Have you ever wondered what happens when you block someone on your iPhone? What is really happening?
You can block contacts from your Messages, FaceTime, and Phone apps. If you block a contact in an app, they will be blocked across the board. However, blocking doesn’t prevent someone from trying to reach you. You won’t get a pleasant “Your number has been blocked” notification from Siri, but you may be wondering why you’re not replying to their messages.
How to Block Contacts from Messages on iPhone
To block a number in messages, open the conversation, tap the contact’s name, number, or picture at the top of the screen, and then click the info icon “i”. Tap the name or number again and scroll to the bottom of the Contacts screen for Block This Caller.
If a blocked number tries to send you a text message, it won’t go through. If you’re using iOS, you may not even see the “Delivered” note in your Messages app – although it is possible that you will see your chat bubble change from blue (iMessage) to green (SMS). You won’t see anything on your end.
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Messages also provides an option to filter texts from senders who are not in your contact list. You will still receive the messages, but they will be sent to a separate “Unknown Senders” inbox. You will also not see any notifications for this SMS.
The Unknown Senders tab appears next to a Contacts & SMS tab in messages when you enable this feature (Settings> Messages> Filter Unknown Senders).
How to block contacts from calls and FaceTime
To block a number on the phone or FaceTime, tap the “i” info icon next to the number or contact and click “Block This Caller” on the Contacts screen.
You can manage your blocked contacts in Settings> Phone (or Messages or FaceTime) on your iPhone. Unblock numbers at any time to receive messages, calls, and notifications again.
Calls from blocked contacts are forwarded directly to voicemail. On your side, you will see a special Blocked Messages folder in your mailbox inbox when you leave a message (at the bottom of your mailbox message list). However, they will not receive any notification that they called.
This story was originally published by Thorin Klosowski in 2016 and was updated by Emily Long in September 2019, May 3, 2020 and June 11, 2021. We’ve added screenshots and slightly refined language from the original piece, and updated it to be in line with the latest Lifehacker style guidelines.
