You're probably aware that your iPhone has a feature that displays previews of SMS text messages when they're received, and if you've ever received something private when you're not alone you know how embarrassing those previews can be. Fortunately there is a very simple way to disable them and keep people from accidentally seeing a conversation you'd rather keep to yourself.

All you have to do is open the settings app, go into the Messages section, and disable the very first option: Show Message Preview. Once you do that you'll still get SMS alerts like usual, but those alerts just won't contain any part of the actual messages. If you're with someone who likes to snoop they can still snoop and find the messages in the SMS app, but at least this will give them less of a reason to look. Besides, you can always add a password.