How to Know If Someone Blocked You on iPhone & iMessage

With recent iPhone software updates, like iOS 17.7.2 and iOS 18.2, the signs that your number has been blocked continue to change. We'll show you the most reliable ways to tell if someone blocked your number, plus some specific tips for how to know if someone blocked you on iMessage. Let's dive into how to know if someone blocked you.

How to Tell If Someone Blocked Your Number on iPhone

How do you know if someone blocked your number? We've tested across different software versions and devices to find the most accurate ways to tell whether you're blocked or the person is simply unavailable, out of service range, or has Do Not Disturb mode enabled. While these methods can give you great hints, there's not a foolproof method for how to know if someone blocked you on iPhone. Below, we'll cover how to know if someone blocked your number.

1. To know if someone blocked you on iPhone, call them to see if you go straight to voicemail.

If you call the other person and the call goes straight to voicemail (with barely even one ring), you've likely been blocked.

Here's what I discovered from having people block my number: the phone rings, but very briefly, not even a full ring before connecting to voicemail. I was able to leave a message as usual, but it appears in a separate voicemail section on their iPhone, called Blocked Messages. While I was blocked, there was no way for the other person to know I'd called, and no notification about the blocked voicemail. This makes it highly unlikely the other person will see your voicemail unless they check blocked voicemails.

Hide Caller ID to Call Someone Who Blocked You

If you need to contact the person who has blocked your number, you can hide your caller ID by using *67. However, we strongly recommend respecting people's privacy, and do not recommend using this tip unless it's an emergency. When you hide your caller ID, this hides your phone number and allows the call to go through; it will show up as No Caller ID or a similar message on the other person's device. While hiding caller ID won't work with some carriers, using *67 or calling from another person's phone is your best option in an emergency.

2. Check the delivery notification beneath your last text to see if you're blocked without calling.

Here's a great tip for how to tell if you're blocked on iMessage: Look underneath the last text you sent. If you're blocked, you won't see "Delivered" below the most recent text bubble. However, with recent security updates, this tip depends on your iPhone software version. If you've updated to iOS 16.5 or later, you'll still see the "Delivered" notification beneath the last text you sent, even if you're blocked.

3. If you see Read receipts, you're not blocked on iPhone.

If you send a text and the notification below says "Read" with the time, the other person and has received and opened your text, and you're definitely not blocked! There's no need to panic if you don't see the "Read" notification beneath your texts though—these can be disabled on the other person's device and doesn't necessarily mean you've been blocked. Here's how to tell if someone blocked your number by checking read receipts:

4. Got an automated text response? Your number isn't blocked!

If the other person has Do Not Disturb mode enabled or has the Driving Focus mode enabled, you might receive an immediate text response to your recent message saying that the other person isn't available to respond. If this happens, it is good news! You're definitely not blocked, because those auto-generated text responses don't go through to numbers that have been blocked on iPhones. Here's how to tell if you are blocked on iPhone when you get an automated response:

If you don't get an automated response (or any response), keep reading to learn about how to tell if someone blocked you on an iPhone.

5. The moon icon means you haven't been blocked on iMessage.

If you see a moon icon next to a conversation in Messages or above the text field in a chat, this means the other person has Do Not Disturb enabled and has text notifications silenced. If you're able to see their Do Not Disturb status (the moon icon), your number hasn't been blocked. Here's how to know if you're blocked on iPhone by checking the Focus Status:

6. An iMessage Not Delivered error doesn't mean someone blocked your number.

This is a common myth, and the iMessage "Not Delivered" error just means your text didn't reach the other person! If you're seeing the iMessage Not Delivered error, enable RCS/SMS texts on your iPhone. This way, if an iPhone message fails to send via iMessage, your device will automatically reattempt to send the text, or you can manually resend the text as an RCS/SMS message (green text bubble).

To resend an undelivered text, tap the red exclamation mark icon next to the message. Tap "Try Again" resend the text as an RCS/SMS message. Unfortunately, if your RCS/SMS message also fails to receive a reply, it's another sign that your number has been blocked.

7. Green text bubbles do not mean you're blocked on iMessage.

Why are my messages green when they should be blue? Green text bubbles do not mean that your number has been blocked on iMessage. When you're blocked, texts continue to send as usual. Green text bubbles only signal that your text has been sent via RCS/SMS instead of iMessage.

8. Check if you've been blocked on other third-party apps.

When someone decides to block you, they will often do so on social media and on any other third-party messaging apps. On apps like Facebook, Instagram, or WhatApp, there are obvious ways to tell if you've been blocked and is an indicator that your iPhone number has also been blocked. On Facebook and Instagram, you've been blocked if you can no longer see someone's profile or respond to a direct message conversation between you and the other person.

If Someone Unblocks You on iMessage, What Happens?

When someone unblocks you on an iPhone, they will receive all future texts and calls as they normally would from that point forward. You will not receive any sort of notification that you were unblocked, but you will notice that your calls no longer go straight to voicemail. Blocked messages will not get delivered after your number is unblocked, so anything that you sent during the time that you were blocked will not be received. The other person can listen to the voicemails you sent while you were blocked, but they still have to navigate to the Blocked Messages section in the Phone app.

That's how to know if you are blocked on iPhone. Now that you have a few helpful clues to check for in your texts and calls, you'll be able to tell with reasonable assurance whether your number has been blocked. If this has happened to you, hopefully, there's been a misunderstanding! However, if they did intend to block you and no longer want to be in contact, please respect their wishes and privacy. Next, learn how to schedule texts on your iPhone.