iPhone SMS alerts: is there any way to turn them off?

Posted by Matt Thommes on 10/7/2008

One thing that irks me about the current iPhone software is there's no way to turn off SMS alerts. No matter what application you're using, incoming SMS will pop up in the center of the screen, taking precedence over everything. I can't tell you how many times I have been thumbing an email, only to have an SMS alert pop up right between my thumbs and the keypad, which I then end up accidently pressing either one of the alert buttons. Quite often I'll inadvertently hit Reply (on the SMS alert box), and then be taken all the way over to the SMS app, when all I was trying to do was type an email!

This is really poor user experience, especially if you particularly enjoy using SMS, which I do, so I tend to have every type of web service pushing me SMS (Twitter, banking sites, etc).

It's also a privacy issue, because I don't want personal SMS popping up where others could easily see it. For example, the phone is sitting on my desk, or I'm showing someone it's features.

Apple seems to treat SMS on the same level of importance as an incoming phone call.

Apple should really consider a general setting that simply turns off SMS alerts.

Until then, however, we're left with the settings they give us.

The only solution

When I say "solution," I really mean salve. It's not really a solution, but more of a work-around to help with the privacy issue.

If you turn on Passcode Lock (in Settings > General), you'll see an option to Show SMS Preview.

iPhone screenshot

If you leave that to Off, incoming SMS will display only a generic message:

iPhone screenshot

This is only if you're not "logged in" to your iPhone. If you are logged in, SMS alerts function as normal - the senders name, and brief snippet of the message appear in the dead center of your screen, on top of any app you are using.

It's not much, but it's something.

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