With the evolution of smartphones has come an increase in pesky spammer behavior that many of us experience daily. What used to be random calls from unknown numbers that we could easily ignore has, instead, become random texts throughout the day promising free prizes and gift cards, offering you low or no interest credit cards or saying suspicious activity has been flagged on your bank account. Learn how to stop spam texts on your iOS or Android device with these tips from Trademore.
There are a few ways to combat spam texts on an iOS device. Though you could just simply delete a message once it’s received, a more permanent solution is to block these numbers altogether so you no longer have to worry about them.
To stop spam texts from known contacts and numbers, tap the message from the contact you would like to block, then tap on their name. Audio, Facetime, and Info options will pop up. Tap Info click on the arrow to the right of the phone icon. Scroll down and tap Block This Caller. You can also go to Settings > Messages > Blocked Contacts and tap on Add New to add a new blocked contact directly from your contacts list. Using this method, you’ll also block phone calls and Facetime calls.
As far as dealing with unknown and private numbers, you can’t outright block these numbers in the same way as known contacts, however, you can filter and separate them out. Tap on Settings > Messages and turn on the Filter Unknown Senders option. This will create a completely new tab called “Unknown Senders” in your messages app and you’ll no longer be notified for these.
The last way to help stop spam texts is to use the Report Junk option Apple offers when an unknown number appears in your iMessages. Tap the link to forward the sender’s information and message to Apple. The company will then deal with the contact and eventually prevent the contact from contacting you again. Apple does not deal with SMS and MMS messages but you can report those to your carrier.
On a Google phone, there are a couple ways to go about blocking messages. Open the Messages app, then open or begin a conversation with a contact. Tap the three vertical dots, select Details and tap Block & Report Spam. You can also open the Messages app, touch and hold the conversation you want to block and tap the Block icon when the option appears.
On a Samsung phone, open the Messages app and choose the conversation that contains the contact you want to block. Tap More, select Block number, and toggle to Delete Conversation. Then, tap OK. You can also head to Messages > More > Settings. Tap Block messages > Block number and manually enter the contact’s number.
Finally, on an LG phone, open the messaging app and tap on the SMS or MMS message you want to block. Select the three dots in the corner and tap Block number to confirm.
Check with your carrier to see what kind of services they offer when it comes to blocking messages from specific numbers. T-Mobile has Message Blocking, Verizon has Block Calls & Messages, Sprint allows you to use Limits and Permissions via My Sprint and AT&T has Smart Limits.
Knowing how to stop spam texts will save you the headache of receiving annoying text messages throughout the day. For more tips, tricks and how-to guides like this, be sure to visit the Trademore blog.
Trademore has no connections, affiliations, partnerships or sponsorship agreements with the companies, entities, services and/or products mentioned in this blog post. The opinions, thoughts, views and expressions made within this blog post are independently created by and attributable to Trademore authors and/or contributors.