In recent years, the world has seen incredible growth in most social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tinder, and so on. Growing digitalization, as well as the pandemic, have been two major factors contributing to this extraordinary growth.
In this age of WhatsApp and IM, do you still practice sending text messages to other people? Well, if you do, you’re certainly one of the old souls in this new world. While there is a certain vintage feel in exchanging text messages, it is also very inconvenient in comparison to other internet-oriented messaging facilities.
In text messages, you can’t know if the recipient is online or if they’ve even received or read your message (unless you’re both iPhone users). To add to it, you can also be blocked without having any clue about it until it’s too late.
Are you going through something similar? Do you suspect that someone could’ve blocked your phone number but have no way to confirm it? Say no more. We will not only address your concern in our blog today but also help you with some tricks of our own.
What Happens When You Block Someone’s Phone Number?
If you actively use any social media platform, you must be familiar with the concept of blocking someone. If you don’t, let’s tell you how it works.
The act of blocking is how you can sever all ties with a person on a particular social media platform. Suppose you blocked someone on Instagram; it means that this person will no longer be able to see your profile, posts, stories, or reels. They won’t be able to mention or tag you anywhere, nor will any of their messages or calls on the platform reach you.
However, what about blocking someone’s phone number? Have you ever wondered how does that work? Well, the culture of blocking someone on your device was quite popular about 5-6 years ago, when all communication between people happened either on call or via text messages.
When you block someone’s contact number on your device, it means that they will no longer be able to send any calls or text messages to you. Every time they call you, they will hear the line ringing, but you will not be receiving these calls; they’ll go straight to your voicemail.
The same is true for text messages. If they try to text you, you’ll not be notified of it. However, their messages will be received on your smartphone but will be kept tucked in the Blocked messages folder, away from your sight.
If you want to check whether a blocked contact has texted you or not, you can easily do so by navigating that folder. While the exact location of this folder might vary for different smartphones, one thing is certain: it will always be found inside the Messages app on your smartphone.
Can you call or text a person after blocking them?
So far, we’ve only discussed how being blocked works for the person who has been blocked. But what about you? Does blocking someone’s phone number restrict you from doing certain things as well? No, not really. Blocking someone’s phone number is more of a one-directional action.
Even after you’ve blocked someone’s phone number, you can still call and text them normally, just like you can contact any other person. However, while they can pick your call and receive your messages, they cannot call you back if they miss it. And if they try to reply to your text, instead of receiving a notification for it, you’ll have to look for it in the Blocked messages folder that we talked about in the last section.
How to Know if Someone Blocked You from Sending Text Messages
In the previous sections, we discussed the consequences of blocking someone’s phone number. However, all of us can agree that when the tables are turned, and you’re on the receiving end of this action, things might not appear the same.
Suppose you suspect that someone might’ve blocked your phone number recently. How would you find out about it for sure? Well, if you were expecting to get a message saying, “You’ve been blocked by this number,” we’re sorry to tell you that it’s never going to happen. All users have the freedom to block any number that they feel threatened by and do so anonymously. So, other than asking this person directly on a social media platform, you have no way to find out if you’ve been blocked for sure.
With that being said, there are some tricks you could use that indicate that you might’ve been blocked.
Let’s learn about these tricks now:
1. Have You Sent Them a Text Message Recently?
When it comes to checking if someone has blocked your phone number, being an iPhone user has its own perks. Wondering why? Allow us to explain.
When you text others from an iPhone, you’ll notice how all your messages have Delivered or Read written under them, depending on whether or not the recipient has seen them. However, if you’ve been blocked, none of your messages sent to them will show any notification of being delivered or read. So, this would seem like a clear sign that they’ve blocked your phone number.
However, such a feature is not available in Android smartphones as of now. Some smartphones do offer a message delivery notification, but you can’t hope to know if and when your messages have been read by the recipient as an Android user.
This means that texting someone from an Android smartphone cannot help you figure out if you’ve been blocked. All you can do is text them and wait for a reply; if it doesn’t come, being blocked is just one of the many possibilities you’ll have to entertain.
This might sound unfair to thousands of Android users out there who are going through such a thing. However, we have no intention of letting you hang out to dry. Keep reading to know what else can be done to check if your phone number has been blocked.
2. Try Calling Person From Another Phone
If you’ve been blocked by someone before, you might already be familiar with how calling a number after being blocked works. When you call someone who has blocked you, you will hear the line ringing for a little while, after which the call will either go to their voicemail or the line will be busy.
This might not be an indication of being blocked. Therefore, in order to confirm that you’ve indeed been blocked, here’s what you can do:
You must have another smartphone you can use, be it of a friend, a family member, or even a neighbor. All you need to do now is use their smartphone and dial the number of the person who you think might’ve blocked you.
If you hear the same thing from this phone as well, that means you’ve not been blocked. However, if the call connects normally from this smartphone and not from your own, it indicates that you’ve been blocked.
Final Words:
Our topic of discussion today was the feature of blocking someone’s phone number to avoid receiving text messages from them. While this was a feature that was quite popular about 5-6 years ago, in the world of social media, it has been lost.
The main question we addressed was how you could check if your phone number was blocked by someone. And the answer to it is: while you cannot find out for sure, there are other tricks that might help you confirm it, and you can find them mentioned above. If our blog has helped you in any way, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section.
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