How to Hide Messages on iPhone - 5 Ways to Hide Messages (2024)

If you’re a business owner who relies on text messages to communicate with employees, clients, or customers, it’s essential to ensure the privacy and security of your online activity and your messages. Unfortunately, there are many ways for others to go through your texts if they have access to your mobile phone. Nowadays, it’s even possible for someone to spy on you through your phone calls but can you hide messages on iPhone? How to hideF messages on iPhone and keep others from seeing your private conversations?

In this blog post, we will show you how to hide text messages on iPhone without deleting them and discuss five techniques to keep your text messages private.

Turn off message previews

By default, your iPhone shows a preview of every text message that comes in, along with the sender’s name. This can be a security risk, as someone nearby could easily read your messages over your shoulder. Here’s how to hide notifications on lock screen:

1. Go to ‘Settings’
2. Select ‘Notifications’
3. Tap on ‘Messages’
4. Under “Lock Screen Appearance“
5. Click “Show Previews” and select “Never”.

With the preview setting turned off, you’ll still get a notification that you have a new message, but the sender’s name and the message itself will be hidden until you unlock your phone and open the Messages app.

Set messages to auto-delete

Another way to keep your text messages private is to set them to auto-delete after a certain period. That way, even if someone does manage to get access to your phone, they won’t be able to see any of your messages because they’ll already be gone. Here’s how to auto delete old conversations on iPhone:

1. Go to ‘Settings’
2. Select ‘Messages’
3. Scroll down to ‘Keep Messages’
4. Select automatic message deletionafter 30 days or 1 year.

Use Invisible Ink iMessage

If you’re sending sensitive information, images, or videos via iMessage, you can use the Invisible Ink text feature to make sure the content is hidden until the recipient taps on it. Here’s how to send messages with invisible ink:

1. Open the Messages app and type out your message
2. Tap and hold the send button
3. Click “Send with effect“
4. Select Invisible Ink

Invisible ink iMessage is a great way to hide text messages on iPhone as the content will only be revealed when the recipient interacts with it.

Lock third-party messaging apps with Face ID or Touch ID

If you’re using a third-party messaging app like WhatsApp or Messenger, you can lock the app with Face ID or Touch ID to make sure only you can access it. While many know of this feature, finding how to lock messages on iPhone settings can be a challenge.

How to lock Whatsapp messages

1. On Whatsapp, go to ‘Settings‘ in the top right corner
2. Click on ‘Privacy‘
3. Scroll down to ‘Fingerprint lock‘
4. Toggle on ‘Unlock with fingerprint‘

How lo lock Facebook Messenger with Face ID and Touch ID

1. On Facebook Messenger, open the menu in the top left corner
2. Click on the gear icon to access settings
3. Select ‘Privacy‘
4. Toggle on ‘App lock‘
5. Select the delay after which the Messenger app will lock following exiting the app

How to Lock the Messages app using Screen Time

Currently, you can’t lock built-in Apple apps like Messages with Face ID or Touch ID. However, you can use Screen Time to password-protect them. This will prevent anyone who doesn’t know your passcode from opening your Messages app. Here’s how to lock messages on iPhone:

1. Go to ‘Settings‘
2. Click on ‘Screen Time‘
3. Click ‘Use Screen Time Passcode‘ and set a new passcode
4. Click on ‘Always Allowed‘
5. Deselect ‘Messages‘ by clicking on the red icon to the left
6. Confirm when prompted
7. Go back to the Screen Time menu and click on ‘App limits‘
8. Select ‘Add limit‘
9. Click on the ‘Social‘ category and select the ‘Messages‘ app
10. Set the timer to the lowest value, 1 minute
11. Toggle on ‘Block at end of limit‘
12. Click ‘add‘ in the top right corner

With this method, the Messages app will lock after 1 minute of use. Note that it is possible to ‘ask for more time’ and get five more minutes of access.

How to lock text messages on iPhone 13

As long as your OS is up to date, the process to lock messages on iPhone 13 is the same as on iPhone 12, 11, and other models. Here’s how to lock text messages on iPhone 12 and above models:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Select “Screen Time” and tap “turn on” if not set up before
3. Tap “Use Screen Time Passcode” and create a passcode
4. Select “App limits” under Screen Time Settings and select “add limit“
5. Under the “Social” category, select “Messages“
6. Set the time limit to one minute or select “All apps & categories” to block access to messages completely
7. Tap on “add” in the upper-right corner

From now on, accessing your messages will require entering your Screen Time passcode or authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID. Now that you know how to lock imessage on your iPhone, nobody will be able to read your messages from your locked screen.

These five simple privacy measures can go a long way in keeping your text messages safe and secure.

Now you know how to hide messages on iPhone! Stay tuned for more tips such as how to prolong your iPhone’s battery life!