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Privacy is important. Politicians always use the justification that “if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide” when trying to pass laws that intrude on our privacy. That approach is a slippery slope, though. We all have a right to privacy.
Many messaging apps are built with privacy in mind. Apps such as WhatsApp and Signal not only use end-to-end encryption, but also have additional features such asdisappearing messagesandlocked chatsthat ensure that even if someone gets hold of your phone, they can’t see your sensitive messages.
How to block someone on iMessage: Stop unwanted callers
If you don’t want to hear from someone again, there are easy steps that you can take to block numbers.
While the iPhone’s Messagesapp offers end-to-end encryption for iMessage conversations, it lacks features such as disappearing messages or locked chats. If you’re messaging someone fromyour iPhonewith Apple’s own messaging app, and you’d rather your conversation is kept private for any reason, there are a few things you can do. Here’s what you need to know to hide iPhone messages.
How to hide iPhone messages by filtering unknown senders
There is no direct way to hide messages in theMessages appon your iPhone. Any messages you send or receive will appear in the Messages app unless you manually delete them.
However, there is a workaround you can use to separate messages you receive from a specific person from the rest of your messages, so they are a little harder to find. In order to do so, however, you’ll need to remove the details of your contact from the Contacts app.
How to send messages using Invisible Ink on iPhone
If you’re not concerned about people knowing that you’re messaging a specific contact, but you don’t want people to read your messages over your shoulder, you can use the Invisible Ink effect in theMessages app. This feature obscures your messages until the recipient taps on it, so if someone is peeking at your phone, they won’t be able to see the content of the messages.
How to turn off message previews on iPhone
If you’re trying to keep your messaging secret, the last thing you want is a message notification popping up on your lock screen that includes the content of the message you’ve just received. Thankfully, you canturn off message previewsin your notifications, barring the content of your messages from being displayed.
How to stop Messages notifications altogether
Hiding the content of your Messages notifications doesn’t hide the fact that you’re receiving the notifications in the first place. If you’re trying to keep a conversation secret, for whatever reason, then you might want toturn off Messages notificationsaltogether.
This will stop any Messages alerts appearing on your iPhone and will hide the red message count icon on theMessagesapp icon that indicates you have unread messages.
How to mute notifications for a specific chat
If you don’t want to turn off all your notifications for Messages, it’s possible to mute notifications for individual chats instead. This means that you’re able to stillreceive notificationsfor any other messages you receive, just not those for that specific chat. This method will work with group chats as well as individual messages.
How to change the name of a contact on iPhone
Another simple but effective method of hiding who you’re messaging is to change the name of youriPhone contactto something else. That way, any messages you receive will appear to have come from a different person, rather than the contact that you’re trying to hide.
How to password protect the Messages app on iPhone
Unlike with some apps, such as WhatsApp, there’s no native way to lock the Messages app so that people can’t open it if they get hold of your iPhone. However, there is a workaround that allows you to lock the Messages app with a passcode using theScreen Timesettings. This passcode can be different to the passcode to unlock your iPhone, so even if someone knows your iPhone passcode, they still won’t be able to unlock the Messages app.
