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Ways to Change the Text Message Display on an iPhone

The default display for text messages on your iPhone makes it possible for anyone who picks up your device to read part of the message you received, making it difficult to keep business-related messages private. Alternatively, you can set up your phone so that when notifications for new messages are displayed, they don't take up as much screen space, or a notification doesn't display at all. You can change how your iPhone displays text messages in the Notifications part of your phone's Settings app.

Banners

Choosing to have incoming text messages appear as banners makes them appear in a box at the top of your screen. The message box spans the width of the screen and is just under half an inch tall, and is ideal if you don't want your incoming messages to cover up the bulk of any content on your iPhone screen. You can enable banners for text messages by tapping "Settings" and then tapping "Notifications." Tap "Messages" beneath "In Notification Center" and then tap "Banners" beneath Alert Style. Press the "Home" button to save your changes and close the Settings app.

Alerts

Alerts are the default display mode for text messages on the iPhone. Alerts are displayed in a roughly two-inch by one-and-a-half-inch box in the middle of the screen. Setting your iPhone to display alerts is ideal if you want to display part of the message, as this setting can show more of the message than the banner format. You can enable alerts for text messages by tapping "Settings" and then "Notifications." Tap "Messages" and then tap "Alerts" beneath Alert Style. Press the "Home" button to save your changes and close the Settings app.

Lock Screen

You can elect whether to display messages on your iPhone's lock screen. If you choose to display messages on the lock screen, any messages you receive while your phone is locked will be capable of being viewed by anyone who picks up your phone. Alternatively, if you disable displaying iPhone messages on the lock screen, you'll be notified of new messages after you enter your iPhone's passcode. You can adjust whether your device displays text messages on the lock screen by tapping "Settings" and then "Notifications." Tap "Messages" and then tap the ON/OFF toggle to the right of "View in Lock Screen" until ON appears if you want to display text messages on the lock screen. Press the "Home" button to save your changes and close the Settings app.

Preview Message

Turning on the "Preview Message" feature displays as much of your incoming message as will fit in either the banner or alert message box. If this feature is turned off, you'll still see an alert box or banner with the name of the contact who sent you the text and either the text "iMessage" or "Text Message." You can adjust whether your iPhone displays a preview of text messages by tapping "Settings" and then "Notifications." Tap "Messages" and then tap the ON/OFF toggle to the right of "Show Preview" until ON appears if you want to display a snippet of your text messages. Press the "Home" button to save your changes and close the Settings app.

No Notification

If you don't want to be notified of text messages in any fashion, you can turn off all notifications. However, if you do this, consider enabling badge icons for your messaging app so that you'll at least know you have a message you've yet to read. Badges are the little red circles that appear in the upper-right corner of apps, such as the Mail app, that notify you of unread messages. You can stop your iPhone from displaying any alerts by tapping "Settings" and then "Notifications." Tap "Messages" and then tap "None" beneath Alert Style. Tap the ON/OFF toggle to the right of Badge App Icon until ON appears if you want to display a badge displaying the number of unread text messages. Press the "Home" button to save your changes and close the Settings app.

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