Being spammed by callers constantly is no fun, but there’s a way to block numbers (and silence those callers you don’t know) on your iPhone.
While a lot of these steps can translate over to Android, this step-by-step is just for those of you with an iPhone. Most of these steps are software agnostic, but we’ve been using iOS 16, so if something looks a little different to your phone, it might be worth updating your software.
How do I block callers on an iPhone?
While we’re taking this as a way to block spam callers, it of course also works for contacts or other numbers you just don’t want to hear from ever again.
When you block a caller, you will no longer receive phone calls, messages, emails or FaceTime video chats from that number.
Phone app
- Select the ‘Phone’ icon on your iPhone
- Hit the circled ‘i’ (information) icon on the far right of the number or contact
- Scroll down to ‘Block this Caller’ and tap it
- Once prompted, confirm by selecting the red ‘Block Contact’ button
FaceTime app
- Select the ‘FaceTime’ icon on your iPhone
- Hit the circled ‘i’ (information) icon on the far right of the number, contact or email address
- Scroll down to ‘Block this Caller’ and tap it
- Once prompted, confirm by selecting the red ‘Block Contact’ button
Messages app
- Select the ‘Messages’ icon on your iPhone
- Open the conversation
- Tap the contact at the top of the conversation
- Hit the ‘info’ icon
- Scroll down to ‘Block this Caller’ and tap it
- Once prompted, confirm by selecting the red ‘Block Contact’ button
Mail app
- Open the iPhone’s Mail app (not a third-party like Gmail)
- Open the email that has the contact that you wish to block
- Tap the contact at the top
- Select ‘Block this Contact’
Once blocked, messages that are sent or received won’t be delivered. Also, the blocked caller won’t get a notification that the call or message was blocked. When you block an email address from Mail, it goes to the Bin folder. Email blocking works across all your Apple devices (you will need to block the caller on other iOS devices otherwise you might still get iMessages from them, even if blocked on your iPhone).
How do I unblock callers on an iPhone?
If you’ve made a mistake, never fear, you can undo it (or unblock someone when they’ve stopped annoying you).
Via Phone and FaceTime apps
- Select the ‘Phone’ or ‘FaceTime’ icon on your iPhone
- Hit the circled ‘i’ (information) icon on the far right of the number
- Scroll down to ‘Unblock this Caller’ and tap it
Via Messages app
- Select the ‘Messages’ icon on your iPhone
- Open the conversation of the blocked contact/number
- Tap the contact at the top of the conversation
- Hit the ‘info’ icon
- Scroll down to ‘Unblock this Caller’ and tap it
Can I see who has been blocked?
On your iPhone, it’s super easy to see who out of your callers are on the block list (it’s all in the one place).
Via Phone app settings
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to ‘Phone’ and tap
- Scroll down to ‘Blocked Contacts’ and it will display the list.
Via FaceTime app settings
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to ‘Phone’ and tap
- Scroll down to ‘Blocked Contacts’ and it will display the list.
You can also unblock from this list
- Option 1: Hit edit on the top right, then tap the red ‘-‘ circle and select the red ‘Unblock’ text.
- Option 2: Select the ‘>’ icon on the right and choose to add them as a contact.
This screen will also allow you to add contacts to the block list
- Tap ‘Add New…”
- Your Contacts will pop up and scroll to choose the contact you want blocked
- They will be added to the list immediately.
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Silence unknown callers (not block) on an iPhone
With iOS 13 and later, you can turn on Silence Unknown Callers to avoid getting calls from people you don’t know, without having to go through the block callers process. When you silence callers you don’t know, you’ll still receive notice that they’re reached out, you just won’t be interrupted.
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to ‘Phone’ and tap
- Scroll down to ‘Silence Unknown Callers’ and turn on the feature.
Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent to your voicemail, but unlike when you block callers, silenced ones will appear in your iPhone’s recent calls list.
If you’ve previously texted someone using their phone number or if a person has shared their phone number with you in an email, a phone call from that number will go through.
Filter messages from unknown senders
You can also filter messages from people who aren’t saved in your Contacts.
- Go to Settings
- Scroll to Messages
- Scroll to ‘Message Filtering’
- Toggle on ‘Filter Unknown Senders’
To search through the filters
- Open Messages app
- Tap ‘< Filters’ up the top left
You will now see your messages filter via ‘All Messages’, ‘Known Senders’ and ‘Unknown Senders’. With this filter on, you won’t get notifications for these messages.
Report spam or junk
Another thing you can do on your iPhone instead of applying the ‘block caller’ process is report iMessages that look like spam or junk.
If you get an iMessage from someone who’s not saved in your Contacts, you’ll see a Report Junk link under the message.
Tap Report Junk, then tap Delete and Report Junk. Messages will forward the sender’s information and the message to Apple, as well as delete the message from your device. You can’t undo deleting a message.
Reporting junk doesn’t block the sender from being able to send another message. If you don’t want to receive these messages, you’ll need to run through the ‘block callers on your iPhone’ steps above.
And there we go. That’s how you block callers on your iPhone, folks!
This article has been updated since it was first published.