iPhone provides multiple ways to Hide Text Messages and prevent the possibility of your personal and confidential Text Messages from being seen by others.
Depending on your requirements, you can protect your privacy on iPhone by Hiding text Message Previews, Hiding Message Notifications and other methods.
Hide Text Messages on iPhone
If you are like most users, you should be able to maintain a reasonable level of privacy protection on iPhone by setting your device to Auto-Lock and by hiding Message Previews.
If your circumstances call for a stronger level of privacy, you can Lock Messages by using Passcode or Touch ID, Hide Message Alerts from specific Contacts, Set Messages to Auto-Delete and even use Invisible Ink.
1. Set iPhone to Auto-Lock
The first step is to make sure that your iPhone is set to automatically lock its screen after a reasonably short period of inactivity. This reduces the possibility of your Message notifications being seen by others.
1. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > scroll down and tap on Auto-Lock.
2. On the next screen, select your desired Auto-Lock period.
Note: Anything longer than 1 minute increases the chances of your Message notifications being seen by others.
2. Disable Message Previews
While Message previews can be useful, they can be viewed by anyone that is able to take a look at your screen or has access to your device.
Depending on your privacy requirements, you can either totally disable Message Previews or Hide Message Previews only the Lock Screen of your iPhone.
You can find the steps to totally Disable Message Previews or only hide them on the Lock Screen in this guide: How to Hide Text Message Previews on iPhone.
3. Hide Message Alerts
In certain cases, you may find the need to Hide Message Alerts from someone or certain Contacts on your iPhone.
1. Open Messages App and select the Chat of the person that you want to hide on the Notification screen.
2. Once the Chat is opened, tap on Contact’s Profile Icon.
3. On the next screen, move the toggle next to Hide Alerts to ON position and tap on Done.
After this, you will no longer see Message Alerts from this particular Contact on your iPhone.
4. Set Messages to Auto-Delete
Another way to protect your privacy on iPhone is to set your device to automatically delete Text Messages after a set period of time.
1. Go to Settings > Messages > scroll down to Message History section and tap on Keep Messages option.
2. On the next screen, select the period up to which you want the Messages to be available on your iPhone.
This way you can prevent most of your Messages from being accessed by anyone that manages to gain unauthorized access to your device.
5. Use Invisible Ink
If you are sending confidential or sensitive information to anyone, you can make use of “Send with invisible ink” option as available on your iPhone.
This way the sent message remains hidden on the screen of your iPhone and won’t be visible to anyone around you that can manage to take a good look at the unlocked screen of your iPhone.
1. Open Messages App and select the Contact that you want to send the Confidential Message.
2. Type the Message that you want to send > Once you are done typing, tap and hold on the Send button.
3. On the next screen, select the Invisible Ink option.
4. Once the Message becomes hidden, tap on Send with Invisible Ink button.
6. Lock Messages With Touch ID or Face ID
If you are using WhatsApp, you can protect all your WhatsApp Messages from being accessed by anyone by using Passcode, Touch ID and Face ID.
You can find the steps to Lock WhatsApp Messages with Passcode, Touch & Face ID in this guide: 3 Ways to Lock WhatsApp Chats on iPhone.