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How do you keep your text messages private when reviews of incoming texts appear as banners or alerts on your home screen? Message previews can be handy if you want to quickly decide to reply to a message now, or wait and reply later. But how can you have private text messages on your iPhone with all these previews popping up? After all you don't want friends and family catching sight of private text messages you'd rather they hadn't. Sometimes it's not even an unintentional glance! We all have that one friend or coworker who thinks nothing of grabbing your iPhone to check out the text notifications on your home screen. Luckily, within your Settings app, there’s an easy way to make texts private. You can disable text messages from being displayed on your Home screen while still receiving notifications. Here’s how to keep your messages private and prevent your text messages from being on display for all to see.
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- Open the Settings app, scroll down and tap on Notifications.
- Scroll down and select Messages.
There are several choices to make now. Allow Notifications, yes or no? Which Sound do you want to accompany your Notifications? Do you want your iPhone to show the Badge App icon of the App originating the notification? You get to choose just how private you'd like your text notifications to be. The easiest way to keep your text messages private is to scroll down and toggle off "Show as Banners."
Next, scroll down the page again and look under "Options."
- Tap on Show Previews.
- Choose Never.
Now you’ll receive text notifications, but they won’t include text previews or banners you’d rather not put on display.
