Question:

Mica writes: I just got my new iPhone 4S and I love the new notifications except for one thing: I don’t want my incoming text messages to be previewed on the lock screen of my phone. How can I turn this feature off, but keep lock screen notifications on for other types of information?

Answer:

There are many privacy and security related reasons not to have a preview of an incoming text message appear on your iPhone’s lock screen for all to see. Thankfully, there is a simple way to selectively control what notifications you receive.

Go to Settings > Notifications > Messages and turn “Show Preview” to OFF. This will still alert you that a text message has arrived and name or number of the person who sent it to you, but it will not display the contents of that message in the preview window. You’ll have to unlock the phone and go to the Messaging app in order to see the contents.

If you wish to hide lock screen notifications for text messages altogether, turn “View in Lock Screen” to OFF and, while you’ll still get an audible and vibratory alert to a new message, no graphical notice will appear on your phone’s lock screen.

Finally, if you wish to eliminate text message alerts from notification center entirely (including when the phone is unlocked), you can set “Notification Center” to OFF and your text messages will be hidden from every area of your phone except for the Messaging app.