Mobile Phones > iPhone & iOS 115 115 people found this article helpful How to Turn Off Message Preview on iPhone Stop nosy friends from seeing your texts By Scott Orgera Scott Orgera Facebook Twitter Writer Scott Orgera is a former Lifewire writer covering tech since 2007. He has 25+ years' experience as a programmer and QA leader, and holds several Microsoft certifications including MCSE, MCP+I, and MOUS. He is also A+ certified. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on December 3, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email iPhone & iOS Switching from Android What to Know To change the lock screen notification, open Settings > Notifications > Messages and, under Alerts, tap Lock Screen.To turn off message previews, open Settings > Notifications > Messages > Show Previews and select Never or Off. This article explains how to turn off message preview on iPhones. Instructions apply to devices with iOS 11 and later. How to Change the iPhone's Lock Screen Notification Settings When you receive texts, your iPhone displays a pop-up showing the sender's name and the beginning of the message. If you're concerned about privacy or waiting for a confidential text, change this default behavior so that others can't see the content of your messages. There are two ways to do this: disable message previews or stop notifications from the Messages app from displaying on your lock screen. To change the lock screen settings so that message previews are enabled, but text notifications don't show up on the lock screen: Open the Settings app. Go to Notifications > Messages. Under Alerts, tap Lock Screen to disable Message notifications on the lock screen. The blue check mark icon changes to white to indicate it's disabled. In iOS 11 and earlier, tap the button next to it so that its color changes from green to white. You can also prevent texts from showing up as banner notifications in the Notification Center. However, if preventing bystanders from seeing messages is your primary concern, stop alerts from displaying while your phone is locked. Exit the Settings app. How to Turn off Message Previews If you want to see lock screen notifications for new texts, but you want the message contents hidden: Open the Settings app. Go to Notifications > Messages > Show Previews. Choose Never or Off to disable message previews. If you want to see message previews only when using your phone (when the passcode is entered), choose When Unlocked. Exit the Settings app. How to Fix Not Getting Text Notifications on iPhone Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit