How Has iPhone’s SMS Preview Gotten You Into Trouble?

iPhone text privacy

Update: The SMS Preview privacy issue is now resolved as of the iPhone 3.0 software update.

In my iPhone review last June, I pointed out a big privacy concern I had about iPhone’s SMS application: namely, the inability to turn off SMS Preview, which interrupts whatever you’re doing when you receive a text message and displays an excerpt of the message content on your screen.

As you can imagine, this can create an awkward situation when you receive a private text message and someone else is using your iPhone.

Imagine receiving a text message like the one shown above while you’re showing off your iPhone to your boss or to a coworker. (The message above was staged, I swear!)

Or perhaps you’re:

  • watching a movie or YouTube video with someone, or
  • letting a friend check their e-mail, or
  • sharing photos with family, or
  • having your copilot navigate using Google Maps

and then… *INCOMING*

…you receive a crude text from a buddy, a sexy message from your significant other, or some other private text message.

Ouch. iPhone’s SMS Preview could get you into some pretty humiliating situations.

So I’m wondering…

Has SMS Preview gotten you into trouble?

I was surprised to see how many people shared my concern about this privacy issue when I posted a sort of solution to turning off SMS Preview (which requires you to set a tedious passcode lock on your iPhone and does not always work, according to some readers).

Now I’m asking you to share any embarrassing moments or close calls you’ve had due to privacy issues with iPhone’s SMS preview.

Let’s get a discussion going in the comments so we can show Apple that SMS Preview is a real privacy concern that MUST be addressed in the next iPhone firmware update.

I’ll go first:

Recently I was at a meeting and someone in my group had to reference a PDF file but had forgotten her laptop. Since iPhone supports PDF files, I offered up my phone.

As she was scrolling through the page with the iPhone set on the table, in comes a private text message from my ex-girlfriend. Upon hearing the ring, I said “excuse me” and quickly grabbed my phone.

I avoided a potentially embarrassing situation, but why should I have to worry about incidents like these? iPhone should display text message excerpts ONLY with my permission.

So what’s YOUR story? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Update: A commenter pointed out that a third-party app called Caterpillar solves iPhone’s SMS privacy issue. Click to read my review of the Caterpillar app’s Privacy feature.

120 thoughts on “How Has iPhone’s SMS Preview Gotten You Into Trouble?”

  1. I had some naughty texts sent to me from a girl at work, I deleted them from my messages all good, wrong, my girlfriend wanted to search the web on my phone and started typing on the search iPhone bar what she wanted and as she began to type a message that I had deleted appearing in the top suggestions , omg how to explain ??? I cannot delete them fully, yep words started !!! 🙁 bloody phone

    Reply
  2. If you have the new 5.1.1 version, you don’t have to get a passcode for your phone in order to hide text message previews.

    Go to Settings>Notifications>Messages>scroll down>Turn Show Preview Off.

    And there! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Can anyone tell me why my iphone 4s does not have the option to turn SMS preview off when i go to Settings–> General–> Passcode Lock?
    There is simply no place that allows me to turn this feature off.

    Reply
  4. Maybe if you guys didn’t have things in your phone that you shouldn’t then there would be nothing to worry about.

    For example, you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and they have your phone… So what if they see a preview, or the entire text.

    Bottom line is. Stop screwing around and keep your pants on and you won’t have any issues.

    Reply
  5. this is so irritating because the iPhone 4 can lock names and such but I’m finding it impossible to figure out how to do it for the iPhone 4s. IF you haven’t already found out how to lock your names, go to settings passcode lock and disable sms or whatever settings, set to no.

    And to all the people who want to come on here and preach about relationships and why it shouldn’t matter what people are texting you, do everyone a favor and STFU. This has nada to do with relationships, it could be not wanting your parents to see a dirty joke your best bud sent your, or a naughty pic your gf decides to surprise you with at work. Bitterness shouldn’t be a reason for your ‘advice’

    Reply
  6. Coming from a real, live Doctor of Psychology, relishing in the opportunistic freedom an open forum provides in posting my unsolicited advice, worded as the mood so guides me, I am urged to say to posters [NW], [Sophie Anne Leclurq] and, had you said any more, [littleletters], too –> You all are incredibly ignorant in your know-it-all posts, so much as to have made me feel embarrassment for you. Get a clue, like, an education, perhaps, may do you some good. Yes, try that. I suspect, only then will you be capable of composing a truly “smart” message v.s. a message that translates to, “OMG, People. You are all such shit. And I-I-I-I-I am going to tell you how it is because blah, blah, blah…” – SHUT THE *#!@ UP. Seriously, you condescending pricks. AS IF, we hundreds of people have no right or good reason to dislike a, clearly, disliked phone feature. Your messages are painfully foolish, as I am so ached with your annoyance. I had to get this all off my chest, so is the reason I post to let you know, with much hope, you so happen to read this and, with even more hope, you may benefit from it! And, Sophie, I would sure care to learn from you WHERE IS THE SHAME IN HAVING SOMETHING TO HIDE FROM SOMEONE/BEING SNEAKY? I have all sorts of things I want or need to hide from all sorts of people. You could say, I am sneaky as fuck! You do not know of this experience? Hahahaha!! Very much improbable, if not impossible. I now name you as a full-of-shit, self-righteous, pig-headed liar and hypocrite. Really, great job on the post. …As per the topic at hand, we have all heard, from the horse’s mouth, the iphone boast of its accessibility to “millions of apps,” and so (what is it they say at the end of one of the new iphone commercials?? -) “THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.” (Something like that.) Sound familiar? That being the case, so be it the existence of an infinite # of possibilities of how, why and when whomever-the-hell’s eyes may happen to gaze upon my iphone screen at some random moment, that random person, sends the random text that, due to Murphy’s Law, will, undoubtably, create the highly unlikely, most unfavorable, sure-to-be poorly explained situation that never-were-to-have-been had Macasshole not, NOT ONLY, OPENED MY MAIL (a Federal offense, virtually-speaking), but PLASTERED IT AS A BANNER ACROSS THE TOP OF MY SCREEN, complete with bells and whistles in a catchy little tune, even the oblivious take notice. Ummmmm…bad taste in my mouth – YUCK! YOU ROTTEN APPLE!! There’s an awfully nice case made here, now lying wide open for a potentially massive suit over something you find funny?? I can’t imagine a good reason for why this is the way it is. FIX THE DAMN SHIT. YOU ARE A BAD APPLE AND WE ALL HAVE FOOD POISONING!!!

    Reply
    • R U kidding me? A doctor of What? You foul mouth unclassy person. A Doctor of anything you are not. The way you addressed the issue at hand reveals you are just a smoart mouth…probaby little Teenie. I hope no one bought into your foul spill. You now nothing about being professional. A doctor, you’re NOT.

      Reply
  7. Im surprised no one cares that when someone else group texts you that everyone else they send that text to gets your phone number, thats a serious privacy issue to me.

    Reply
  8. Can’t someone come up with a way to code lock text messages? Zillions of people want this and would pay to be able to lock this feature. I sure would!

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  9. You people are morons.

    What ever happened to personal responsibility? I mean, if the feature is an inconvenience, by all means complain to Apple. But a privacy issue? Do you have nothing better to do? It’s your own damn phone. It is just as private as you would like it to be. A privacy issue is one where people can’t control the output of their information. You have all right to keep that phone to yourself in every single situation every day, fully controlling the output of its information to anyone other than you. You know this, yet you choose not to do it, and then call the problem a privacy issue. The privacy issue is YOU. Don’t pass this off as Apply being morally wrong for the feature, and take responsibility for yourself. I happen to hate the feature as well, but I think Apple is much more willing to listen if you just refer to it as it is – an inconvenient feature that limits your use of the product.

    Reply
  10. WHY CANT MY IPHONE 4 SHUT OFF THE NAME OF INCOMING TEXT MESSAGES, APPLE YOU NEED TO FIX THIS PROBLEM ASAP, I DONT UNDERSTAND WITH ALL THE TECHNOLOGY WHY THIS CAN’T BE FIXED, THERE’S PLENTY OF PEOPLE WANTING THIS CHANGE, SO FIX THE PROBLEM

    Reply
  11. What’s the difference why we do not want the name to pop up on the preview? It’s our phone, our business, and our privacy that should be being protected. Wether it’s a man cheating on a woman, woman on man, girl hiding information from their boss, or a gay guy trying to hide it from the buddies at work. It’s not Apple’s or anyone else’s place to be judge and jury to how folks should live their life. Apple should just fix the glitch because it is clearly an issue for many people for many reasons. Good grief, you can scan a barcode and find a cheaper price, tell me when I’m ovulating, and how far I ran today from the daggon thing but you can’t stop it from telling the world who is text messaging me?

    Reply
  12. Similar problem, different app… I’m going crazy because my facebook app show previews of my personal message when I get them as push notifications, whilst one of my friends just gets the message “you have an pm from …” as a push. We’ve comared settings and we have the same ones…. Anybody know how to fix it? The same thing with WhatsApp….

    Sorry I know that my english isn’t the best but I’m Swedish… 🙂

    Reply
  13. Okay this really bugs when my family is using my iPhone and a weird message from a friend comes up. I have nothing to hide, it just bothers me when people use my phone and a message comes up.

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  14. Lots of cell phones are set on coffee tables, desks and such.
    I don’t want or need anyone to see my personal or professional information light up my iPhone & display anything for all to view.
    Yes it’s nice to not have to unlock my cell for a reminder or whatever to pop up but there has to be an easier way to enable/disable these messages from popping up. It should be as simple as putting your cell on hibernate or unlocking it with your password.
    If I didn’t care about all the information on my cell, I would go back to Day Timers & leave it open.
    Any information would be greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  15. I am seeing someone but not dating him. He likes to play the games on my iphone. I met someone else who sent me a nice text message asking if I’d go for drinks. It was awkward but at least it forces a conversation that just was not happening! I need sms hide.

    Reply
  16. Apple should fix this, its obvious tons of people hate it. A simple “no previews at all” option in the settings tab would do the trick. If u have your phone locked, nothing at all should happen when u receive a text. There are countless scenarios where this is needed and most of them dont involve cheating or any wrong-doing on part of the phone purchaser. Respect your customers Apple.

    Reply
  17. I HAVE MADE SEVERAL CALLS TO APPLE TO FIX THIS ISSUE. I GOT FIRED FROM MY JOB BECAUSE THE COMPETITIONS NAME APPEARED ON MY SMS SCREEN WHILE IN A BOARDROOM MEETING.
    APPLE COMES OUT WITH THE IPHONE 4 AND STILL HAVE NOT LISTENED TO THE PEOPLE. I AM SURE APPLE READS THE INTERNET AND HAVE SEEN HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE UPSET WITH THIS ISSUE!!!!

    THE ONLY WAY THEY WILL START LISTENING IS IF THEY:

    1. GET SUED FOR A SITUATION SIMILAR TO MINE OR

    2. PEOPLE JUST GET FED UP AND SWITCH BACK TO A MORE SECURE BLACKBERRY OR ANDROID PHONE THAT ALLOWS YOU THE OPTIONS TO MAKE THE PHONE WORK HOW YOU WANT IT.

    I HAVE MY 3GS FOR SALE AND AM SWITCHING TO A COMPANY THAT TRUELY CARES ABOUT MY SECURITY AND DISCRETION.
    WE NEED PEOPLE TO GET ON BOARD AND STICK IT TO THOSE APPLE IDIOTS IN ORDER TO MAKE CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  18. Husband received message at 4am Saturday night, but nothing showed up on iphone. How can I find what he received. This has happened before.

    Reply
    • Do you have access to his online bill? If so, you can log onto it on the website, and check out his data usage. It should give you the phone number atleast.

      Reply
  19. OK…here’s the thing. If you have a decent relationship, then your girlfriend will not mind if you have a truly casual & platonic friendship with your ex. However, some women do not have the self esteem or confidence and have been cheated on before. Hence, they don’t know a good man, or the truth when it slaps them on the face (literally or metaphorically). I can say this and mean it because I used to be “that” girl and I’ve almost lost a good…no GREAT man because of silly snide comments and I wouldn’t be a clinger and freakout, I’d just say “if you want her….I don’t won’t stand in your way, I’ll go”. But he just calmly said “I’m not (insert the jerk who cheated on me and mentally abused me for 8 years). This girl is my friend”.

    And now, (for example, not the same scenario) guess who cuts my hair? One of his ex flings. We go together, or he goes alone. It’s called trust. TRUST BABY!!! KNOW IT. LOVE IT. LIVE IT. …. and you will be happy in your friendships and relationships. It’ll take you much further in life than having to sneak around to gather intel.

    I think Apple assumes that they do not have to cater to people that haven’t “FIGURED IT OUT YET” and are still on “creep mode” aka “being creepy” or they are the hit and quit type but pretend to be faithful. And I’m talking to MALES AND FEMALES HERE……GIRLS ARE SCANDALOUS AS MUCH AS MEN.

    Basically if you’re worrying about your woman or your man seeing things you don’t want them to, then it’s not Apple or your iPhone you have issue with, it’s your “relationship” …… or so called relationship.

    HOWEVER …..

    to those of you that are literally upset and embarrassed in situations such as business meetings or showing your parents pictures of the vacation or something like that….something a non-scum type of person would do, then I have one great piece of info for you – “call Apple”. They will tell you exactly how to avoid this issue.

    I would break it down and give the instructions but those creepers don’t deserve it.

    Yes iPhone has shown me things I wish I hadn’t seen……but I’m a true believer that everything happens for a reason and that this person

    Reply
    • IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RELATIONSHIP. PEOPLE ASSUME THAT THE ONLY PEOPLE FED UP WITH THIS SMS ISSUE IS SOMEONE CHEATING ON A SPOUSE OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER!!!!
      NOT THE CASE!

      I WORK FOR A COMPANY THAT DEALS WITH HIGHLY SECURE INFO. IF CAUGHT TALKING WITH THE COMPETITION IS GROUNDS FOR GETTING FIRED. I AM BEST FRIENDS AND GREW UP WITH ANOTHER EMPLOYEE OF OUR DIRECT COMPETITION AND ONE DAY AT THE OFFICE MY PHONE WAS ON THE BOARDROOM TABLE IN A BIG MEETING AND MY FRIEND FROM THE COMPETITOR SENT ME A MESSAGE TO SEE WHAT TIME THE HOCKEY GAME WAS.
      THE EXECUTIVE I WAS SITTING NEXT TO, RECOGNIZED THE NAME AND TOLD THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY. I WAS ASKED TO COLLECT MY THINGS NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
      IS THIS FAIR? I AM NOT ALLOWED TO BE FRIENDS WITH A FRIEND THAT HAS BEEN FRIENDS WITH ME SINCE I WAS 3 BECAUSE HE HAS A CAREER WITH MY COMPETITION????
      WHY DOES APPLE NOT CARE OF MY DISCRETIONS AND SECURITY?
      THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT ARE INCREDIBLY UPSET AT THIS ISSUE AND SIMPLY APPLE DOES NOTHING TO RESOLVE IT OR EVEN ATTEMPT TO CARE. THAT IN MY EYES IN B.S.
      AS CUSTOMERS OF A PRODUCT THAT DOES NOT CARE OF OUR SECURITIES WE SHOULD EITHER :

      1. DEVELOP A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT!
      OR
      2. SIMPLY START BUYING THE COMPETITORS PRODUCTS IE BLACKBERRY…. A COMPANY THAT WILL HOLD YOUR SECURITY AND DISCRETIONS TO HIGH REGARD AND ALLOW YOU….THE USER THE ONE WHO HAS THE RIGHTS TO SET THE PHONE UP, EXACTLY HOW YOU WANT IT TO OPERATE!!!!!

      I AM VERY VERY VERY SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING 100,000-1 MILLION PEOPLE TOGETHER TO INITIATE A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT!

      IF ANYBODY IS IN FOR SOMETHING ALONG THESE LINES THEN LETS START A FACEBOOK GROUP AND WE CAN GET SOME LAWYERS INTERESTED I AM VERY VERY VERY SURE!

      Reply
      • WHO IS UP FOR PUTTING TOGETHER A FACEBOOK GROUP TO START A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT OF THE WAY SMS POP UPS HAVE RUINED YOUR SECURITY AND YOUR DISCRETIONS!
        LET ME KNOW!

        Reply
  20. Yes, that happened last Thanksgiving, where I made the mistake to lend my Iphone to my daughter to play a game and a text from a girl I know at work came to wish me a happy Thanksgiving. And my daughter to ask aloud in front of family and friends that: Dad, Isabella wishes you a happy Thanksgiving! And everyone to turn to me and my wife to ask” Who is Isabella?” and me trying at the same time to grab my phone back and offer some kind of vague description of our “working relationship”. Although nothing never happened with this girl, It is still very difficult to explain to your wife that, yes, you like the girl, yes she flirts with you, and no, nothing will ever happen between us….Hence my recommendations hereunder!! However, Apple could make it easier for everyone…and it will still be everyone’s choice to set the filters or not!!!

    Reply
  21. This is what you can do to avoid or minimize consequences when a very personal Text comes to your Iphone:
    1) Turn off the full preview – the name of the call still appears unfortunately
    2) Change girlfriends names into guy’s names or vice-versa – that avoids embarrassing questions such as ” Who’s Sarah? What does she want from you…. or Who’s Tyler? I thought u did not see him any more……
    3) If you absolutely have to hand off your phone to your kids to play a game, switch it to airport mode, so that no text could come in while they play…
    4) Be smart and avoid to show off your iphone to the whole family and friends. Trouble could only arise from this.
    5) Avoid at all cost lending your phone even just to make a single phone call-Once your Iphone is unlocked you are in very dangerous territory!
    6) Better keep your phone in your pocket/bag away from curious eyes-obvious but so true
    and finally Keep complaining to Apple until they make the Text messages deliverable directly to your message box with and/or with a push alert.

    Reply
  22. I’ve had a history of texting explicitly to a man I’m involved with. He has two precious children that I myself would never want to see those texts but of course there is a privacy issue and his little princess likes to text me. It’s humiliating when I send a message intended for her daddy and I receive a response from her. Though she is too young to truly grasp the meaning of the innuendo, the embarrasment I’ve suffered to receive a text from her afterwards or from her father informing me in whose possession the phone had been in….it’s awful…

    Reply
  23. I was travelling with my bro-in-law and he was watching movie into it and suddenly sms pop-up comes of my girl friend that HONEY WHERE ARE YOU!!!! And i cant tell u the situation of that moment..i grab it like a hungry dog to a bone…uffff…

    Reply
  24. With all due respect Travis, I learnt in the past that it is stupid to hand in your notice before you have actually been hired in new employment. Had the interview been successful, I would have worked my full notice period, I don’t believe that there was anything sneaky in the way I went about it

    Reply
  25. I applied for a job, and was notified by text as to the time of my interview. My boss (ex-boss) saw the SMS and subsequently fired me. I didn’t get the job for which I was interviewed. I have now been unemployed for nearly three months.

    I have tried the passcode method about 5 minutes ago, and it doesn’t seem to give me the hide preview option? I don’t want to jailbreak my phone thereby voiding the warranty. I have only had my phone for 3 1/2 months and so am stuck with my contract so I can’t switch to an android phone yet 🙁

    Reply
  26. I was home one day with my new girlfriend and my old girlfriend sends a text, and I have the passcode and sms preview off, but name still appears so now I got to explain “Why is your ex texting you, are you fucking her, let me see your phone!” My ex just texted me about some stupid recipe because we have a casual friendly relationship now. Do I need to come up with a pseudonym for all my exs or any other girl besides my girlfriend now. Unbelievable Apple forces a pop-up when your surfing or whatever…what is it January 2010 and people are still bitching.

    Reply
  27. Everyone’shared similar stories so here’s another one to add to Apple’s desire for a fix. Paranoid girlfriend glances at my phone everytime it buzzes to see whose name comes up. I have NOTHING to hide, but the need to explain why certain girl is txting me at certain time, and then going through the whole ‘I’m not having an affair’ is fucking tiring. Apple fix this PLEASE, its not that hard !!

    Reply
  28. I had an iPhone 2g last year, and when I noticed the privacy issue I bought one for my wife of whom I was very skeptical. I am so generous. Not sure that it was worth the upgrade though. Long story short, we are now separated and in the middle of a divorce.

    Reply
  29. I installed the Emoji App and then assigned a symbol to my husband, friends, etc. so now each time I get a text message, a symbol pops up instead of a name.

    Reply
  30. to avoid those type of days…just go into your iphone settings, messages and tap off in “show preview” then all that will show is the name of the person that is sending you an sms but not the sms itself….

    Reply
  31. I’m divorced and my kids want to play with my iphone everytime I’m with them. I also have a very fun, but very naughty girlfriend that likes to send me very naughty texts when I’m not there. Sucks that I have to text her “kids looking at youtube. I text you when they’re done. Huge HUGE pain in the ass.

    Reply
  32. How about this one? Email from model with whom I shoot about shooting nude the coming weekend when my wife was to be gone. Guess who reads it. Wife. My fault, I know, but a very bad scene.

    Reply
  33. Apparently iPhone fans are all cheats as well. Nearly every story here was “My wife saw txts from my GF!”. It makes sense though really. I recieved an iPhone as a gift for father’s day, its a horrible clunkly piece of junk, but I keep it so as not to hurt my wife’s feelings. I hate this thing. This is one of the hundreds of nit-picking reasons to hate the phone, though I was more annoyed by the fact that invarialy that peview box pops up while I’m doing something in an app, right as i’m trying to type on that smudgey piece of crap screen and BAM, end up tapping REPLY, and oh look, my app is closed. I get wait 5 minutes for it to load up again on this underpowered piece of junk. Did have my daughters birthday gift spoiled by that popup though. Funtastic. I hate my iTurd.

    Reply
  34. OMG … what a relief to read all these stories. In a very fucked up way I am so glad I am not the only one with these kind of experiences with this awfull limitation of iphone sms.

    Sorry guys and girls, but I know what you all mean. I have run into many many problems with my wife who thinks I cheat on her just because I keep in touch with an old friend (actually old girlfriend) but I really do only keep in touch. I can’t let her go or dissapear out of my life. So I just drop in and say hello every now and then but on those few occasions that my wife caught them messages, I got shit, then I gave shit back to her.

    I tried everything but nothing has successfully worked for me. It has come to the point where I have a lock on my iphone and in my pocket almost 24/7.

    Apple, please fix this very big problem that can be fixed very easily. I have a technical background and I know how easy of fix this can be for your engineers.

    Thanks you all, it feels like I have a family.

    Ciao

    Reply
  35. We,, i received a text from a friend’s wife asking me if i was going out tonight and even tho i dont even talk to her in any kind of way and for some reason she decide to text me instead of my wife. I was sleepin then my wife woke up like WTK is this so it took me a while to be on her good side again and nobody believes either me or her. So i been tryin to find for an y app that will solve this issue i dont want my text to pop up at all. i benn looking for this app but i can’t find them, any hints??

    Reply
  36. Hey Turps…I’m with you. I hated the fact that my co-worker or a friend could pick up my phone and go the net to look at a video or for something else, and all of a sudden a text msg from my girlfriend pops up with details about what we did during lunch or the night before.

    The iPhone is one of those devices that just draws attention to itself and when people see it they want to play with it, not to mention my son..he thinks it’s a portable game system…LOL. Some people think it’s their right to “test it out” and for waaay too long. THANK GOD THAT APPLE FINALLY USED SOME COMMON SENSE AND FIXED THIS PROBLEM.

    I really feel sorry for the people who had to suffer through this for a couple of years. Dumb asses like “j” piss me off with their stupid one demensional comments…what dumb fuck!!!

    Reply
  37. Rollo, I was going to say the same thing. I couldnt careless if my GF read all my text messages and MSN history. I would prefer if the people I work for and with didnt see. I would also prefer that people that its none of there business dont see half my message when my phone is sitting on a bench.

    Reply
  38. Hey “J”…why don’t you go fuck yourself you dumb ass. Do you think everyone on here is fucking around and the only way the iPhone could make your life a little difficult would only be because you were fucking around. Let me guess you really are as stuppid as you sound (and I could figure that out from from your one sentence). Looks like you were too stuppid to actually read some of the posts on here. I’ve got an idea…why don’t you take some time to read the posts (some quite entertaining) and then pull you dumb head out of your ass, smell some fresh air and post a comment constructive comment next time.

    Reply
  39. haha.I love iphone. I just foundout that my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years was cheating. When he went to take a shower his iphone buzed(he kept it silent) n i thought it was an important msg from his work. So i thought of giving the phone to him. Only to my suprise it was a text from another girl which he was texting all night even while he is suppose to study for his exams (such a looser). I can’t thank Apple enough for opening my eyes. Say what ever u want I love iPhone.

    Reply
  40. Fortunately I just got a 3GS with OS 3.0 so I don’t have this problem. But I did read someone’s comment about men who are married but have girlfriends are the scum of the earth. Well what about wives who have boyfriends? Are they not the scum of the earth? Are women just not capable of cheating because I saw a few posts here that would prove otherwise.

    Reply
  41. Finding messages that shouldn’t have been there has happened to this man’s wife. I saw msgs from a woman he admitted that he “liked” and subseqently discovered it was much more. It isn’t the technology that’s a problem -it’s the personal code of ethics of the users. But a good one to keep your spouse in a permanent state of anxiety.

    Reply
  42. Ok, I just got my Iphone and of course everyone has to check it out (the bling bling factor). My co-worker in the office next to mine was looking at some youtube videos and enjoying the hell out of my phone when the music stopped and she got a flushed look on her face. I thought the phone crashed on her, she handed me my phone and said do you know “*&^%$”? I said yes I do why? She said well she wants you to…blankity blankity her…yes it said what you are probably thinking!!! Now this message was sent to my phone in error but I could see where this would be a MAJOR problem and I spent several hours researching on how to turn off preview. Well, I eventually like everyone else hear learned that there is no way to turn this off. The password only dissables preview when locked…and of course no one will be checking your phone out with it locked…Right! I really can’t believe Apple does not allow this preview to be turned off completely…unbelieveable…or let someone else write an app. to dissable this. I hope Apple gets wind of this message board or others like this and fixes this pain in the a$$ issue. Ok, I feel better now!!

    Reply
  43. Well I had a problem earlier, my girlfriend where I’m stationed at didn’t have her phone with her and my chick back home sent me a drunk text ‘ im sorry i just want to fuck you so bad right now’ and a bunch of other garbled drunk text… after i got the phone back… So my girl just turned back and handed me the phone real calm, and I had so much shame but I played it off like it was nothing, because I am deploying soon I didn’t feel like explaining it all. So I figured out how to hide SMS preview, BUT THIS ONLY WORKS if the phone is LOCKED!!!

    Also if I am looking at my phone all day to check my stocks, like I always am on iStockManger app, anyone can see my freaking incoming texts. So I’m talking to this new chick, and I like to keep my ‘relationships’ covert and discreet. I don’t kiss and tell and well, this new chick I’m talking to text me and this fucking looooser i work with saw it and now of course he is going to tell everybody in my whole squadron that I’m talking to this girl. Which is props for me, but not good for hooking up later.

    WHAT THE HECK APPLE?!?!?! Do I really have to go through my phone and change all the female contacts names around? And if I changed to a guy’s name so my girl doesn’t get suspicious if she sees it, everyone will say I’m freaking gay, not that I care, but would make work a little more annoying than it already is.

    Please fix this, not everybody has a girl that understands this. And I don’t want to horde my phone in privacy, I can’t afford to do that with my day-trading. And plus… EVERYONE wants to play with the damn iphone whenever they see it…

    It’s like they’re doing it on purpose, PLEASE fix this in the future when you get bored of hearing peoples embarassments

    Reply
  44. LMAO @ London21, i can totally relate to this guys situation, im completly crude and filthy like with several people. For that reason NOONE SEES MY PHONE, its permantly locked!!!

    I came from a solid, secure blackberry to the iPhone, i was very tempted to go back when i realised the sms preview couldnt be turned off. How rediculous is that!

    Anyway, im hoping this passcode thingy stops it, the fact that i HIDE my phone looks very dodgy!!! Be nice to be able to leave it lying round and be safe in the knowledge that noone can access it.

    APPLE SORT IT!

    Reply
  45. That whole passcode thing is a pain. If I knew I had to go to that much effort to get rid of preview. I would have stuck with my last flip phone and just used my PDA to surf the net.

    Reply
  46. @Shane Yes, this works, but if the phone is unlocked, like when someone is checking their email on your phone for example, the message excerpt will still pop up.

    Reply
  47. Settings – General – Passcode Lock – Show SMS Preview (turn off)

    This will prompt you that there is a message but the message will not be displayed

    Reply
  48. My 7 yr old was playing an app on my iPhone I and went upstairs for a quick errand. I came back downstairs, and he told me that he knew my and “Bob’s” secret. I am a month away from my divorce being finalized, and my lover “Bob” sent me a text saying how much he loved me, how beautiful he thought I was, and how he couldn’t wait to see me. I tried to play it off that “Bob” has a girlfriend and he accidently sent it to me. I don’t know if my son bought it. I just hope he doesn’t say anything to my soon-to-be-ex!

    Reply
  49. Turn Airplane Mode to On, and that will stop anything from comming into your iPhone. I do this while my kids were using it to play games.

    Cam.

    P.S. Before I thought of this solution, I tried to download Kate (Caterpillar) from RipDev (supposed to allow you to control notifications), but it was the most confusing install process ever, and never worked. I finally had to uninstall everything.

    Reply
  50. so one of my girlfriends is visiting me. I’m texting my old high school girlfilriend,and she sends a text apologizing about how she was drunk texting me about how she just wanted to F me… anyway she says “sorry but that would be really awesome to f@!$ around”. and my girl hands me my phone confidently like… ‘explain this’

    well I’m pretending she hasn’t seen it for now, but we’re not too serious since she’s going home soon, but just very uncomfortable and can’t act the same way as before… plus what if we have a future? she will always have this incident lodged in the back of her mind.

    anyway she is always trying to watch what I’m doing on my phone now! sucks!

    Apple, I’m not a player! I just crush alot! pleaaaaasssssseee fix this! privacy act!!!!

    Reply
  51. Put the phone in “airplane mode” before handing it over. The phone will not recieve emails or text until U take it out of airplane mode when the phone is back in your hands…

    Reply
  52. Download ‘LOCKDOWN’ from Cydia (the application you get when you jailbreak your iPhone).

    Use LOCKDOWN to set a password for any individual app including the iPhone native apps such as SMS, Email, Phone, Photos … literally anything.

    It wont require a password on lockscreen, only when you click on the locked apps!

    I use it all the time… stops those nosey buggers from accessing and checkin Mrs McDucky’s birthday suprise pics for Mr McDucky 😉

    Reply
  53. My ten year old loves the toy that we call an iPhone… so when it comes to life with a text or missed call, he is always running to check the excitement. I don’t really have to go much further with this for you all to understand the dilemma… be it a crude joke, or a sexual text from a lady friend “Auntie [insert-name-here]”, I am always paranoid of what he might see.
    No matter how many times I tell him to NOT look, he just can’t help it. And to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to either!

    Reply
  54. I’ve had an iPhone since they came out and despite their high price and not even being close to perfect, I like them…my biggest beef is also with the SMS alerts that comes up.

    My story:

    This past year I hit middle age and for fun I bought a fast sports car and started seeing a few strippers. Both legal but of course not anything that I wanted to flash to my wife on a regular basis. But thanks to Apple and there lack of privacy options for SMS messages I’ve had to resort to giving fictitous names to my strippers so that they appear to be work related messages. Since strippers already go by false names I now have to remember three for each: their real name, stripper name and now my iPhone alias name….all because I use an iPhone! Let me know when Apple makes this right!

    Reply
    • It must be hard being stupid. Why work so hard? Just do what you are supposed to do with your wife; be honest and have sex with her.

      Reply
    • LOL that’s exactly what I first thought when I first started reading these embarrassing stories. The people at Apple are like “Hahahaha, this is too effin good, let’s not fix this and just pretend we’re working on it. These stories are too hillarious, comedy gold!”

      Reply
  55. What feckin ejit spends that money on texts these days. Is it jus Ireland that offers free texts to everyone on any network. Anyway, was ur girlfriend 14 or what? I know ur takin the piss btw.

    Reply
  56. I have a really embarrassing story which I’m sharing for the first time with all of you

    Recently i was at my girlfriends house showing her mom my new iphone when a text message popped up from my woman who was upstairs saying ‘hello’

    The worst part is it costs my girlfriend 15 cents per text message! her mom was furious she was texting me and spending her money so frivolously.

    Needless to say me and my girlfriend are no longer in contact and i still owe her 15 cents.

    Reply
  57. This SMS thing MUST get fixed Apple, come on!

    SMS messages are PRIVATE and should never be displayed. The sender has the expectation that nobody but the recipient is going to read it. And the de facto standard of all other phones work this way.

    Imagine if your desktop email contents popped up on your screen. Geezus Apple, I expect more.

    Reply
  58. Ladies,
    You are 100% right. I communicate with my mistress and assorted girl friends mostly via text. Fortunately, my iPhone went on the fritz and I had to get rid of it and get a Palm. Almost got busted a couple of times.
    Apple, please fix this feature so I can get rid of my Palm Centro.

    Reply
  59. wait a min, my iphone’s a version 2.1 why can’t i find where/how to turn off text preview? someone help please it would be kind (:

    Reply
  60. most of you guys are a disgrace. privacy…i agree. No one wants to read certain messages from your other halves….however those of you with wifes who also have ‘secret girlfriends’. you’re the scum of the earth.

    Reply
  61. I was going to complain about the smsm pop up feature as well , but seeing how many cheating men have been busted by the application all I can say now is WELL DONE APPLE!!!

    Reply
  62. iPhone is an Apple toy completly useless for one of the main purpose of ANY Apple toy: to show it to people that doesn´t have one!! hahaha! just kidding… I can´t belive that I felt so more confortable -at least in the privacy and security area- with my five years old Moto!!! The pop up control is a good idea, but the basic concept of a four digits passwd would be a great complement, don´t you think? And not only for the text messages. I remember that my old palm (again five, maybe more, years old) alawed me to asign an individual security status for every single contact in my agenda (remember that?).

    It`s so stupid that an instrument as powerfull as the iPhone is, completly lacks those kind of basic and elementary tools. I take that -sorry- as a full missrespect from Apple toward us, their faithful fans. When I think about this kind of issues I imagine somebudy in Apple telling me “Dude, what makes you think I even care?? haha (*evil haha*). I don`t have any embarassing story to share, but only because I don´t let anybudy to even see my iPhone a mile away!!

    Hi, I own an iPhone but I can´t show you. What kind of Apple toy is this???

    From Monterrey, Mexico, H

    Reply
  63. I’m married and my bestfriend is a girl. Obviously there’s conversation I’d prefer the wife or mom or whoever not see with my friend. Out of context those conversations could be hard to explain. Anyways. It would be an easy fix for Apple. Have a lock feature for guests–where you can temporarily hide or lock certain apps (i.e., SMS, E-mail, Phone, etc).

    I love Apple but this is a HUGE OVERSIGHT on their part.

    Reply
  64. I haven’t had anything bad happen yet with SMS but I do have a related issue.

    I have on several occasions let friends and coworkers borrow my iPhone after I have been on my Flickr account. They then are able to see all my personal pictures, nothing x rated, just embarrassing when I am out with friends acting stupid and someone snaps a picture.

    I wish you could set the iPhone up to close and clear all web pages once the home button is pressed.

    Reply
  65. Awesome. It worked. Just says New Text, which is good enough for me. Now I just have to get my money back from that crappy caterpillar app which doesn’t seem to work with 2.1 without 15 hours of reinstalling

    Reply
  66. Apple actually did opposite of what everyone was asking. I didn’t mind it saying who the text was from when the phone was locked. We had the option to preview the message or not when the phone was locked. Myself and from what I read a lot of other people have a problem with the WHOLE message popping up while the phone is in use. Apple wasted time with that upgrade!!!

    Reply
  67. Well Apple seems to have listened and done soemthing about it in 2.1. Having message preview turned off no longer shows the texter, just says ‘New Text Message’.

    Reply
  68. I was on apples message board and didnt see anyone else complaining about this. I thought I was stupid for thinking that this is something that seriously needs fixed. I LOVE to show my phone off. I buy games all the time and sit on break at work and play games. Also my 14 year old brother likes to play with my phone, but I am always so hesitant due to this feature. I am learning more and more things that I can do with my iphone, but had I know that this really important thing would have been in issue… I don’t think I would have still gotten the phone. I really hope an app comes or apple fixes this in an upgrade. Thanks for posting everyone! Glad I’m not the only one.

    Reply
  69. I have concerns and issues with this text message problem that every one is facing and wonder when Apple will be doing something about. After paying all this money for a phone one should not have to worry about features like this. A company this big should do something about it or make a recall on the phones to compensate the aggravation that they have put their customers through.

    Reply
  70. I wanted to turn the preview off just bc theres so many nosey people around who always want to know what your upto. But reading the stories above…it seems as though many people are cheating on their wives and trying to find a way to cover up. How about you just leave the person your with or have an open relationship? Reading this just shows how many people dont have morals!

    Reply
  71. Here is my solution, only works with jailbroken iPhones though. Go into installer, install a program called “Pysl”,then install another program called “taskbar notifier”, now reboot your phone. A new icon for the Psyl program should appear, run the program, set “pysl enable” to on, then go into settings, where it says “sms pop up”, press it to on, now press the home button, reboot the phone once more, now hopefully when u get an sms you’ll get tone/vibrate, a number will appear above the text icon, and a small bubble will appear in the status bar, no pop up should appear. works for me. Good Luck. Kim.

    Reply
  72. thanx for this idea.. as soon as i saw the orevie i jumped right on it.. now if there was just a passcode that could get u 2 your sms..u kno the passcode to get into the phone and another that would get you into your text messages..that’s the app we all need lol..
    ok im a genious..

    Reply
  73. Ahhhhhhh, Thank God this drives someone else crazy. Everyday I am sitting in meeting. I have to be real careful to not put my phone on the table face up. If I do, sometimes sensitive msgs come in in plain view for others to see. If this does not get fixed, I’m going to have to switch phone,

    PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Apple, address this. I love my phone but this is a killa.

    Reply
  74. My cousin was messing around with my iPhone when I got a text saying “hey, everything okay babes? x”
    … from my boyfriend
    I’m gay, but I haven’t told my family yet.
    My attempts to laugh it off as a mate messing about fooled no-one…

    Reply
  75. had a friend (female-no romantic history) who I hadnt spoken to in years text me just to say “hi hows it going” and whilst I was making tea my lady saw the screen.. suffice to say that its true that nuclear fallout shelters are bloody useless

    Reply
  76. I was at my boyfriends house one night and my phone was sitting on the side table, my boyfriend decided to pick up my iphone and have a play with it. A msg came through from one of my girl friends that said the following. ” Hey! how good was last night i never thought having a threesom could be so good!! That was a great idea hope it was as good for you as it was for me, don’t worry i wont tell your boyfriend!!!

    Opps!!

    Reply
  77. This is great, I don’t know anybody owning a Iphone, but if I did. I would sent that person this kind of messages all day long, just hoping that somebody sees them and the owner gets in to trouble.

    By the way, I hope they fixed the problem by the time i’m going to get myself an Iphone 😛

    Reply
  78. So, I was talking about Global Warming to a crowd in Chicago. I handed my phone to the mayor and a text came in from Al Gore, “We’re going to make so much money off this Global Warming lie! Keep it up Barack!”

    I was so embarrassed. I know people are retarded who buy into the fact that man is changing the climate, but when this came through from Al Gore, it made me look retarded. Wow… so embarrassing!

    Reply
  79. My wife playing with my iPhone and a message from my secret girlfriend sent me a message “missing u baby …”

    Reply
  80. my step daughter was using my iPhone when Mike sent me one of his classic “I boinked this chick last night” messages. Well, the first few words aroused her curiousity so she clicked the button and got to see all of the nasty details. This, along with no pictures in messages and no text forwarding is a deal breaker for me! My old Moto flip had a security setting that forced someone using your phone to enter a passcode to check ANY message. I really miss that feature!

    Reply
  81. Hey ppl,
    I suppose the sex related ones can get into trouble but my story is fairly embarrasing-
    I had installed a few new apps on my phone n was showing them off to my girlfriends mother when the message “Do u want ta c*m in my mouth or what?” appeared. I was staying in my girlfriends house that night and i had just got home from work. She had went straight upstairs with the knowledge that I was ta follow her up for sex and then she sent me that message not knowing i was talkin her mam. So as her mam was playin with one of the apps that filthy message popped onto the screen. It was a brief message obviously so she read it.

    Just to let you know her mam is a very stern and highly strung sort of person so she handed me back the phone in disgust. I knew immediately that something was wrong when it beeped and I got that heart stopping feeling where you know you are at fault so I just put my head down and walked away.
    It was very awkward.

    But just to let you know I knew about this feature in Settings>>General>>Passcode Lock>>Show SMS Preview but the fuckin thing doesnt work and I dont know why. Im running 1.1.4 firmware if anyone1 interested!!

    So anyway, APPLE you are a pack of bastards for having this feature and it should be removed.

    Reply
  82. I have a girlfriend who doesn’t understand that it is normal to text message with both males & females. When a message popped up that an ex-girlfriend of mine sent to me and about 50 other people announcing where she was going to be bartending that night, lets just say that didn’t go over too well.

    PLEASE make the default to NOT preview it, and make it an option to show it.. DUH

    Reply
  83. My friend’s sister-in-law spent the night (innocently) on my sofa after we had both been to a party. The next day, she was flicking through the photos in my iphone when a message from said friend arrived, reading ‘ Did xxx get her gob around your bollocks last night?’. I’m not sure who was more embarrassed!

    We phoned my friend straight away, and he managed to deflect some of the damage, saying he was about to send an equally crude message to her! Cheers for that one, Apple!

    Reply
  84. Not funny at all!
    My wife was using my phone to call our children and a text popped up “Babe, you were great yesterday, I miss you so much!”. Obviously, it wasn’t from my wife! Created a lot of problems, but finally worked them out. Wish I would have known how to turn that off early.
    Thanks Apple! Should have known better

    Reply
  85. my daughter likes to listen to my ipod or watch you tube and i am always concerned that i will get a text saying something i definitely dont want her to know mom is doing….. if you know what i mean.

    Reply
  86. not really an embarassing story about myself but my fiance, well we both have iphones, jailbroken of course, and we both do a fair bit of texting. That does include to each other while we are sitting next to each other lol. Well she got a very rude and crude text from her ex husband…. needless to say i thought it was my phone cuz both were sitting on the end table and looked…. only read the first 4 words and didnt need to go on… “i love you baby”…. now at this point i was thuroughly upset. I confronted her without reading the rest of the message…. this is how the message really went “i love you baby, but i know we can not be together. i will always love you” well i was quite embarassed especially after seeing the fact that the message she sent to him before that read “im sorry but i will never be with you again, i love my fiance. he makes me more happy than any other man ive ever known”. So to end this little story let me now say, neither phone leaves our persons…. and we try REAL HARD not to look at the others unless invited or interested in the current convo.

    check out http://iphone.rustybushes.com for all your iphone needs.

    Reply
  87. I txt all the time and I cantleave my phone anywhere cuz of the stupid text preveiw. I talk to my friend a lot and we get bored and start writing stupid stuff just fort the hell of it. Well when my mom was looking at my pics he sent “up the ass hole reeal good” u can imagine the confusion ……

    Reply
  88. My mom borrowed my phone to take some pictures wen my friend texted me about the crazy weekend we had at my house while my parents were gone. Now I’m grounded and my parents don’t trust me 🙁

    Reply
  89. Funny and embarrasin stories 😛 But has anyone found an application that will remove these popups? I already disabled it through the password thingie posted by OP, but like you all say, when people are borrowing you iphone. Cmon you creative souls! make me an app! 😛

    Reply
  90. Yeah my Iphone was plugged in its docking station on my desk and the wife seen a text popup from my mistress telling me how hard she was gonna suck my ****!

    Luckily i didn’t have the number stored so i said it was another stupid prank text from poland or such place

    Reply
  91. I totally agree! I found this site because I was looking for away to defeat the text pop-ups. I have a super jealous and paranoid girlfriend who is always looking around the apartment for clues. I have to make sure my mac pro is logged out in case i fall asleep or something cause she will invariably dig up stuff that is primarily on the innocent side but hard to explain. Just today, I began to receive texts from a female friend who is my muse; nothing sexual but she is special to me. Needless to say such a relationship does not jive with my girlfriend so I prefer to keep our dealings private. Luckily, my iPhone was not on the bedside table as my muse began texting. “When can we hang out?” and “Let’s get drinks.” were the messages popping up on the screen. I had to answer them, then delete them immediately, all the while telling my girlfriend that it was a male friend. Apple.. please, please fix this. I know you can do it. I used to work for you, now please do something for me (and every other iPhone user).

    Reply
  92. Haha, thanks for sharing Nyprg. Three relationships harmed just because of this privacy issue! This is exactly the kind of stuff we shouldn’t have to worry about.

    Reply
  93. WHOOPS! Typo. That last occurence didn’t make sense…..

    The girl I was with asked to use my PHONE (not friend, lol) to look up something on the internet while I changed.

    Reply
  94. Due to this horrible feature on my iPhone I refuse to let anyone use my phone anymore. I am a chronic texter and I have the most x-rated and crude convos on there. Here are some examples of what has happened to me until I finally decided that I would not let anyone see my phone anymore.
    1) My father was looking at pictures I had taken at a family barbecue when my boyfriend text me “You were so great last night, how about a repeat?” My father couldn’t look me in my eye for months!
    2) My boyfriend was looking at youtube videos and I got a text that was an innocent but crude joke from a male friend. Now I’m dealing with my boyfriend thinking I’m cheating just becuz of a chain text message that he happened to glance at!
    3) A friend and I were texting back and forth about stuff while I was shopping with another girl friend of mine. The girl I was with asked to use my friend to look up something on the internet while I changed. When I came out the dressing room, she looked hurt and on the verge of tears! I later found out that while I was dressing, the girl I was texting started writing about the girl I was with and it was kind of cruel. Needless to say I got in huge arguements from both girls over that!

    PLEASE APPLE, FIX THIS SECURITY GLITCH IN THE IPHONE!

    Thank you.
    -E

    Reply

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