How to know if someone blocked your number

It's a terrible feeling: Y'all run into someone new, you hitting it off really well, and you're texting dorsum and forth a dozen times a day. But then the responses become fewer and farther betwixt. And then they taper off entirely. And all you can do is wonder, "Did they cake me?"

The reply is, "maybe." If you lot're looking for a definitive fashion to detect whether someone's blocked your phone number, the bad news is that there isn't one. The skilful news (well, as much as any news about this situation tin can be good) is that in that location are a few trial-and-error methods you tin apply to hazard a reasonably good judge.

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If y'all fearfulness that someone's blocked your number, here are three simple ways to exam that proffer. And this should go without maxim, but if someone did block you: For the love of all that is expert and holy, leave them lone. I promise you that annihilation you lot do to try to breach their privacy will simply brand the state of affairs worse.

See how fast you get to voicemail

If you call a person who'southward blocked your number, you lot won't get any kind of notification about it. Withal, the ringtone/voicemail blueprint won't carry normally. When you call an unblocked number, you'll get somewhere between 3 and a dozen rings, then a voicemail prompt. Alternatively, if the person's phone is off, or if he or she is already on a call, y'all'll go directly to voicemail.

A blocked number works a petty differently. You'll go one band, and so go right to voicemail. You're costless to leave a voicemail, although it won't get straight to the recipient'due south inbox. Instead, there's a separate location for voicemails from blocked numbers. (How you admission it depends on what kind of phone you accept, and it's not really relevant to this article.)

Basically: If you go a lot of rings or go right to voicemail, you're probably not blocked. If you get ane ring followed by a voicemail prompt, you probably are.

One other matter to keep an ear out for: a prerecorded message that says the number is "unavailable." The exact message will vary depending on the recipient'due south wireless carrier, but if a number is unavailable — especially if other phones can reach it — your number is almost certainly blocked.

Endeavor sending a text message

Text messages tin provide some clues about whether or not a person blocked you, although information technology's a more reliable method for iOS than information technology is for Android. On iOS, subsequently you send a text, you lot'll usually get i of ii notifications right underneath your message: "Delivered," or "Read." The quondam means that your text message went through, but the recipient hasn't read information technology yet. The latter is self-explanatory.

However, if a person has blocked you, you won't see either notification. Instead, there will merely be a blank space beneath your text.

It'due south worth noting that being blocked is not the only reason why yous might non see a notification. If a user has his or her phone on Do Not Disturb manner, you lot won't get whatsoever kind of notification until he or she turns that option off. However, if it's been a few days and y'all all the same don't run into anything, y'all can consider blocking the most probable explanation.

If you and/or your intended recipient have Android phones, though, the process is much less straightforward. Some Android phones take this functionality; some don't. Some message receipts work perfectly with iOS; some don't. If you've got an Android phone, your all-time bet is to just ship a text and promise you become a response.

Call from another phone

Sometimes, the simplest solution really is the best one. If you think you've been blocked, try calling the person's number from another phone. Apply your work telephone, borrow a friend's phone; it doesn't really affair. The bespeak is, if you lot can't achieve a person on your phone, but can reach them on some other phone, there's a good chance you've been blocked.

Effort this sequence: Selection a time when it's likely the person y'all're calling will be free. Call on your phone. Run across what happens. Then, telephone call on another telephone immediately thereafter. Recollect: You don't demand to really reach the person; you lot only demand to come across how long information technology takes to go to voicemail.

All-time-instance scenario: You'll exist able to talk to the person and find out why they don't want to accept your calls. (If they hang up on you immediately, that's telling besides.) Worst-case scenario: Y'all'll live forever with the mystery of whether or non yous've been blocked.

And yet, it'south non the worst mystery in the world, when you become right down to it. Whether a person is screening your calls indefinitely or has blocked you outright, the terminate result is the same: They don't want to talk to you. Your best bet is usually to respect that, and maybe try over again in a few months to see if things have calmed downwards.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. After hours, you lot can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.