WhatsApp connects you via chat and calls to your friends, family, and businesses. But at times, it can get annoying too. For instance, when distant acquaintances or brands start spamming you with their promotions or send useless messages, you may want to mute or block them.
Want to know the steps? Here’s how to block someone on WhatsApp for iPhone and Android.
- What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp?
- How to block a contact on WhatsApp for iPhone and Android
- How to block an unknown number on WhatsApp
- Block someone in Whatsapp group chat on iPhone and Android
- How to know if someone blocked you on WhatsApp
What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp?
After you block a contact:
- WhatsApp does not notify the other party that you’ve blocked them.
- The messages they send will not be delivered to you, ever! The sender will see only a single tick.
Note: Group chat is not affected. If you and the person you blocked are part of the same WhatsApp group, you’ll continue to see each other’s messages in that group.
- They can’t audio or video call you personally or through group call.
- Your profile picture, status, about, online status, last seen, etc., won’t be visible to the blocked contact.
- The phone number stays saved to your mobile phone or the account like iCloud, Gmail. You may manually delete it if needed.
How to block a contact in WhatsApp for iPhone and Android
- Open WhatsApp on your device.
- Tap on the person’s chat.
- Tap on their name at the top.
- Scroll down and tap Block Contact. Tap Block to confirm.
To unblock: Follow the above steps and tap Unblock Contact instead. You can also open the chat and tap on the banner that says ‘You blocked this contact. Tap to unblock.’ Or, type a message to a blocked contact and hit the send button. You’ll get a popup asking you to unblock them. Tap on it.
How to block a contact via WhatsApp settings
- Open WhatsApp on your device.
- Tap Settings. For Android, tap on the three-dots icon at the top right and choose Settings.
- Tap on Account → Privacy → Blocked.
- Tap on Add New… Next, scroll and tap on the desired contact. You can also search by typing the name. Done! The number is blocked.
To unblock: On iPhone, swipe right to left on the contact and tap Unblock. You can also tap Edit and then tap on the red minus buttons next to blocked contacts.
Additionally, tap on a name or number to see more about them. Scroll down their WhatsApp profile screen and tap Unblock Contact.
How to block an unknown number on WhatsApp
In this context, by ‘unknown number’ we mean a contact number that isn’t saved to your phone. When such a person messages you, this chat app lets you know that the sender is not a part of your contact list.
Below the message, you see three options—Block, Report, Add to Contacts. Tap Block → Block to easily and immediately prevent all future conversations with that person.
To unblock: Follow the steps shown in the above heading. That is, open WhatsApp Settings → Account → Privacy → Blocked.
Pro Tip: WhatsApp also has a Report option. It’s for spam messages; if you tap on it and then choose Report and Block, the entire message history gets deleted.
So, if you wanted to take screenshots or screen recording of the chat as evidence or something, make sure you do that first before choosing to Report and Block.
Block someone in Whatsapp group chat on iPhone and Android
If you and a person you blocked are part of the same WhatsApp group, you both continue to see each other’s messages in the group. It doesn’t matter whether their number is saved to your phone or not. Outside the common group, all effects of blocking them remain. That is, the blocked person can’t see your profile picture, status, about, last seen, online status, call you, send personal messages, etc.
So, as of now, the only way to prevent someone from seeing your group message is to ask the group admin to remove that participant from the group. Alternatively, you can exit the group! Finally, it may sound inefficient, but you can create a new WhatsApp group and add everybody except that one person.
Interesting Observation: The blocked person sees the messages in a group. But if you make a group WhatsApp call, the blocked contact will not get any notification for the call and won’t be a part of the group call.
Finally, if you want to block the group admin, here’s how to do that. This will not exit you from the group or prevent you from sending messages in that group. This only blocks the group admin on a personal level. Everything else in the group will continue to work.
- Open the group chat in WhatsApp and tap on the group name from the top.
- Tap on the admin’s name or number.
- Tap Info.
- Scroll down and tap Block Contact → Block.
Note: You can also prevent yourself from being added to groups. To do this, tap Settings inside WhatsApp → Accounts → Privacy → Groups → Nobody. Now, the admin will have the option to invite you to a group privately. You can accept or decline.
How to know if someone blocked you in WhatsApp
WhatsApp keeps blocking discreet! It doesn’t send a notification to the contact saying “you’ve been blocked.” There’s no obvious way to know if someone on WhatsApp has blocked you or not. But there are some simple tips and tricks that tell you with almost 100% certainty if you’ve been blocked or not. Take a look.
Signing Off…
This is what you need to know about blocking on WhatsApp. I hope this guide helped and you learned a few new things. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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