How to know if someone blocked you on iMessage can be a stressful and confusing experience to anyone.
Silence from a contact can easily lead to instant doubt and digital anxiety. Did they lose their phone or did he or she cut ties? Apple does not send any formal notification when someone blocks your number. Instead, you will have to look out for less obvious technical and behavioral clues.
This guide will look into reliable indicators as well as simple tests to help you unfold the truth allowing you to know if someone has blocked you on iMessage.
How to know if someone blocked you on iMessage? (primary signs)
Since Apple cares about user privacy more than anything else, they will never send a direct alert to the person being blocked. Therefore, identifying a block requires the analysis of several behavioral and technical indicators together in order to create a complete picture of your status.
1. The disappearing “delivered” status
When you send a new iMessage, normally, you’ll see “Delivered” written below it after it arrived in the recipient’s device. However, if blocked, many users say that no “Delivered” status shows. Messages hang, without confirmation. With newer versions of iOS, however, some users have noticed that “Delivered” still appears even when there is a block.
This, therefore, makes the absence of a status a very strong hint. While its presence is no longer a perfect guarantee of safety.
2. Sudden color shift to green
One of the most popular methods for checking block messages on iPhone is observing the color of the bubble during a conversation. iMessages are blue, regular carrier texts are green. If you find that your messages suddenly turn green and your messages say “Sent as Text Message” constantly, the system may possibly be attempting to bypass a block using SMS.
While this also occurs when one is experiencing poor reception, a permanent switching to green sometimes signals a purposeful block.
3. Calls go straight to voicemail after one ring
Phone call behavior also gives really important evidence when you check blocked messages on an iPhone.
When you call a person who blocked you the phone usually rings once. Then, it immediately goes to voicemail. This one ring pattern is very consistent with blocked calls. Comparing this to normal voicemail calls, unblocked calls usually ring several times, before going to voicemail.
4. FaceTime calls fail to connect
FaceTime and iMessage are very closely tied together through your Apple ID and your cell phone number. If you try a FaceTime call and it fails straight away or says “Unavailable” without ringing, it could mean that you are blacklisted. Unlike a normal call during which you may hear one ring. Oftentimes, with a blocked FaceTime call, it will not connect even on your end.
This gives further proof that your contact information has been restricted by the other user’s device.
5. Frozen profile updates
iMessage shows profile pictures of contacts in conversations. When someone blocks you, their profile picture freezes on whatever it was on last. Even if they change their picture, you will not be able to see the update. That is because blocking ends all information exchange between your devices.
However, this sign requires patience to make the observation. You have to pay attention to whether or not their picture changes over time or not. If other people can see a new picture, but you can’t, then you have your answer.
Use a parental control app to protect your teens from any potential risks on their phones.
Quick tests to check if you’re blocked on iMessage
When signs indicate the likelihood of being blocked, you can perform a number of discrete tests to confirm the situation.
Learning how do you know if someone blocked you from iMessage involves testing out the connection without being intrusive.
Send a test iMessage
The simplest of tests can be done by sending a simple message and observing its behavior. This way, you will get instant feedback as to your messaging status. If the message turns green immediately, your iPhone was unable to send the message through iMessage. If it remains blue but never shows “Delivered”, this is a suggestion of blocking.
Messages that are sent to iMessage’s active users usually indicate delivery within seconds on WiFi or cellular data.
Try calling at different times
Phone calls expose blocking structures which messages alone cannot confirm. Test calls at different times aid to rule out other possible explanations such as busy schedules or dead batteries. Repeated one ring before voicemail behavior at different times is a strong indication of blocking.
If the pattern is different – sometimes ringing normally, and sometimes going straight to voicemail, other things are likely at play.
Attempt a FaceTime audio or video call
FaceTime is operated through Apple’s servers in the same way as iMessages and hence useful for confirming blocking.
Step-by-step process
- Open the FaceTime app on your iPhone, iPad or your Mac.
- Searching for the name or number of the person.
- Tap on the video camera icon for video or phone icon for audio.
- Observe if the call will connect, as well as observe how long the call rings.
- Note down any error messages that are present.
- Try both FaceTime Audio and FaceTime video separately.
- Borrow a friend’s iPhone or use another device that you own.
- Make sure that it’s signed on to some different Apple ID they wouldn’t recognise.
- Send a very innocuous and short message to the person.
- Observe if the message retains the blue color and has ‘Delivered’ message in it.
- Watch and see if they read this message or reply to it.
- Compare this behaviour with the messages from your primary account.
- Get a screenshot of your current message thread;
- Take note of the date, time and the status of your last message.
- Wait for 24-48 hours without sending any more messages.
- Check to see if there have been any change of statuses.
- Document if their profile picture and/or status updates.
- Compare your observations to messages to other contacts
- Sms safety. This feature helps you to track sensitive keywords or suspicious language in messages. It provides you with a heads-up if a conversation starts going in a risky direction.
- App blocker. If any particular messaging app is a source of harassment, it is possible to restrict or disable such an application altogether with a single click using the app blocker on your own mobile phone.
- App notifications. This feature enables the parents to see their child’s notifications in real-time. It helps keep you informed who is reaching out to them in third-party apps such as WhatsApp or Snapchat.
- Alerts. FlashGet Kids provides instant notification if your child tries to access a restricted content or the app identifies that there is a possible digital threat.
Blocked FaceTime calls fail very quickly with little ringing. They may show “FaceTime Unavailable” or just disconnect after it connects for a little while.
With unblocked recipients with disabled FaceTime, they receive different error messages regarding the feature being unavailable.
Send a message from a different Apple ID
This test gives the most conclusive of evidence but requires access to another Apple device. It compares directly how the person reacts to different accounts.
Step-by-step process
If the messages from the alternate account are getting delivered successfully and yours aren’t, then blocking is nigh-certain.
It means the person is clearly able to receive iMessages – just not from your specific number or Apple ID. This method provides the best confirmation possible.
Monitor message thread indicators over time
Patience can also provide valuable perspective with determining if you’re blocked.
Observing patterns in the course of days instead of hours eliminates the possibility of false conclusions based on temporary glitches.
Step-by-step process
Technical issues almost always go away within a day. iMessage outages will not just affect one person, but rather multiple people at one time.
Therefore, persistent single contact problems going on for days, strongly suggest intentful blocking as opposed to technical problems.
Bonus for parents: how to block risky messages or calls on teens’ phones?
Blocking is not limited to social conflicts and injured emotions. For a parent, it’s an absolutely essential safety tool that can help to protect children from the digital threat. This proactive approach helps protect minors from spam and harassment and prevents contact with unsafe people, as well as establishes healthy digital boundaries.
For parents seeking more thorough monitoring than their devices provide by default, a more comprehensive application such as FlashGet Kids can be a game-changer. This app goes beyond the basic blocking to provide a higher level of safety nets for your teen’s digital life. It comes along with a set of features that make it easier to protect a teen from digital risks. These include.
By integrating these technical weapons with open conversations, you help your teen find her way safely in the digital world.
Wrap up
Understanding how to know if someone blocked you on iMessage takes a lot of patience and a variety of different indicators together.
Green messaging, one-ring voicemails, no delivery receipt, and missed FaceTime calls form compelling patterns if viewed at the same time.
There is, however, no one sign that can provide absolute proof due to Apple’s privacy-oriented design. Therefore, test your suspicions ethically with the methods provided, but respect the boundaries set by other people.
If evidence indicates blocking, take this message graciously without the need for further contact. Remember that a blocking is often the reflection of needs of the blocker and not your worth.
FAQs
Try calling the contact and see what the ring pattern is. If the call rings once and then his or her voice mail picks up, you may be blocked. You can also check if his or her profile photo or “Shared with You” content has vanished from your view.
You need to check whether you have a missing “Delivered” under your last series of messages. Look for sudden change of bubble color from blue to green. If calls are going to voice mail immediately and FaceTime is not connecting, it is likely you have been blocked.
You will immediately start receiving their new messages and calls. However, you won’t see any messages that they tried to send when they were blocked. Those texts are lost forever and they cannot be recovered by the system after unblocking.
No, the messages that were sent while you were blocked are never delivered for the recipient’s device. Even if you have a “Delivered” status on your end because of a technical glitch, the other person will never see or receive the notification.
A blue bubble indicates you sent an iMessage message and not an SMS message. If it remains blue without it saying “Delivered,” the person on the other end might not have signal, has a dead battery or “Do Not Disturb” is enabled. It could also mean that they blocked you.
