How To Hide Text Messages On Your Android Device

Text messages as a form of communication can often contain sensitive content and information. As Android phones have evolved over time, text messages have become even more susceptible to prying eyes. Your texts may appear on your lock screen or in a dropdown menu.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to hide text messages on your Android phone, and we’ll discuss them in this article. Whether you want to hide text notifications or hide texts using a third-party app, we’ve got you covered.

How to Hide Text Notifications

One of the more common issues with text messages and privacy today is that others can see who texted you and the content of the message. Fortunately, there are ways you can control your privacy. In this section, we’ll teach you how to customize your text notifications, effectively hiding your texts from prying eyes.

It’s important to keep in mind that Android is a popular operating system, and it’s for this reason that you see it on a variety of manufacturers’ devices. In this section, we’ll teach you how to prevent your texts from showing up as notifications. But, the instructions may vary just slightly depending on which Android device you have.

Turn Off Text Notifications

First, let’s review how to turn off text notifications altogether. If you want to receive texts without alerting anyone, do this:

1. Open the Settings on your Android device and tap on Notifications.
   
2. Tap on the option to view all of the applications on your device.
   
3. Scroll down to the messaging application and toggle the notifications off.
   

Following these steps means you will receive no notifications that you’ve received a text. That might be a little extreme for some users, so we have more options to keep your texts private.

How to Hide Texts on the Lock Screen

One of the newer additions to the Android operating system is the ability to see text messages on the lock screen. This feature makes it easy to quickly review the content that someone sent to you without having to unlock your screen. Unfortunately, that makes it really easy for snoopers to read your messages too.

If you want to hide your texts from the home screen, here’s what to do:

1. Open the Messaging app on your phone. Then, tap on the three dot icon in the upper right-hand corner to access the Settings menu.
   
2. Tap on Notifications.
   
3. Tap on In-app notification settings.
   
4. Toggle the switch next to Preview new messages so that it turns off. Doing this will disable all pop-up messages so that no one can see them.
   

Now, your new text messages will not show on the home or lock screen of your phone. You will still receive a notification letting you know that a text message has arrived, but the content will not be displayed for everyone to see.

Note: As we mentioned above, the steps may vary depending on your phone’s manufacturer. If you’re having trouble, use the search function in your phone’s settings to quickly locate message previews.

How to Hide Message Notifications for One Contact

Another useful feature that can hide messages is the ability to silence just one person’s texts. While the feature was designed to give you peace from an annoying contact, you can also use it to hide notifications if the person is messaging you when you’d rather others didn’t know.

Here’s how to hide the incoming texts from one user:

1. Open your Messaging app and navigate to the contact you’d like to silence. Then, long-press on the contact’s icon in the texting app.
   
2. Next, tap the notification bell in the pop-up menu.
   

Now, whenever the user sends you a text, no notifications or alerts will appear. But, the new message will still be available to read in the messaging app.

Hide Messages Using Third-Party Apps

Sometimes we need a little more help beyond what the native operating system can provide. This is where third-party applications come in handy. The apps we will be exploring in this article will help you to hide your text messages. Let’s begin.

Message Locker – SMS Lock

Message Locker takes a different approach to the other apps mentioned here. It isn’t just a standalone SMS app; message Locker detects all of the messaging apps on your computer and allows you to lock them.

You will be asked to set up a new pin shortly after starting up the app for the first time. This is necessary to protect your apps.

One more step needs to be carried out before you can start locking your messaging apps. You will need to give Message Locker usage access as indicated in the screenshot below.

Go SMS Pro

Go SMS Pro is not only a valuable tool for hiding sensitive text messages; it is a great SMS app period.

On the surface, it really does look like just an SMS app with no immediate indication that there is anything special about the app.

But if you go to the tab to the very right of the app’s screen, you will be able to access what is called the Private Box.

On first opening the Private Box, you will have to set a password to prevent the unlikely prying eye. You will have to go through the usual process of adding contacts to your private list, and any messages from them will be sent to the Private Box.

You will also find the built-in SMS blocker to be a useful feature. It automatically filters out text message spam.

Vault

Vault is a security app which in addition to protecting your text messages from prying eyes, can also protect your photos, videos, apps, and bookmarks.

To hide your text messages, you will need to select SMS and Contacts.

From there, you can add contacts whose text messages you wish to be protected.

Contacts that have been added to your private list will also have their call logs hidden within Vault.

Final Thoughts

The apps mentioned above are all effective at hiding your sensitive text messages. Message Locker locks all of your messaging apps, such as Whatsapp, which is great, while Go SMS Pro hides private messages within a well put together SMS app.

Finally, Vault allows for the locking of apps, text messages, pictures, videos, and bookmarks, generally taking an all-encompassing approach as a complete privacy app.

Please feel free to leave any questions or thoughts in the comments sections below.