Published Sept. 5 2022, 10:40 p.m. ET
We've all blocked someone for one reason or another. Either using the function to deal with continuous calls from the wrong number, telemarketers not getting the hint, or that one person that insists the person they're trying to reach is you when it's not. It's also become a really, really useful feature in social media. How many accounts have you blocked on Twitter today?
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Luckily, if you have an iPhone, blocking contacts is easy and saves you tons of headaches. To block a number, all you have to do is go to your recent calls, tap the info icon on the far right of the screen, which is a tiny blue "i" within a circle, and then scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "block this caller." If you ever want to unblock a number, here's what happens.
If you unblock a number on the iPhone, what happens?
While your phone is blocked, you won't receive any calls or messages from the blocked number. So, anything that person might've sent you while their number was blocked, there's no way of seeing those messages.
Now, if you decide to unblock a number, you'll start to receive calls and messages from that moment forward. Fortunately for iPhone users, the way to unblock contacts is just as easy as blocking them.
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How do you unblock numbers on the iPhone?
First, open the "Settings" app and tap where it says "Phone." Next, you'll tap "Blocked Contacts," which will show you a complete list of the numbers you've already blocked. To unblock a number, swipe left on the screen and click "Unblock."
Now, you'll be able to receive voice calls, text messages and FaceTime calls from that number. The same list of blocked contacts can also be found by going to the "Messages" page in the settings app and tapping "Blocked Contacts."
Is there a way to filter text messages?
Today, we're constantly getting text messages from random numbers that end up cluttering our message inbox. Thankfully, there's a way to fix that problem too.
Once again, open the "Settings" app and tap where it says "Messages." Further down the screen there will be a heading that says "Message Filtering" and just below it, the option to "Filter Unknown Senders." Go ahead and tap the bubble to the right to turn the filtering on.
To make sure it works, open your messages and take a look at the top of the screen. Now, it should say "Contacts & SMS" on the top left, which pertains to everyone in your contact list, and "Unknown Senders" on the top right, which is for all unknown numbers.
These tips should help iPhone users avoid the headaches that come with receiving random text messages and phone calls. Hopefully they help you, too!
