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WatchOS 26 no longer hides message previews with notifications

A

AV11

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 16, 2025
5
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Just updated to the official release versions of WatchOS 26 and iOS 26. (I did not install the beta versions of WatchOS or iOS 26 on my devices.) Message notification behavior seems to have been changed and I am wondering if this is a bug or not.

Message notifications on WatchOS 26 now show the contact photo and a preview/summary of the message beneath the contact image on wrist raise following a haptic tap. If the message is brief enough, the entire message appears.

This was not the case in prior versions of WatchOS. In the past, the message notifications could be set to only show the contact image on wrist raise and only after a tap on the contact image would the full message be displayed. I liked being able to see who sent a message while hiding the content until I was ready to view it.

How can this preview on in WatchOS 26 be turned off? Is this even possible anymore?

I checked the notification settings for messages on both the Watch and iPhone and I have “show summary when locked” turned off and “tap to show full notification” turned on. Summarize notifications is off in the Apple Intelligence settings as well.

I already toggled those settings and restarted both devices (several times), but when I receive a tap that I have a new message and raise my wrist, I still see the contact photo and a preview/summary of the message. I would very much like the old behavior back.

Any information and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 
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This happened to me as well after updating. I went into notifications setting on the watch and toggled it off and back on and it’s back to how it was/id expect it.
 
Thanks. I tried toggling the settings again.

Still showing the previews.
 
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I’m having the same issue, no matter how many times I toggle the setting. I’ve just restarted my Watch after toggling it again, so I’ll see if that makes a difference.
 
I don’t know if this explains it, but i just noticed that it says the following underneath the “Tap to show full notification” setting:

Apple Watch can hide the full details of a notification behind a summary until you tap the screen or double tap your fingers.

I assume this means that this new behavior is by design then and is not something the user can avoid. Since it says “can hide” it would be nice if it was actually a choice.
 
Fynd said:
This happened to me as well after updating. I went into notifications setting on the watch and toggled it off and back on and it’s back to how it was/id expect it.
Click to expand...
I just tried the toggle process. To add, I also restarted my Apple Watch.
Now awaiting a text message to see how it performs 😳
 
i am having this same problem. i called apple tech support and after being on with them forever, the rep indicated there have been other calls about this issue. she basically took a log file from my phone and watch to send it to the engineers and said she’d call me back in a few days with an update. hopefully this gets fixed ASAP.
 
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I think I will give my watch a rest from wearing it for a week or so, to avoid co-workers trying to read my messages.

Hmm, I wonder if the issue also happens if one is using an AWU3...(I am not about to upgrade from my AWU2)
 
circatee said:
I think I will give my watch a rest from wearing it for a week or so, to avoid co-workers trying to read my messages.

Hmm, I wonder if the issue also happens if one is using an AWU3...(I am not about to upgrade from my AWU2)
Click to expand...
it does. i have an AWU3. interestingly enough, this did NOT happen with my series 9 that i also had upgraded to watchOS 26.
 
As follow-up, my above msg was regarding my Ultra 2 that I updated and that worked.

I've since upgraded to an iPhone 17 Pro and Ultra 3, and I can't get this to work at all anymore. Frustrating.
 
Fynd said:
As follow-up, my above msg was regarding my Ultra 2 that I updated and that worked.

I've since upgraded to an iPhone 17 Pro and Ultra 3, and I can't get this to work at all anymore. Frustrating.
Click to expand...
call it in to apple. it’s the only way they’ll take it seriously.
 
This morning I unpaired my AWU2, and reconnected it.
With that, I still have the original issue AND now when I raise my wrist to see who the notification is from, it opens the message.

Priceless...! 🤬
 
Update:
I just had a Chat session with Apple Support. They have shared that the engineers are aware of this issue. I even shared the link to this thread...
 
I responded to this issue during the beta, as I noticed it early on and let Apple know. Nothing was done to fix this. It is definitely annoying.
 
...oddly enough, WhatsApp works correctly.

Alas, yes, like @felipestrong107 mentioned, 26.0.2 hasn't resolved the issue.

For now, I might just set Messages to Custom Notifications on the watch, i.e., turn it off or send to Notifications Centre. If i feel my phone vibrate, simply check if it is a Message.

Ugh.
 
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