Samsung introduced a new privacy display feature on its latest Galaxy S26 Ultra that limits what people can see when they look at your phone from the side, and naturally, many iPhone users now want to know if they can get a similar privacy display iPhone setup without buying extra accessories. While Apple has not built a hardware-based privacy screen into the iPhone, you can create a similar effect using a few accessibility settings that reduce side visibility, especially for notifications on the lock screen.
On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the privacy display keeps the screen clear when you look at it straight on but makes it difficult to read from an angle, and it also allows users to enable the feature for specific apps, passwords, or just notifications. That level of control comes from hardware and software working together, which Apple does not currently offer on the iPhone.
According to Samsung’s official announcement during the Galaxy S26 Ultra launch, the feature relies on new display technology built into the panel itself, which explains why the effect looks more polished compared to software tweaks on other devices.
How to Set Up a Privacy Display Effect on iPhone
You can still reduce notification visibility on iPhone by adjusting brightness behavior and white intensity. Follow these steps:
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Select Display & Text Size.
- Scroll down and turn off Auto-Brightness.
- Enable Reduce White Point.
- Increase the Reduce White Point level to around 90 to 100 percent.
Since notification text appears in white, increasing Reduce White Point lowers the intensity of white elements, which makes notifications harder to read from side angles while remaining readable when you look directly at the screen.
If your iPhone has an Action Button, you can assign Reduce White Point to it for quick access. Go to Settings, tap Action Button, swipe to Accessibility, and choose Reduce White Point under Vision. After that, press the Action Button to toggle the effect on or off instantly.
This setup does not match Samsung’s hardware privacy display, but it gives you more control over how visible your notifications appear in public spaces like airplanes, trains, or coffee shops. Until Apple adds a true privacy display iPhone feature at the hardware level, this remains the closest practical solution built into iOS.
