iPhone Lock Screen privacy: what others can see
A locked iPhone can still say a lot. These settings make it say less.
In short
A locked iPhone can still show notification previews, widgets and the features listed under Allow Access When Locked. To hide message contents, go to Settings › Notifications › Show Previews and choose When Unlocked or Never. To limit the rest, go to Settings › Face ID & Passcode and turn off features under Allow Access When Locked.
Key takeaways
- Show Previews set to When Unlocked keeps message text off the Lock Screen.
- Allow Access When Locked covers Control Center, Siri, Wallet and more.
- By default, accessories and computers can’t connect until you unlock.
Notification previews
A notification preview can show the first lines of a message or an email, or the details of a calendar invitation. On a Lock Screen, that is readable by anyone who picks up your phone or glances at it on a table.
- Go to Settings › Notifications.
- Tap Show Previews.
- Choose When Unlocked, or Never.
You can override this app by app: tap the app under Notification Style, then Show Previews. If you share your screen with SharePlay or Screen Mirroring, notifications are allowed by default; turn them off in Settings › Notifications › Screen Sharing.
Allow Access When Locked
In Settings › Face ID & Passcode (Touch ID & Passcode on models with Touch ID), the Allow Access When Locked section lists what works without unlocking. Depending on your iPhone, it includes:
- Today View and Notification Center
- Control Center
- Siri
- Reply with Message
- Home Control and Wallet
- Return Missed Calls
Turning a feature off stops someone holding your iPhone from viewing what it might contain — an upcoming event in a Calendar widget, for example. The trade-off is that you lose that quick access too.
USB and other accessories
By default, your iPhone has to be unlocked before it will talk to an accessory or a computer. If you don’t unlock it, it won’t communicate with the accessory, although the phone still charges from a USB power adapter.
To adjust this, go to Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and tap Wired Accessories. On iPhone models with USB-C, the choices run from Always Ask to Always Allow; the default is Automatically Allow When Unlocked. Storage accessories always require unlocking. Always Allow removes a protection, so keep the default or something stricter.
Other quick wins
- Set a short Auto-Lock time in Settings › Display & Brightness › Auto-Lock.
- Keep Require Passcode at Immediately. If you use Face ID, Touch ID or Apple Pay, it can’t be changed anyway.
- Remember that a Medical ID is designed to be read from the Lock Screen by first responders: include what helps them, nothing more.
What the Lock Screen can’t protect
All of this protects a phone that stays locked. Once it is unlocked — handed over to show someone a photo, for instance — the rest of the phone is a swipe away. Latent hides its preview in the app switcher and can lock itself the moment you leave it, so a vault you opened earlier isn’t still open when the phone changes hands.