In the social media world, one platform has risen above the rest to become a truly global phenomenon: WhatsApp. With its user-friendly features and widespread popularity, WhatsApp is an indispensable tool for connecting, regardless of geographic barriers. The rise of WhatsApp can be traced back to its inception in 2009. From its humble beginnings as a small startup, WhatsApp grew rapidly, gaining over two billion users worldwide as of 2021. This success can be attributed to its unwavering commitment to simplicity and functionality.
One of WhatsApp’s remarkable features is end-to-end encryption, which ensures messages can only be deciphered by the intended recipient. This catapulted WhatsApp to the forefront of secure communication, addressing growing concerns about privacy.
Furthermore, WhatsApp’s embrace of multimedia communication sets it apart from its competitors. Users can effortlessly share photos, videos, and documents with just a few taps. The platform’s group chat feature enables users to discuss with multiple participants.
The widespread popularity of WhatsApp can also be attributed to its universal appeal and accessibility. The platform transcends demographic boundaries, attracting users from all walks of life.
Its availability on smartphones and desktop computers ensures users can stay connected regardless of their preferred device. WhatsApp Web allows integration between mobile and desktop devices, an increasingly relevant feature in our fast-paced world.
To learn the answer to this question and a few relevant topics, keep reading until the end of this blog!
If Someone Block Your Phone Number, Can You Still Message Them on Whatsapp?
Let’s get straight to the matter: if someone blocks your number, can you still message them on WhatsApp? The very obvious answer to this question is no, you cannot. There’s one primary consequence of being blocked: you cannot contact that person on WhatsApp anymore, be it through text or video/audio calls.
While you can reach them by texting their number directly, you cannot contact them through WhatsApp. We also won’t suggest trying to reach them elsewhere if they’ve blocked you; clearly, they aren’t interested in conversing. Trying to force them to talk to you is a highly unproductive, unsatisfying, and problematic activity.
How to know if someone’s blocked you on WhatsApp?
Before you jump to any conclusions, you should confirm that you’ve been blocked. It’s possible that you’re just misinterpreting the signs and haven’t been blocked.
Following are some ways to discover if you’ve been blocked on WhatsApp; read on until the end!
Check Last seen status and Online status
One of the first indicators to look for when trying to find out whether someone has blocked you is to check their last seen and online status. If you can’t see them online and there’s also no last seen under their name, it strongly indicates they’ve blocked you.
However, this has gotten much more complicated recently after WhatsApp introduced options that allow users to turn off their last seen and online status. While this is an excellent way to protect your privacy and have a relaxed experience, it can also send confusing signals.
How can you determine whether they have turned off their last seen and online status? You simply can’t; that’s the whole point of having a feature like this. All you can do is contact a mutual friend and ask them if they can see this person’s last seen and online status.
If they can’t, then there’s a strong possibility that this person has just turned their last seen and online status off. However, if they can, that could mean you’ve been blocked. Remember that this is also not a sure assessment because people can choose to display their last seen and online status to a selected few while hiding it from the rest.
No profile picture update
A more concrete way to learn if someone has blocked you is by looking at their profile picture. If you remember that they previously had a picture on there, but they don’t anymore, it could mean they’ve blocked you.
When someone blocks you, you can’t see their profile picture anymore. Still, it could also be a coincidence, and they could’ve removed their profile picture altogether. This might also occur if they’ve changed their privacy settings to exclude you from viewing their profile picture updates.
Single gray read receipts
We’re all aware of read receipts and how they work.
A message starts by being marked by a single grey tick, which tells us the message has been sent. Then, when it reaches the other person’s device (this would require their device to have an internet connection), it’s marked by two gray ticks.
Lastly, when the other person opens the chat, the message is marked by two blue ticks.
However, if your last few messages seem to be stuck on single grey ticks only, it’s a strong indication that you’ve been blocked. The longer you are on a single gray tick, the more likely it is that you’ve been blocked.
Don’t worry; you haven’t got anything to stress about yet. Sometimes, users turn off their message notifications or take a digital detox. So, while this isn’t a sure indicator, it is a strong sign.
Inability to make voice or video calls
Another thing you can try to find out if someone has blocked you is to video/audio call them. Try this method with people you’re very close to; otherwise, if they do take your call, things might become awkward.
But if they have indeed blocked you, attempting to make a voice or video call them will result in an error or failure to connect.
No updates to their WhatsApp status
Lastly, let’s talk about WhatsApp status updates. WhatsApp allows users to share photos, videos, and text updates with their contacts. Many users are active on WhatsApp statuses; if this person is too, but you haven’t seen their status for a while now, that’s not a good sign.
Again, there is a chance that they’ve just turned off their status visibility for you, but that’s unlikely. If you used to see their statuses before and haven’t argued with them since then, there’s no reason why this would happen now.
Lastly, we’d just like to say that, as you must’ve noticed, all these signs mean nothing individually. However, if you notice three or more of these signs at once, it’s highly probable that you’ve been blocked.
Here’s how to block someone on WhatsApp
Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your smartphone; the first page is exactly where you have to be.
Step 2: On the Chats tab, locate the person you have been wanting to block.
Step 3: Open their chats, and tap on the vertical ellipsis icon at the top right. On the menu that appears, tap on the last option called More.
Step 4: Now, select Block. Confirm your action, and that’s it!
In the end
As our blog has reached its end, let us quickly wrap up everything we’ve discussed here.
WhatsApp is the biggest social media messaging platform worldwide, and it has done a lot to earn that position, as any loyal user would tell you. While convenience is its unique selling point, privacy is a close second.
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