Do you feel like your iPhone is drowning with unsolicited calls and texts? Unfortunately, you’re not alone—spam calls and messages are becoming more common, and they might come from obvious crooks to enthusiastic local companies to politicians requesting money. Fortunately, blocking certain numbers on your iPhone is simple and will save you from unsolicited calls and messages; it will only need some effort.

By registering for the FCC’s Do Not contact list, you may attempt to prevent these bulk spam calls from reaching your phone, but there’s no assurance that spammers won’t still contact you. Although there isn’t a method to stop all unsolicited calls at once, you may use a mix of tools and particular number restrictions to keep them at bay.

We’ll walk you through blocking calls and texts on your iPhone in this tutorial. We’re concentrating on the special tools and security features of Apple phones to offer you piece of mind, even if some of these methods will also work with Android phones.

How to immediately ban a specific contact or phone number

Even if it could seem like playing whack-a-mole to block random spam numbers just to have another one appear the following day, at least you’re doing action against the assault. If the harassment is more personal, here’s how to ensure that you don’t be contacted by someone you don’t want to hear from.

Stop calls

Locate the number you want to ban by opening the Phone app, selecting the Recents option. To access contact information, tap the Info button (the lowercase I emblem), then choose Block Caller from the menu at the bottom. Open that app and follow the same steps to ban FaceTime: hit the Info button to see their contact details, then scroll to the bottom and choose ban Caller.

Turn off text texts

To access the contact page of the individual you want to block, start the discussion with them and touch their name and picture at the top. After tapping the Info button on the right, choose Block Caller by scrolling to the bottom.

You may also report unfamiliar numbers that aren’t in your Contacts app as spam to Apple. To flag a message, tap on it. Press the “Report Junk” button, which is the little blue writing that shows up underneath a message. After that, choose Delete and Report Junk. The sender is not blocked as a result. You may follow the aforementioned guidelines if they contact you again.

Block emails

Open the email message from the account you want to block in the Mail app, then touch its email address. Next, choose “Block this Contact.” When you ban someone in the Apple Mail app, they are blocked on all Apple devices that are linked to your account.

It should be noted that barring undesired contacts in Apple’s Mail app won’t prevent their messages from appearing in your inbox if you use a third-party email software like Gmail or Outlook. It will be necessary for you to ban certain third-party applications.

How to automatically block unsolicited calls

Although it has certain limitations that make it less than ideal in some situations, this function may be the most helpful one Apple offered to assist fight the spike in spam calls.

Toggle it on by selecting Silence Unknown Callers by scrolling down to the bottom of Settings > Phone.

This stops calls from unknown numbers that don’t show up in your recent calls list, aren’t stored in your contacts list, and haven’t messaged you before. The number will show up in your list of recent calls after they are automatically hushed and sent to your voicemail.

This may work for spammers who jumble their numbers, but not for persistent offenders, who you will need to manually block. Regretfully, this means that if they call again, the number will be sent through.

On the other hand, your iPhone will automatically filter out numbers that you don’t have stored in your contacts list. Siri Suggestions will allow your phone to ring if it discovers that number in an email or text.

Additionally, this function will be temporarily toggled off for the following 24 hours if you phone emergency services, in case they need to get in touch with you again.

How to filter spam calls using a third-party program

Another option for filtering spam calls is to utilize a third-party software. First, install one or more apps on your iPhone after downloading them from the App Store. Next, choose Call Blocking & Identification under Settings > Phone. You may then turn on or off the call-blocking applications that you specifically use.

There will be a choice on this same page to Silence Junk Callers if your carrier has a spam-blocking capability as part of their service. This silences calls that your carrier automatically identifies as spam, sends them to voicemail, and adds them to your recent calls list, much to Apple’s Silence Unknown Callers option.

How SMS from unknown phone numbers may be filtered

Although it’s not a full block, you may configure it to prevent notifications from being sent by numbers that aren’t in your contacts list. In this manner, you may at least reduce the barrage of notifications from unknown numbers (just in case it’s a long-lost friend or relative contacting you from a new number).

Go to Settings > Messages and activate the Filter Unknown Senders setting to filter such messages.

Next, launch the Messages app and choose Filters from the upper left menu. An email inbox-style list will appear when you first log in. You may see messages from numbers that are not in your contacts by tapping the Unknown Senders button.

How can I check who I’ve blocked?

In your iPhone’s settings, you may see a list of blacklisted individuals, broken down by email address and phone number. Navigate to Settings > Phone > blacklisted Contacts to see blacklisted phone numbers. Go to Settings > Mail > blacklisted to see blacklisted email accounts.

You may manually add a phone number or email address straight from any of those lists. Go to Settings > Phone > Blocked Contacts > Add New to see phone numbers. Go to Settings > Mail > Blocked > Add New to see email addresses.

By navigating to Settings > FaceTime and selecting banned Contacts under Calls, you can also see who you’ve banned on FaceTime. Go to Settings > Messages and choose banned Contacts under SMS/MMS to see the contacts you have banned in Messages.

When you block someone, what happens?

You won’t get a notice when you block a contact or phone number, but the number may still leave a voicemail. It will not send messages sent to or received from banned contacts. Above all, the banned contact will not be informed that their message or call has been blocked.

An email address will go straight to the trash bin if you ban it from either the Mail app or its settings.