What Happens When You Block Someone on Your IPhone?
Have you everwanted to block someone on your iPhone but wondered what actually happens when you do this? You can block contacts through the Messages, FaceTime and Phone apps, and blocking a contact in one app will block them across the board. However, blocking doesn’t stop anyone from trying to contact you – and they won’t receive notification that they’re blocked, so they might start wondering why you’re not responding to their messages.
You are blocking them, however, so you probably don’t care too much about the last part. So, here’s how to block someone on your iPhone – and where those messages go (or don’t go).
How to block someone on iPhone messages
To block a number in Messages, open a conversation, tap a contact’s name, number, or picture at the top of the screen, and tap the “i” information icon. Tap the name or number again and scroll down the Contacts screen to Block this caller.
When a blocked number tries to send you a text message, it fails. If they’re on iOS, they might not even see the “delivered” note in their Messages app — although they might see your chat bubble change from blue (iMessage) to green (SMS). You won’t see anything at your end.
Messages also have the ability to filter texts from senders that are not in your contact list. You will still receive messages, but they will be delivered to a separate “Unknown Senders” mailbox. You will also not see notifications for these texts.
The Unknown Senders tab will appear next to the Contacts & SMS tab in Messages if you enable this feature ( Settings> Messages> Filter Unknown Senders ).
How to block someone from calls and FaceTime
To block a number on your phone or FaceTime, tap the “i” information icon next to the number or contact and tap 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 resume receiving messages, calls and notifications.
Calls from blocked contacts go straight to voicemail. For your part, you will see a special Blocked Messages folder in your voicemail inbox if they leave a message (found at the bottom of the voicemail message list). However, you will not receive any notifications they triggered.
This story was originally published in 2016 by Thorin Klosovski and was later updated by Emily Long. It was updated again on October 29, 2021 to match current Lifehacker styling guidelines.