make the messages private on the iPhone. But, we cannot hide the messages in the Messages app itself. So, you need to work on some alternative ways to hide messages on your iPhone, and this section will explain the same in detail.
How to Hide Text Messages on iPhone
Hiding the text messages on the Messages app cannot be done directly. So, we are going to explain the alternative ways to hide text messages on iPhone without deleting them.
Method 1: Hide Message Notifications on Locked Screen of iPhone
When someone sends you a text message, you get a notification on the iPhone. And anybody can read the notification even on the locked screen. However, there is a way to hide the messages on the locked screen. For this, you have to turn off the preview option. Here are the steps.
1. Open Settings on your iPhone and go to Notification.
2. Under that, scroll down to the Messages option.
3. On the next screen, tap Show Previews.
4. Finally, choose Never to turn off the function. Now, you have hidden messages notifications on your iPhone.
5. If you don’t let the others know that you received messages, you can turn off the sound for the notifications. For that, go to Settings >> Notifications >> Sounds >> Vibration >> choose None option.
6. You can also turn off the Notifications completely.
Method 2: Set a Time Limit for Messages App
Sometimes you may give your iPhone to your friends and family members. At that time, they can preview your messages easily. So, you can avoid this by setting a time limit for your Messages application.
1. On your iPhone, go to Settings >> Screen Time >> Turn on Screen Time.
2. Next, click the Continue button and select This is My iPhone.
3. Then, tap Screen Time Passcode to set a four-digit screen time passcode.
4. Choose App Limits and then Add Limit option.
5. On the next screen, tap Social Networking and choose Messages.
6. Now, you can customize the Time and Days that you want to limit and turn on the Block at End of Limit option and then tap Add option.
7. When the limited time gets over, you can tap the Ask for More Time or One More Minute option.
Remember, you should set a time limit before you give your iPhone to others.
Related: How to Use Messages on Apple Watch.
Method 3: Lock and Hide Text Messages in Notes App
The next method is hiding the text messages in the Notes app. It is very simple, and you can just copy and paste the text message in a new note on the Notes app. To lock a note on the Notes app, swipe from left to right on the lock menu and set a passcode for the locked note. Once you copy and paste the text message, you should delete the message on the Messages app. If you want to hide more messages, you can go for other methods because it is time-consuming.
Method 4: Install Third-Party Apps to Hide Messages on iPhone
There are a lot of third-party text hiding apps available on the App Store on your iPhone. Here we have listed out some of the apps. You can choose the one that is more suitable for you.
- GO SMS Pro
- Vault
- Shady Contacts
- Private Message Box: Hide SMS
- Block SMS and Call
Bonus: How to Hide Text Coversation on iPhone from Individual Senders
If you don’t want to hide all the notifications, you can hide the notifications from the particular sender.
To hide notifications from a specific text message chain,
1. Open the message that you don’t want to display as the chain continues.
2. Tap near the person’s picture from the top of the screen.
3. On the taskbar that you get, tap the info icon.
4. Turn on the switch near to Hide Alerts option. With this, you will not receive message alert notifications. i.e., you choose to mute the text message conversation alerts.
To hide the message from one specific person on iPhone,
1. Open the contact from whom you want to hide the messages and choose Edit from the top right corner.
2. Scroll and tap Delete Contact and then tap Delete Contact on the pop-up.
3. Now, launch the Settings app and choose Messages.
4. Then, scroll down and slide the toggle on Filter Unknown Senders.
5. Now, the message from the deleted contact will be kept separately from the other messages.
Related: How to Unsend iMessage on iPhone Easily | Simple Hack
That’s it. These are the four easy ways to hide messages on your iPhone. Keeping your personal messages private is always good to avoid unwanted problems. You can also use a secret messaging app to keep your messages private.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can hide the message notifications on your iPhone, or you can also use third-party apps to hide messages on the iPhone. Go through the above section to get more details.
There are many third-party apps available to hide messages on the iPhone like Vault, Hide SMS, and more.
Yes, you can, but not directly from the Messages app.
You can use secret texting apps on your iPhone to hide iMessage.