You can block a phone number or contact on your iPhone from the Phone, FaceTime or Messages apps. After you block a number, that caller can no longer reach you. Phone calls do not ring through to your phone, and text messages are not received or stored. Sometimes, however, you may wonder if you can still text someone you blocked on iPhone. You may further wonder if you would need to unblock them before sending a text or iMessage. In this article, I provide answers to these questions.
Can you text a number you blocked on iPhone?
The answer is yes. You can text a number you’ve blocked on an iPhone, and the recipient will receive your text messages, but will not be able to effectively respond, since you won’t receive incoming texts from the number you’ve blocked. If you do want to communicate with this person, you may want to unblock the phone number.
If you are sending an iMessage, you won’t see the delivery status or the read receipt at all. This is because the Message app won’t get anything back to confirm the delivery or read receipt from the other party. The message you just sent will still be in a blue bubble instead of green one if you are texting an Apple device.
See also: Can you call a number you blocked on iPhone? Here’s the truth
How to block a number on the iPhone
There are various methods for blocking a number on an iPhone. You can use the Phone, FaceTime or Messages apps.
Via Phone app
Via call history logs
Open the Phoneapp, select the Recents tab, then tap the Infobutton (i) next to the phone number or contact that you want to block. Tap Block this Caller.
Via the Contacts tab
Open the Phone app, select the Contacts tab, then the name of the person you want to block. Scroll down through their listing and tap Block this Caller.
Via FaceTime
Open the FaceTimeapp and tap the Info button (i) next to the phone number, contact, or email address that you want to block. Tap Block this Caller.
Via Messages app
Open the Messages app, then open the conversation and tap the contact at the top of the conversation. Tap the blue info button (this one looks like a blue dot with a person icon inside). Tap Block this Caller.
How to manage blocked contacts
You can manage the blocked numbers list on your iPhone and remove any if you’ve had a change of heart.
- Head to Settings > Phone and tap Blocked Contacts.
- Head to Settings > FaceTime, and under Calls, tap Blocked Contacts.
- Head to Settings > Messages, and under SMS/MMS, tap Blocked Contacts.
- Tap Edit to start.
- Tap the red circle next to the number you want to unblock. When it disappears from the list, it’s unblocked.
- Tap Done to save your changes.
