HushHow to Hide Messages From One Specific Person
Choose which conversation you want to limit access to, then check what notifications, chat lists and device records still show. Different controls solve different parts of the problem.
Hide Alerts can silence an iPhone conversation. WhatsApp Chat Lock limits access to selected chats, and Secret Code can hide its Locked Chats folder. Hush supplies separate conversations opened by per-contact codes. None of these choices guarantees that every sign of activity disappears.
What your phone can do natively, person by person
iPhone (iMessage)
- Hide Alerts: swipe left on a conversation → bell icon. Notifications stop, but the thread stays right there in your list.
- Delete the thread: removes it from view — until they text again. Deleted threads also sit in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days, one tap from recovery.
- Screen unknown senders: on iOS 26, open Messages → Filters → Manage Filtering → Screen Unknown Senders. A separate filter is organization, not a chat lock; notifications and known-sender rules can still apply.
- iOS 18 app locking: supported apps can require Face ID. Downloaded apps may support hiding; Messages cannot be hidden. These controls do not provide a separate lock for one iMessage conversation.
Android (Google Messages / Samsung)
- Archive: in Google Messages, hold the conversation and select Archive. It remains readable in Archived; sending to it returns it to the main screen. Archiving is not a separate access lock.
- Per-conversation silencing: stops the noise, keeps the thread visible.
- Samsung Secure Folder: a separate workspace with its own access control. Its icon can be hidden; it remains accessible through settings.
- Archive chat: organizes a conversation outside the main list. Check your archive and notification settings; archiving is not an access lock.
- Chat Lock and Secret Code: Chat Lock protects selected conversations. Secret Code can also hide the Locked Chats folder until the code is typed in search. WhatsApp explains the feature.
Check what each control leaves accessible
Silencing a conversation does not remove its history. Archiving is organization, while deletion has recovery and saved-copy limitations. Chat locks and hidden-folder options add access controls; check the actual settings rather than assume every protected conversation remains listed.
A device passcode, app locks and notification settings can complement conversation controls. Hush's keypad is another interface choice, with the limitations described below.
How Hush opens one conversation by code
Hush's home screen is a numeric keypad with no contact or conversation list on that screen. Each chat opens with its own six-digit code; leaving the chat returns you to the keypad. Requests, blocked users and security alerts can show names or badges elsewhere in the app.
Start with free messaging and a limited photo/video sharing allowance. Plus increases eligible sharing allowances and adds longer expiry options and custom contact names. Either person's Plus can extend eligible benefits to that conversation; it does not upgrade the other person's account or personal storage. See the current limits, available settings and prices in the app.
- Install Hush from your app store. It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases.
- Create an account and choose a username. The current default signup needs no phone number or email.
- Connect by username or invite link. For a username request, choose your six-digit code when sending or accepting it; the other person must approve and chooses their own code. A one-tap invite link from Hush connects you without a separate approval once the person who received it has set up Hush and taps it.
- Open the chat with your code. Return to the keypad when you leave.
- Check notification controls on both phones. Select show name, hide name or mute for that contact, then check the actual notifications.
An incorrect code does not open a chat or space. The keypad can give error feedback. Security alerts can warn about several different incorrect codes tried in a short time. A single typo does not normally trigger an alert, and an alert does not prove who tried the codes.
- Hush conversations happen inside Hush. It does not hide existing SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp chats. Both people need Hush to message each other.
- Keep your codes and account access safe. There is no in-app forgotten-code recovery or master unlock. Reconnecting with a known username starts fresh and does not recover earlier history. The default account has no implemented recovery route after session loss; do not assume reinstalling or changing devices restores it.
- Hush is not end-to-end encrypted. Backend services store messages, media and access data. Code-based access is not a guarantee against server or device access.
Common questions
Can Hush hide my existing texts?
Hush conversations happen inside Hush. It does not hide existing SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp history. Both people need Hush to message each other.
What about hiding calls too?
Hush does not provide voice or video calls. Recorded voice and video messages are available in the iOS listing; they are different from calls and do not hide calls made through other apps.
Will the other person know I've hidden them?
Both people take part in a Hush connection: one sends a username request or a one-tap invite link, and the other approves the request or opens the link. Each person’s code is separate. Eligible Plus conversations can use custom contact names, but a name is a display label, not an identity guarantee.
Can I use more than one code?
Each chat or private space opens with its own six-digit code. Knowing one code does not unlock all of them.
