Your phone’s default settings allow anyone within eyesight of your phone to read messages when they arrive. ..
If they can physically touch the phone, they can not only read messages, but actually reply to them from the lock screen. This is true even if you have Touch ID or a passcode enabled.
Two-factor authentication is a security feature that requires users to provide two pieces of information in order to access their account. Many websites use text messages as the second piece of information, which can easily be viewed by anyone nearby. This makes two-factor authentication a risky security feature for users who have it enabled on websites. ..
To secure your text messages, you can turn on encryption or set a passcode. Encryption will make your messages unreadable to anyone other than you and the person you are messaging, while setting a passcode will make it difficult for anyone to access your messages unless they know the code. ..
To protect your phone from unauthorized access, you should enable Touch ID or a passcode. If you don’t have either of these features enabled, someone could easily swipe to unlock your phone and read anything they want.
Show Previews
In Messages, you can change the first setting to Show Previews. This will let you see previews of the messages before they are sent.
Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see an option called “Show Previews.” Tap the little toggle button so that it is no longer green.
Now when you get a text or iMessage from someone, you will only see the name of the person and not the message. Instead of the message, you will just see default text like “iMessage.”
When you hide previews, you can’t reply to messages from the lock screen. This makes sense because how can you reply to a message you can’t see?
Show on Lock Screen
Notifications – Messages lets you turn off a few more items in order to keep your privacy and security better.
Disable the Show on Lock Screen option to fix the issue.
The new Messages banner will show you the latest messages on your phone. You can still see how many new messages have arrived by looking at the badge app icon.
Disable Badge App Icon, disable the notification sound and disable messages in the notification center to reduce your risk of being hacked or receiving unsolicited messages.
A recent study found that people who turn off Show Previews on their smartphones are more likely to be hacked. By disabling previews, we can help protect our users from potential cyber-attacks.
Text Message Forwarding
iOS has a feature called text message forwarding that can allow unauthorized people to see your messages. Be careful about how you use this feature and protect your privacy. ..
If you enable this option, other devices can send and receive text messages as long as they are signed into the same iMessage account.
If you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or any other Apple device, you need to make sure that all of your devices are password-protected. This is especially important if you use iMessage on all of your devices. If you’re using iMessage and have text message forwarding enabled, then your messages will also be sent to your Mac computer and any other Apple devices that you have registered with iMessage. Make sure to protect all of your devices with a password so that your messages are not sent to unintended recipients. ..
