Just got the S25 Edge. I'm using Google messages (that came with the phone) vs a third party app this time.
I'm trying to figure out how to get the names of my contacts to show when they text me but not the content of their text message on my lock screen. How do I go about that?
I have incoming text message content marked as do not show content on lock screen and I have my lock screen marked as show content which is what YouTube told me to do. But the contact names still won't show.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!🙂
On Samsung phones (and Pixel too), the way Google Messages notifications appear depends on both app settings and system lock screen settings. From what you described, you want this behavior:
See contact name when a text comes in.
Hide message content (so the preview doesn’t show).
Here’s how to set it up:
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Step 1 – Adjust Google Messages Notification Settings
1. Open Google Messages.
2. Tap your profile picture (top right) → Messages settings.
3. Go to Notifications.
4. Tap Incoming messages (or "Default").
5. Under Lock screen notifications, make sure it’s set to:
Show sensitive content only when unlocked (this hides the text but shows the sender name).
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Step 2 – Adjust System Lock Screen Settings (Samsung One UI)
1. Go to Settings → Notifications → Lock screen notifications.
2. Set it to:
Show but hide content (different phones may say “Icons only” or “Hide details”).
This lets you see who sent the message but hides the text body.
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Step 3 – Check Contact Permissions
If names still don’t show, make sure Google Messages has permission to read contacts:
1. Settings → Apps → Messages → Permissions.
2. Ensure Contacts is allowed.
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Common Mistake
If you set lock screen to “Don’t show notifications”, you won’t see names.
If you set it to “Show content”, you’ll see both name + message.
The correct option is “Hide content”, which should still show the sender name.
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✅ After this, you should see “John Smith” but not their message on your lock screen.
Thank you! I just went over your steps. In Messages I don't see an option for "show sensitive content only when unlocked" I just see show, hide, don't show. I have it marked to hide content but it still hides the contact. I also checked permissions and contacts are allowed with the messages app. I feel like I'm missing something😅
You didn’t miss anything — this is actually a quirk with Samsung + Google Messages. On Samsung’s One UI (including your S25 on One UI 7), the “Hide content” option often hides both the message body and the contact name, which is not what you want.
Here’s what you can try (in order):
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1. Change Lock Screen Notification Style
1. Go to Settings → Lock screen → Notifications.
2. You should see options like Icons only / Details / Hide content.
Try Icons only → this sometimes shows the app icon + contact name but no message.
If you want just the name, this is the best bet.
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2. Check “Do not show content” vs “Hide content”
Hide content → should show the name but hide the text (but on Samsung, sometimes it hides both).
Icons only → usually fixes it.
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3. Workaround if Neither Works
Unfortunately, in One UI, Google Messages doesn’t always handle contact-name-only notifications properly. Two workarounds:
Use Samsung Messages instead — it does have the option to show sender name only and hide the text.
Or, in Settings → Notifications → Advanced settings, look for Sensitive notifications and turn it off. That sometimes forces names to appear while hiding content.
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🔑 Bottom line: On your S25, if Google Messages → Hide content is hiding both name + text, switch the system lock screen notification style to Icons only. If that’s still not good, the only way to get “name only” behavior (like you’re expecting) is by using Samsung Messages, because Google’s app isn’t fully optimized for Samsung’s lock screen notification handling.
