Read this article to learn how to turn “Show Preview” on and off in iOS 5, iOS 6, iOS 7 and iOS 8.
In the release of iOS 5 for the Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad, Apple added a number of great new features, including iMessages (now called Messages) and the much needed Notification Center. These new features are a boon to Apple mobile device users who rely on text messaging as a means of communication (who doesn’t these days?).
In iOS 5, Apple has changed the location of the setting to enable and disable the text messaging “Show Preview” option. For those of you not familiar with it, this handy option (if turned on) will show a snippet of the actual text message you are receiving in the message alert notification when you are not using the iMessages app. So, if you wish to be a bit more private about who might see the content of your text messages when the notification alert pops up, you can turn this option off. Once off, all that you will see is the name or phone number of message sender and the words “Text Message”.
In iOS 4, you could turn “Show Preview” on and off from the Messages section of the Settings app (this is the app that has the gears icon).
In iOS 5, however, Apple has moved this configuration. It can still be found in Settings, but is now under the “Notifications” section. Within Settings –> Notifications, look for the “Messages” section and select it. Once there, you will see the option to “Show Preview” about half way down the screen (see image included in this article). From there you can enable and disable this option as you deem necessary. Enjoy!
The instructions above are also valid for Apple’s iOS 6!
In iOS 7 the procedure has changed a little. Go into Settings and select “Notification Center”. Scroll down to the “INCLUDE” section of this window and find Messages. Select Messages and scroll down to the “Show Preview” section. From there, you can turn preview on and off. See image to the right.
in iOS 8, the steps are the same as is iOS 7, except the name of the option is now called “Show Previews“.