How to Hide Text Messages on an iPhone

Compare notification settings, deletion, filters and supported app locks. Each changes a different surface; Hush provides separate conversations inside Hush.

Updated 9 October 2026

The quick wins: silence one thread, blank the lock screen

1. Hide Alerts for one conversation

In Messages, swipe left on the thread and tap the bell icon. Hide Alerts mutes that conversation’s message notifications. It does not remove the thread or its history; check other devices and notification settings separately.

• What it hides: the noise. A name stops lighting up your phone at the wrong moment.
• What it leaks: everything else. The thread sits in the list with its full history, one scroll from anyone holding the phone.

2. Turn off lock-screen previews

In Settings → Notifications → Show Previews, choose When Unlocked. This limits previews until the phone is unlocked. Check an actual notification: app labels, sender information and paired displays can behave differently. It's the best privacy-per-effort setting on the phone — the full case for it is in the guide to keeping messages off your lock screen.

• What it hides: message previews, subject to each app's notification settings and overrides.
• What it leaks: the fact that messages arrive, and everything as normal once the phone is unlocked. It changes nothing inside the Messages app itself.

The heavier levers: delete, filter, or wall it off

3. Delete the thread — then empty Recently Deleted

Deleting a conversation removes it from the list but not immediately from the phone: deleted threads sit in Messages' Recently Deleted section for up to 30 days, one tap from restoration. If you mean it, delete it there too.

• What it hides: removes your selected history from the conversation view. Check Recently Deleted, synced devices and backups separately.
• Limits: the other person may retain their copy, and a new message can create a conversation again.

4. Filter unknown senders

On iOS 26, open Messages → Filters → Manage Filtering and enable Screen Unknown Senders. On iOS 18 the control is called Filter Unknown Senders. The separate list does not lock those messages; allowed notification types and regional rules can still expose alerts.

• What it hides: messages from numbers you haven't saved, out of the main list.
• What it leaks: everything, to anyone who taps the filter view — the filtering rules do not make it a lock for a known conversation.

Whole-app access: supported iPhone app locks

5. Require Face ID — or hide an app outright

On supported iPhone apps, long-press the icon and look for Require Face ID, Touch ID or Passcode. Downloaded apps may also offer hiding in the App Library's locked Hidden section. Availability varies by app; apps installed with iOS cannot be hidden. Apple explains the controls and exceptions.

• What it hides: the whole app behind your face or passcode; a hidden app stops appearing on the Home Screen at all.
• Limits: an app lock covers that app, not one selected iMessage thread. Downloaded-app hiding can remove an icon from the Home Screen, but other settings and usage records can reveal the app. Check the controls offered for your specific app.

Match the control to the surface you want to change

These controls address notifications, message history or whole-app access. Choose the one that matches your need. None promises to remove another person's copies or every record from the device.

For per-conversation access rather than whole-app settings, compare chat locks and Hush's per-contact codes. They are separate tools with different limits.

How Hush opens its own conversations 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.

1. Install Hush from your app store. It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases.
2. Create an account and choose a username. The current default signup needs no phone number or email.
3. 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.
4. Open the chat with your code. Return to the keypad when you leave.
5. 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.

Common questions

Can Hush hide text messages and calls together?

Hush does not hide existing iMessage, SMS or call history. It provides its own conversations. Recorded voice/video messages on iOS are different from voice/video calls.

Does deleting an iPhone conversation remove the other person's copy?

No. Check Recently Deleted and any other synced devices or backups. Removing your copy does not remove content the other person retained.

Can I hide the Hush app itself?

Supported iPhone app-locking and hiding settings can add a device-level access control. App usage, purchase and device records can still reveal activity; a keypad does not eliminate those records.

Is there a free option?

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.