Have you ever wished your iPhone messages were more private? With so many conversations moving from actual phone chats or FaceTime to texting, you may be wondering just how safe and secure your messages truly are — in which case you aren’t going to love the answer. While it’s true that you can always delete a text that you send, you aren’t promised that the recipient is doing the same, in which case your text can exist for a lifetime on their device (or worse: they can share your text if they’re so inclined). But there’s good news: a tech expert explains how you can make your iMessages private. You’re going to want to hang onto this tip.
Rely On Notes
You may think of Notes as a convenient place to create a grocery list or jot down the errands you have to run that day. But the app is so much more than that — it can take the place of text messaging in a way that’s so much more secure and private.
While Apple is working on a version of Messages that is slated to appear in iOS 16 and will allow you to edit and unsend messages, the feature isn’t here just yet. That means there’s no way to take back a hasty message you might have sent or to prevent the recipient from sharing it with others. Scary thought. Here’s where Notes comes in to save the day.
It’s possible to write your message in Notes, share it with a recipient, have them send a message back to you, and — the best part — you can delete your message as you go so that there’s no record of it. It’s simple to do and is, by far, one of the safest, more private ways to share texts with someone at the moment.
How To Use Notes To Create A Private Text
Now, the fun part: using Notes to send private messages back and forth among family members and friends. All you have to do is tap on the Notes app and click “compose” to write a new note. Type your message and add someone to it by tapping the “More” button at the top right, followed by “Share Note.” Tap “Share Options” and give your recipient editing rights by tapping “Can make changes” under the Permission tab. After you’ve created these settings, send the Note as a text message, email, or via a social media channel.
Your recipient will have to accept your invitation and can then read and respond to your message.
How To Delete The Note
When you feel like you’ve had enough of the conversation and it’s time to delete it, simply tap “Stop Sharing.” This will both remove your recipient from the note and delete it from both devices. And if you happen to be the recipient of the note and not the sender, just delete the note from your Notes app.
The next time you are about to engage in what you suspect will be a more private text conversation, try using Notes instead of iMessages to feel more secure.
