Are you tired of receiving unwanted messages, spam calls, and emails on your iPhone? Fortunately, with just a few taps on your iPhone screen, you can block phone numbers and email addresses and get some relief from the notification onslaught.
The iPhone does an excellent job at blocking a specific address or number. In the Phone app or Facetime app, find the number, email, or contact you want to block. Tap the info button (circle with a tiny letter i inside), scroll down, and tap “Block this caller.” A pop-up will ask you to verify, tap “Block Contact,” and you’re done.
When someone is blocked in the Phone app, incoming calls go directly to voicemail. Unfortunately, they can still leave you a message, but it will go silently into your voicemails hidden in the blocked messages section in Messages or Facetime. Blocked messages and calls won’t show up, and the person you blocked won’t receive an alert or be any the wiser.
If you didn’t mean to block or want to unblock someone, follow the same process. You’ll notice the “Block this caller” button has turned into the “Unblock this caller” button.
To block someone in Messages, follow an identical process. In order to get the info button, you need to tap on the contact drop-down at the top of the message, then tap on the info button, then tap on the right arrow next to the phone icon, then tap “Block this caller” and verify.
When it comes to email, go to the Apple Mail app, open the message from the person you want to block, tap on the email address, then select “Block this contact.” Blocking someone in Mail sends their messages into the trash folder, but this has a limited effect. You should really log into your email provider, like Gmail, for example, and add restrictions there.
It’s also worth noting that these iPhone tools are only a partial cure from spam, unwanted calls, and messages. There are also third-party apps and settings on your phone carrier that can help.
If you want to see a list of the blocked callers and contacts, go into settings, choose either Phone, Facetime, or Messages, and tap on “Blocked Contacts.” If you go to Mail settings, tap on “Block.”
Blocking texts but not calls on your iPhone is a great way to minimize unwanted communication. Have you tried blocking callers and contacts on your iPhone? How has it worked? What are other things you do to minimize unwanted calls or spam? Let us know in the comments.