Blocking someone is kind of a big deal.
After you block someone, they will no longer be able to contact you through your phone’s built-in calling or text messaging system.
However, you may be wondering – does this go both ways? Can you still text someone that you’ve blocked, and what will happen if you try to do so?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know!
Can You Text Someone That You’ve Blocked On iPhone?
Yes, you can still text someone that you’ve blocked on iPhone. Your message will still be sent and delivered. However, you will not be able to receive any messages back from the person that you’ve blocked.
This is because blocking only affects incoming messages and phone calls. It does not affect outgoing messages.
So, if you send a message to someone (whether it be a regular text message, or something like iMessage), it should still go through provided that the person hasn’t blocked you as well.
Note however that they may not realize they’re blocked, especially if they are still receiving texts from you. Therefore, if they try to message you back, they may believe that you’re simply ignoring them.
Keep this in mind when sending texts to someone that you have blocked!
Can You Text Someone That You’ve Blocked On Android?
Yes. On most Android phones, you are still able to text someone even if you’ve blocked them. However, that person will not be able to send you any messages back, as they will be undeliverable.
The message may still be sent out, but you will not receive a notification for it, nor will you be able to read it.
This is because blocking only affects incoming messages from other people – rather than outgoing messages you send yourself.
Note that this only affects the SMS message system built-in to your phone itself.
What Happens If You Text Someone You’ve Blocked?
If you send a text message to someone that you’ve blocked, the text message will still go through as normal.
It will be successfully delivered as if you’ve never blocked them.
However, if that person chooses to text you back, you will not receive their message.
This can cause some confusion for the person texting you, as they may not have realized that they’re blocked, and they may not understand why you’re not responding to the messages that they send you.
Therefore, if you truly don’t wish to communicate with someone, it would probably be best if you don’t send any messages to them either.
What Happens If Someone You’ve Blocked Tries Texting You?
If you’ve blocked someone and they try texting you, you will not receive the messages that they send. They will be completely hidden from you, and you won’t be able to view them even if you want to.
Therefore, if you want to see someone’s response after you’ve texted them, you’ll need to unblock them before they send their message back to you.
You may be wondering however, will they know that you’ve blocked them? Will their message fail to send?
This seems to depend on the phone.
On iPhone, messages will still go through without any error message claiming that the message is undeliverable. This is also true for many Android phones.
On some phones however, it will simply state that the message failed to send.
Note however that just because a message fails to send, doesn’t mean that the person has blocked you. There are plenty of reasons why a message wouldn’t send to only one person, and you can view them by clicking here.
Does This Affect Third-Party Apps?
No. Blocking does not prevent somebody from sending you messages using third-party apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Instead, it only prevents people from contacting you using the messaging system built-in to your phone – for example, regular text messages, or iMessage if you’re on iPhone.
Therefore, if you want to prevent a person from contacting you entirely, you will need to block them on every messaging app that you’ve used to communicate with them.
Some examples include:
- Snapchat
- Facebook Messenger
- TextNow
- TikTok
- Signal
- Telegram
While people may not realize they’re blocked at first, they are likely to contact you using an alternative method if you don’t respond through text.
So, you should prepare for this in advance by also blocking them on other messaging platforms.
How To Unblock Someone On iPhone
Let’s say that you’ve blocked someone by mistake, or you otherwise want to unblock somebody for a certain period of time. How is this done?
Fortunately, unblocking someone on iPhone is easy.
To unblock someone on iPhone, follow these steps:
- Unlock your iPhone and open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap on ‘Messages.’
- Under the ‘SMS/MMS’ section, tap on ‘Blocked Contacts.’
- Swipe left on the person you want to unblock.
- Tap ‘Unblock.’
This person will now be completely unblocked, and will be able to contact you again.
Note that both your phone and your messages share the same blocked list, so if you unblock someone on one, you will also unblock them on the other.
Additionally, unblocking someone will not allow you to view the messages that they sent you while you had them blocked.
Conclusion
It is still possible to send text messages to someone that you’ve blocked.
However, you will not receive any messages that they choose to send back.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about texting, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister