iPhone Message Privacy Tips

[nerdslife_team]

It’s pretty common to want some privacy with our messages these days. Whether it’s personal chats, work stuff, or even bank notifications, keeping those messages out of sight is understandable.

By default, anyone can see your iPhone message previews, even when the phone is locked. That’s not ideal. But there are several ways you can protect your message content from prying eyes. While you can’t truly ‘hide’ messages, these alternatives will give you a decent level of privacy.

Method 1: Delete Messages

If you really need a message gone, deleting it is your best bet. You can remove individual messages within a conversation or the entire thread.

1. To delete an individual message or messages, open the Messages app and go to the chat.
2. Tap and hold on the message you want to delete until options pop up, and then choose “More.”
3. Select the other messages you want to get rid of. The original message will be selected by default, so tap it again if you want to keep it. Finally, hit the ‘Delete’ icon in the lower-left corner.
   
   
4. Confirm your choice by tapping “Delete Message(s)”.
   
   

Note: Before deleting, you can copy the message content to your notes app. You can even lock your notes for extra security. For multiple messages, screenshots can be saved to your hidden album, which on iOS 16, has its own lock.

To delete an entire conversation:

1. Go back to your list of chats.
2. Swipe left on the chat thread. Then tap “Delete”.
   
   
3. Tap “Delete” again to confirm.
   
   

If you’re using iOS 16, messages aren’t instantly deleted. They’re moved to a “Recently Deleted” folder for up to 40 days. To get rid of them completely, you need to delete them from this folder as well.

Method 2: Hide Previews When Phone is Locked

One major privacy concern is the message previews that appear on your lock screen. Fortunately, it’s easy to hide them. When you hide these previews, the notification only shows the contact’s name (or number) and the message type like “Text Message” or “iMessage.”

You can choose to hide previews for all notifications or just for the Messages app.

1. To start, open the Settings app, and tap on “Notifications”.
   
   
2. To hide previews for all notifications, tap “Show Previews”.
   
   
3. Select “When Unlocked” to hide previews only when your phone is locked or “Never” to hide them all the time.
   
   

To hide previews just for the Messages app:

1. Scroll down and tap “Messages” in the list of apps.
   
   
2. Find the “Lock Screen Appearance” section and tap “Show Previews.”
   
   
3. Again, select “When Unlocked” to hide previews only on the lock screen or “Never” to hide them completely. This setting overrides your default notification settings for previews.
   
   

Remember, even if you hide previews for all apps, you can make an exception for certain apps by setting their “Show Previews” option to “Always”.

Method 3: Move to Unknown Senders List

If you don’t want to delete messages, but need to hide specific conversations, you can move the chat to the “Unknown Senders” folder. It’s not foolproof, but it keeps things away from casual glances.

1. First, go to the Contacts app or the Contacts tab in the Phone app.
   
   
2. Find the contact for the person whose chat you want to hide, and tap “Edit.”
   
   
3. Tap “Delete Contact” at the bottom.
   
   
4. Confirm the deletion by tapping “Delete Contact” again.
   
   

Next, you need to enable message filtering:

1. Go to the Settings app and tap “Messages”.
   
   
2. Under “Message Filtering,” tap “Unknown & Spam”.
   
   
3. Turn on the toggle for “Filter Unknown Senders”.
   
   
4. Also select the “SMS Filter” option below.
   
   

Now, the conversation will be moved to the “Unknown Senders” folder in your Messages app.

Method 4: Hide Alerts

You can also hide message alerts from specific people, so you won’t get notifications from them at all.

1. In the Messages app, find the chat you want to hide alerts for.
2. Swipe left on the conversation and tap the “Hide Alerts” icon (the bell with the line).
   
   

Now, you will only know if you have a new message from that person if you look at the badge on the Messages app icon.

Method 5: Turn off Notifications

To hide all notifications, you can turn them off for the entire Messages app.

1. Open the Settings app and go to “Notifications.”
   
   
2. Tap on “Messages” from the app list.
   
   
3. Turn off “Allow Notifications” to stop all message notifications – on the lock screen, in the notification center, as banners, and even the app badge.
   
   
4. Alternatively, you can control where notifications appear by turning off individual options like “Lock Screen”, “Notification Centre”, and “Banners” under “Alerts”.
   
   
   
   
   

With all three of these options off, you’ll only know about new messages from the badge on the Messages app.

5. You can also turn off the badges by switching off “Badges” toggle.
   
   

Method 6: Use Invisible Ink

If you want to send a message that’s temporarily hidden, use Invisible Ink. The message will be hidden until the recipient swipes over it to reveal it.

1. Before sending a message, tap and hold the “Send” button.
   
   
2. Tap the dot next to “Invisible Ink” to select it.
   
   
3. Tap the arrow to send the message.
   
   

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If these methods don’t offer the privacy you’re looking for, you may want to consider third-party apps like Signal, WhatsApp, or Telegram. These apps have features like disappearing messages, archived chats, and app locks that can significantly enhance the security of your conversations.