How to hide notifications from the lock screen on Android

Having notifications popping up when your Android phone is locked can be quite useful if you’re waiting for a message or have forgotten an appointment. But, on other occasions, maybe when you’re trying to hide a surprise birthday party from someone in your household, having the time and date appear at random, replete with a ping to grab their attention, could spoil the event. So, here’s how to take control of your notifications and decide when or if they appear on your lock screen.

How to disable all notifications on Android lock screen

It’s easy to prevent notifications displaying on your lock screen, as Android has settings that deal particularly with this area. While the variety of ‘skins’ or interface overlays on Android can mean that the precise route to find them differs, you should be able to access the feature by going to Settings and then either looking in the Notifications or Lock Screen sections.

For example, as you can see below, on a Samsung Galaxy S9 you open  the Settings app, tapped on Lock Screen and then Notifications.

Once you access the Lock Screen Notifications area, you will see a toggle switch to turn them either On or Off. If you don’t want any notifications at all, use this switch. Should you only want to hide the content of a message, but still want to be alerted when they appear, then there’s also a way to achieve this.

How to hide notification content on Android lock screen

Staying on the same page, scroll down until you see the option Hide content. Enabling this will stop your messages and other alerts popping up on the screen for all to see. There’s also a View Style option that can give you the option of only the icon for the app in question to pop up. Again, these will vary from phone to phone, but the principles should remain true, so look for options that have similar titles.

Once you’ve set everything up, try getting a friend to send you a few messages and test run each setting or combination until you find the one that delivers the blend of privacy and practically that you need. You don’t want to try it for the first time when you’re in danger of letting the cat out of the bag on that surprise event. 

For more ways to get the most out of your Google-powered device, read Best Android 10 tips & tricks.