How to hide Messenger messages on Android and iPhone

How to hide Messenger messages on Android and iPhone

Privacy is important, and you may want to hide the messages that you receive from prying eyes. This is especially important when you are discussing something confidential. Facebook allows you to hide Messenger messages from people of your choosing. You can also unhide these messages later if you change your mind about hiding them.

How to hide Messenger messages on Android and iPhone
Image: messenger.com
Source: UGC

Messenger is a separate app built by Facebook that is solely dedicated to sending and receiving messages. By default, whenever you get a message, the app displays part of it on the lock screen. This makes it really easy for other people to view your private messages.

How to hide messages on Facebook messenger app

When setting up your messenger app on your phone, you have most likely set it not to ask for your credentials for ease of access. This can be convenient most of the time, but is also a huge downside when you want to keep something private.

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It puts you at a great disadvantage. If your device gets lost, all your private business can be accessed by a total stranger. Securing your private data is a smart move, so it is better to hide anything you want to keep away from prying eyes.

Hide messenger messages for Android users

Hiding Facebook messages on Android devices is a fairly easy process. Use the following steps to hide your messages on the app.

  • Tap on the conversation and hold, this will give you a few options
  • Click on the archive button to hide your folder in the Facebook archive

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Hide FB messages for iOS users

If you have an iPhone or an iPad, then the steps given above will not work on your device. To be able to hide your private messages, follow this guide:

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  • Find the conversation you want to hide
  • Swipe left. This will give you a list of options
  • Click on ‘More’. It is one of the options provided
  • A new menu will appear, click on ‘Hide.' This will hide your messages and keep it from prying eyes

How to find hidden messages on Messenger

Hiding your messages doesn’t mean that you won't want to check in on them once in a while. However, this is not easy to do since you cannot open a list of your archived messages in the app. To get to your archived conversations, you will have to do the following:

  • Open the app
  • Click on the home button on the app
  • Click on the search bar
  • Enter the name of the person you were having your conversation with
  • Click on the conversation, and then you can view it

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How to hide Facebook message previews

How to hide Messenger messages on Android and iPhone
Image: pinterest.com, @8logos
Source: UGC

Both Android and iOS devices are default set to show a preview of the message you have received on the lock screen. These previews could be very unwelcome since it allows perfect strangers to read your messages. Hiding previews is important even if you have no desire to hide chat on Facebook.

To hide previews on iPhone, you should do the following:

  • Go to your iPhone settings
  • Scroll down to Facebook messenger settings
  • You will find notification options with buttons that allow you to turn them on or off
  • Turn off the show preview option. This will still let you get notifications but won’t show a preview of the message you have received

The process is slightly different for Android devices. If you have an Android device:

  • Go to settings and click on notifications
  • You will see a list of all the apps on your phone in alphabetic order
  • Find the messenger app and tap on the icon, a new interface will appear
  • Tap the ‘on the lock screen option’
  • From the pop-up menu that will appear, click ‘Hide sensitive notification content’

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You will still receive all the Facebook Messenger notifications but no part of your message will be on display.

To keep your Facebook messages private, you will have to learn how to hide Messenger messages on your phone. You could choose to hide the whole conversation or hide only the previews of the messages you get.

Yen.com.gh has a detailed guide on how to remove your device from secret conversations on Messenger. Secret conversations on Messenger are secured by end-to-end encryption meaning that no third party can intercept your messages.

You may want to remove your device from there to enjoy some absent features. The deactivation process is easy, but you will have to follow the appropriate steps.

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Source: YEN.com.gh

Authors:
Ann Steffie avatar

Ann Steffie Ann Steffie is a content creator with 2+ years of working experience in the industry. She graduated from the Technical University of Kenya with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Technology. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya and spends her free time pursuing her interests which include web development, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Email: madigoann@gmail.com