Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Guides

How to block a number on iPhones and Android phones

Mark Jansen
By

There are many reasons to want to block specific numbers on your phone. Whether it's nuisance spam callers, or a particularly persistent ex you no longer want to talk to, the humble Block option is a phone mainstay. It used to be you'd need to contact your carrier to stop a particular number from calling you, but thankfully, it's a lot easier to block numbers in this day and age.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

Blocking numbers is now built into both Android phones and Apple iPhones, and it's easy to access too, being available directly from your phone dialer. No, you don't need to download a third-party app, or dive deep into your settings. Here's how to block a number on iPhones and Android phones.

How to block calls on an iPhone

You've been able to block contacts and callers on iOS since iOS 7, which means it's available to absolutely everyone using an iPhone — unless you're still using an iPhone 3GS or older. If you are, well, we highly recommend upgrading your iPhone. You won't regret it.

Step 1: To block a caller, head to your Dialer app.

Step 2: Tap Recent.

Related

Step 3: Choose the number or contact you want to block.

Step 4: Scroll down and select Block this caller.

If you want to block an existing contact that isn't in your Recent list, follow these steps.

Step 1: Open the Dialer app again.

Step 2: Choose Contacts.

Step 3: Find the contact you want to block, and select them.

Step 4: Select Block this caller.

How to block calls on an Android phone

Blocking calls on an Android phone is just as easy as on an iPhone, though it's worth noting that different manufacturers will have slightly different processes to follow. However, the general idea will be similar, so you should be able to find the blocking option relatively easily.

Step 1: Open the Dialer or Phone app.

Step 2: Find the contact or number you want to block, and select their icon to open the profile.

Step 3: Choose Block numbers.

As mentioned, it can be slightly different on different phones. Here's how the block process looks on a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Step 1: Again, open the Dialer app and find the contact to block.

Step 2: This time, select it to open it, then choose the "i" button.

Step 3: When the profile is open, select Block at the bottom, and then Block again to confirm.

How to manage blocked numbers on an iPhone

Want to trim down your blocklist, or remove someone now that you've made up? It's easy to remove numbers from your block list. You can head to the individual contact in your contact list and unblock them using the same process as blocking, but if it's not a number you have saved, you can still find them elsewhere.

Step 1: Head to the Settings app.

Step 2: Open Phone or Messages.

Step 3: Find Blocked contacts and select it.

Step 4: You'll find a full list of your blocked numbers and contacts here.

Step 5: To remove one, tap Edit, then the minus sign by the number or contact, then Unblock.

How to manage blocked numbers on an Android phone

As with iPhones, you can simply backtrack the blocking process to unblock a contact, but there's also a list of blocked contacts and numbers you can access to quickly see how many you've blocked.

This process may be slightly different on other manufacturer's phones (we used a Google Pixel for these screenshots), but in general, this guide should be close enough that you can find your way around without much issue.

Step 1: Open your Dialer or Phone app and open the Settings menu by choosing the three-dot menu at the top-right corner.

Step 2: Select Blocked numbers.

Step 3: Now, you can see a full list of your blocked contacts. To unblock one, just select the X by their number, and then confirm by selecting Unblock.

Just like that, you've becoming a number-blocking pro. Blocking numbers on iPhones and Android phones is a much simpler process in 2024 than it used to be, and now, you know everything about it. Good luck and happy number blocking!

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Jansen
Mark Jansen
Contributor
Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient &…
This is one of the cheapest 5G phones worth buying today
The Moto G 5G held in a hand with its screen illuminated.

Head straight to the source for one of the best phone deals right now with Motorola selling its Moto G 5G phone for $150 instead of $250. A considerable saving of $100, this might not be the most high-end of phones but it’s ideal if you simply need something cheap but effective. With this 2023 model seeing such a substantial price drop, we’re taking a quick look at what it has to offer and why it might appeal.

Why you should buy the Moto G 5G
You won’t see the Moto G 5G near our look at the best phones. At just $150, that’s hardly surprising. However, it does have the core essentials going for it. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 480+ 5G processor and 4GB RAM which is fine for basic tasks and web browsing. It can handle gaming too if you don’t mind somewhat sluggish load times. Crucially, the phone is 5G compatible so depending on the area you live in, you can enjoy the fastest speeds when browsing online away from Wi-Fi.

Read more
This Android phone is a surprisingly great buy at $100
The Moto G Power 5G and Moto G 5G phones in a render.

If you’ve been shopping the best phone deals or are otherwise looking to save on a new phone, we’d like to turn your attention to Motorola. At Motorola right now you can get the Moto G Android phone for just $100. This is essentially an entry-level phone as smartphones go these days, but this savings of $70 from its regular price of $170 makes it a good consideration and one of the best Motorola phone deals you'll find. It’s not everyday you can grab a new phone for just $100, and you can save even more if you have an eligible device to trade-in.

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G smartphone
You aren’t going to find the Motorola Moto G ranked among the best phones or among the best Android phones, but that doesn’t mean it’s a phone to avoid. And while we aren’t particularly high on the device in our review of the Motorola Moto G, the price point it comes in at with this deal makes it something worth considering if you’re in the market for a new phone. It comes in navy blue with 32GB of internal storage, which isn’t very much as modern smartphones go, but the Moto G does make up for it with some of its other specs and features.

Read more
The most common iPad problems and how to fix them
Several iPads on a table together.

Apple's iPad has consistently marked among the best tablets, and is considered to be a sort of trailblazer in the field in its own right. As a logical result, your first encounters with common tablet glitches are likely to be iPad glitches. If you're not sure what to do to fix your device, that's okay, as you have to start somewhere. Here are some somewhat common problems that we've found plague iPads again and again, as well as some related iPad troubleshooting advice. Take care and read through the issues related to your problem to get started troubleshooting your iPad.

Read more