how to stop SMS message alerts?

Question

how to stop SMS message alerts?

does anyone know how you can stop new unread SMS messages from popping up on the screen?
i find it really annoying, say, if i'm on a call and i get a text and sound alert - it really distracts me from my call!
i was just making a call now which went to anwerphone, but had 5 texts come through just as it went to anwerphone (to which i didn't want to leave a message). then i could not end the call without closing all the new text messages. thus i had left a blank message while i deleted the texts in order to hang up! surely a serious design flaw...!?

same goes for if i'm watching a youtube video - a new text comes though and then the youtube video just stops.
thanks for any help anyone could offer me.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 30, 2011 11:31 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

John Guo

Level 5

5,353 points

Jan 30, 2011 11:45 AM in response to Abstractman23

Yes, go to Settings>Messages. Turn off "Show Preview."

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Answer 2

Jan 30, 2011 11:46 AM in response to John Guo

perfect, thanks will do this now!

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Answer 3

Jan 30, 2011 12:00 PM in response to John Guo

hmm i did that and still got the sound notification: but this time the blue pop-up just had the sender's name and then "Text Message" written underneath it... any idea how to get rid of this completely?
thanks!

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Answer 4

John Guo

Level 5

5,353 points

Jan 30, 2011 12:09 PM in response to Abstractman23

You can disable sound at the same place in the Settings app. As far as taking the notification off completely, I guess Apple didn't give users an option to do that. There is no where else I was able to find an option that controls texting alerts. I thought that by doing what I wrote previously it would disable any pop-ups but I guess it doesn't. Apple did not give users that option to disable it completely.

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Answer 5

Jan 30, 2011 12:18 PM in response to John Guo

ah ok, thanks for checking it out anyway...! much appreciated.
it's quite a serious design flaw then in my opinion...

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Answer 6

Mar 16, 2011 7:38 PM in response to Abstractman23

I could not agree more with this complaint. This is a major hassle with the text alert pop ups coming up all the time. It is hard to believe Apple has overlooked this.

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Answer 7

Sam M.

Level 3

598 points

Mar 16, 2011 7:40 PM in response to macuserguy11

Feel free to give them feedback on the issue so they know how their users feel. If no one speaks up things will never get changed.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

-SM

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