Spam has become a part of most people’s lives. While there are many simple ways to block spam, most people don’t bother to block spam text messages or text messages. On Android, a variety of great text messaging apps let you block spam text messages entirely or send them to a separate folder to check later. But if you have an iPhone, you probably receive a lot of spam text messages every day but don’t know how to stop them.
Whether spam text messages come from mobile numbers advertising apartments you don’t want to buy, or from bulk sender IDs like DM-DUNKND or VK-UBERIN (whose services you may have used a long time ago but whose messages arrive on time every day), here’s how to stop them once and for all.
On iOS 10, the steps to block spam text messages are slightly different than on iOS 9. These instructions will help you stop spam text messages.
- Open the spam text in the Messages app.
- Click I icon in the upper right corner.
- Click on the sender’s name at the top just below detail.
- tap Block this caller.
- tap block contact.
- This will block spam text messages from this sender.
- To unlock, go to Settings > Call blocking and identification. tap edit then red button to the left of each number.
For iOS 9, follow the steps below.
- Open spam text messages through the Messages app.
- tap detail in the upper right corner.
- If you just want to stop receiving notifications from this sender and don’t want to block them entirely, click the button next to do not disturb. This will silence notifications, but you will continue to receive text messages.
- If you want to block the sender completely, click I button.
- Scroll down and select Block this caller.
You will no longer receive spam from this bulk sender. Some spammers may send you text messages with multiple IDs (such as DM-SPAM, LM-MORESPAM, BZ-SPAM, etc.). Each bulk sender ID has a number, which you can see after step 4. You must block these numbers one by one to completely stop receiving spam. Once this is done, these IDs will no longer be able to send you messages.
If you want to unblock any spammer, follow the steps below.
- Open Settings > Phone > Blocked.
- Find the number associated with the bulk sender ID. In India, this is usually +91 followed by an eight-digit number, for example: +91 36386563 (one of the numbers Dunkin Donuts India uses to send promotional text messages).
- Slide the number left to show red Unlock button.
- tap Unlock.
Have you successfully blocked spam text message senders on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments. For more tutorials, visit our how-to section.