You hear the sound of an incoming text message and excitedly check your phone. But it's just a junk message sent to you by a spammer trying to con you into tapping a link, opening an attachment, calling a number, or doing something else likely to cause you trouble.
Robotexts and spam messages are a fact of life, just like robocalls and junk email. They may not be as invasive as a spam call, since you can largely ignore them, but that doesn't make them harmless. Some phone plans may charge you for incoming text messages and smishing (SMS phishing) attacks can be even more dangerous if you're not careful.
However, you don’t have to put up with them. Just as you can fight against robocalls, you can block and stop robotexts with the right tricks and tools.
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I've been working for PCMag since early 2016 writing tutorials, how-to pieces, and other articles on consumer technology. Beyond PCMag, I've written news stories and tutorials for a variety of other websites and publications, including CNET, ZDNet, TechRepublic, Macworld, Popular Science, Time, Fortune, US News & World Report, and AARP Magazine. I spent seven years writing breaking news for CNET as one of the site’s East Coast reporters. I've also written two books for Wiley & Sons—Windows 8: Five Minutes at a Time and Teach Yourself Visually LinkedIn.
Look, we all get annoying text messages from time to time. Maybe it’s spam, maybe it’s from someone you don’t want to talk to, maybe it’s some other third thing. The point is, you don’t want to get them. So let’s block ’em.
RELATED: The Best Texting Apps for Android
So here’s the thing: there are a lot of Android phones out there, from a lot of different manufacturers. And it seems that almost all of them have their own SMS app, making it really hard to tell you how to do it on your particular phone.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to explain how to do this on the stock messaging app on Pixel/Nexus devices, which is also available for download from the Google Play Store. You won’t have to use this as your main SMS app after blocking the numbers if you don’t want to, as the block should be system-wide. Go ahead and install it now, and we’ll get into the details just below. If you’re using a current stock Android device, like a Pixel, then you already have the Messages app installed.
Android only allows one SMS app at time to be set as the default, so once you have the Messages app installed, you’ll need to set it as your default—again, this is only temporary.
To do this, just open it up. It’ll give you a quick snippet on what the app does. Just tap “Next,” then “OK” in the popup to set Messages as the default.
Method One: Block the Number Directly from the Message
The easiest way to block SMS from a specific person is to block them directly from a sent message. To do this, open the conversation thread from them in the Messages app.
Tap the three dots in the upper right corner, then choose “People and Options.”
Tap on “Block <number>.” A popup window will ask you to confirm you want to block the number, noting that you will no longer receive calls or texts from this person. Tap “Block” to confirm.
Poof. Blocked they are.
Method Two: Block the Number Manually
If you don’t have an open message with the person in question, you can also manually type in their number to block them. From the main Messages interface, tap on the three dots in the upper right corner, then select “Blocked Contacts.”
Click on “Add A Number.” From here, you’ll just need to key in the number you’d like to block, then tap “Block.” Easy peasy.
And that’s all there is to it. From this point forward, messages that number will be blocked completely, regardless of which SMS app you’re using as the default.
How to Unblock a Number
If, at any point, you’d like to unblock the number, just jump back into Messages > Blocked Contacts and tap the “X” next to the number.
To change your default messaging app back to what you were using before, just open it. It should prompt you to set it as the default. If that doesn’t happen, you can jump into the Settings > Apps > Default Apps menu and select your preferred SMS app under the “Messaging app” entry. If you’re having a hard time finding this setting, here’s a more detailed explanation of setting default applications.
RELATED: How to Set Default Apps on Android
If you have issues with this method or keep getting unsolicited text messages that you can’t seem to block, it’s time to get in touch with your carrier. All major carriers have ways of blocking text messages, so that should take care of your issue.