Apr 26, 2022

WAYHOME studio/Shutterstock By  Rob Rich /April 26, 2022 11:28 am EDT With junk calls and texts as prevalent as they are now, it's understandable for someone to get fairly liberal with their number blocking . Especially with group spam texts — and that goes double for the moment when people in those group texts start texting back. It's not unreasonable to think that you could find yourself on the receiving end of a block from one of your contacts due to all this chaos. But how can you tell the difference between actually being blocked and something else like your contact being outside of a service area or having Do Not Disturb mode activated? There's actually no 100% accurate way to know if your number has been blocked without getting confirmation from the person you think may have blocked you, but you can use a combination of methods to try and deduce your status. But before we get into that, please keep in mind that if someone has blocked you, it's probably for a good reason. How to see if you're blocked Aleksey H/Shutterstock One possible indicator of a block is the message delivery indicator in the "iMessage" app. When you send a text to other iPhone users with iMessage, "Delivered" (or "Read" if the recipient has the option enabled), will appear below the message to show that your message was received. The indicator will also appear when you text someone who has Do Not Disturb enabled, even though they won't see your text right away. Or something could be amiss with the connection on the other end of your conversation, in which case you should see a pop-up option to send your text as a regular SMS message instead. If your message isn't marked as Delivered and you aren't given the SMS option, you could be blocked. A call going straight to voicemail is another possible indication of a block, though it's not a guarantee. If you call someone when you've been blocked, you'll likely hear the phone ring once and then immediately go to voicemail, where you can leave a message. This isn't all that different from calling someone who has Do Not Disturb activated or is having connection troubles. The main difference is the receiver won't hear their phone ring, and your message will be automatically filed into their Blocked Messages voicemail folder. Neither the iMessage nor direct call methods are definitive proof of your status, but if you find yourself going straight to voicemail and aren't seeing "Delivered" on your texts or getting the SMS text option, there's a somewhat decent chance that you are blocked. What to do if you think you're blocked fizkes/Shutterstock The first thing to try if you believe your number has been blocked is to ask the person directly — if the situation allows. For example, if a close friend or family member that you hang out with often suddenly isn't getting your calls or texts, they might have just accidentally blocked your number. Another approach is to wait a few hours or even a day or two. It's possible that the person you're trying to contact is in an area with little to no reception, had turned Do Not Disturb on, or their phone has run out of power. If any of these situations have taken place, all you really can do is give your friend or family member time to re-acquire a signal (or recharge their phone). If you don't know this person well or have recently had a bad interaction with them, you should also consider the possibility that you've been blocked on purpose. If you believe that's the case, you should respect their choice to block your number and give them space. Recommended