Talking about privacy and private stuffs, you can’t make a successful list without mentioning messages. Texting has become a big part of our lives that we can hardly go days without texting important people in our lives. From business partners to friends and lovers. Messages keep the conversation alive and sometimes get love birds naughty. So what happens when you’ve got a message you don’t want to delete from your device yet you don’t need third party eyes prying at the wordings. If you feel this way, this article should walk you through how to hide messages on iPhone and iPad.I know you’re thinking about locking your device. However, this would only restrict those who don’t know your password and just a single move from someone who knows your password and the text could be read.
How to Hide Messages on iPhone & iPad
Alongside the iOS 12, Apple introduced the Screen Time feature to help iOS users keep a check on their smartphone usage. Since Screen Time is a fairly new feature, you need to make sure your device is running a modern version of iOS or iPadOS before you try using the following steps to hide messages on iPhone and iPad.
- Open your device “Settings” on your iPhone or iPad.
- Scroll down, locate and tap on “Screen Time”.
- If it’s the first time you’re using Screen Time on that device, you’ll need to follow the on-screen instructions to quickly set it up. After the setup, from the Screen Time menu, scroll down and tap on “Use Screen Time Passcode”. Type in your preferred passcode and set it up properly before proceeding to the next step.
- Select “Always Allowed” in the Screen Time menu.
- From this page, you should notice the Messages app among the list of always allowed apps. Tap on the “-” icon to remove it from the list.
- You should get a prompt to confirm your action. Simply Tap on “Remove”.
- Now, go back to the Screen Time menu and tap on “App Limits”.
- You should now find the Messages app under the “Social Networking” category. Select “Messages” and tap on “Next”.
- from the menu, you’re expected to choose the daily usage limit before Screen Time locks you out. However, since you want to use it as an app lock, we’ll choose the minimum value which is 1 minute. Additionally, make sure the toggle for “Block at End of Limit” is enabled. If you don’t see this option, it means you haven’t added a passcode to Screen Time yet. Go fix it. When you’re done, tap on “Add”.
Voila, you only need to use the Messages app for just 1 minute before it locks you out. additionally, if you tap on the greyed-out Messages app, you’ll have the option to “Ask for More Time”, but you’ll need to type in your Screen Time passcode to proceed any further.
How to hide alerts to new Messages on iPhone & iPad
Mobile devices are built to display notifications of supported apps.iMessage app displays a notification on all incoming messages. The following tips should help you hide your message alerts.
- Open your device “Settings”
- Tap on “Notifications” and scroll down until you find Messages.
- From the Messages section scroll down to the“Show Previews” option. By default, this would be set to Always. Tap on it and select: Never. This option will keep the alert private even if your iPhone or iPad isn’t locked.
However, you will still receive an alert, but the content of the text will remain private. It would only display “iMessage” rather than showing you a preview of the message.
How to stop receiving text message notifications iPad and iPhones
The above guide gives you a hand on managing your privacy and what is displayed. however, if you wish to stop receiving text message notifications in entirety, Here’s how to do that:
- Open your device “Settings”
- Tap on “Notifications” and scroll down until you find Messages.
- Tap on Messages
- Deselect Allow Notifications.
After doing that, if a Message arrives there will be no alert. Additionally, there would be no red bubble on your Messages app icon notifying that there are new Messages. To find out if you have a new message you’ll need to open Messages. Then you will see a blue dot beside any conversations that have new messages.
However, there’s one challenge with this method. Since it stops you from receiving alerts on any new Messages, you could mean you miss out on important updates. The good news is, you can choose to stop notifications from an individual, or one group message chain.
How to Stop notifications from just one person on iPad and iPhones (Method 1)
Supposing you’re having a private conversation you a particular individual or a group, you’ll need to know how to hide the messages on iPhone and iPad. The good news is, there is away. Follow the steps below to stop notifications from just an individual.
- Go to your device“Settings”
- Tap Notifications and scroll down until you find Messages.
- In the Message section choose to Allow Notifications. If you had turned it off in the step above.
- Now open the Messages app and scroll to the conversation you wish to be silent and open the message thread.
- Now, Tap on the (i) at the top right corner.
- select“Hide Alerts” and you will no longer see notifications if a message is added to that message thread.
However, If you open Messages you will see that there is a “Do Not Disturb” crescent moon icon next to the conversation. You will still be able to see the last message and you will be able to open that thread.
How to hide messages from an Individual (Method 2)
Luckily, there are more than just one way to hide messages from an individual. Another way to hide messages from a particular person requires you to remove them from your contacts list. Just in case you prefer these options, let’s look at the steps.
- Open your device “Contacts”.
- locate the person’s contact from the contact list and tap on“Edit”.
- Scroll to the bottom and select“Delete Contact”.
- Now open your device “Settings”.
- From your device Settings go to “Messages”.
- In Message settings, scroll down and select Filter Unknown Senders.
This will turn off the notifications on iMessages for people who are not in your contacts list and sort would them into a separate list. Making messages from that person appears in a separate Unknown Senders list.