How To Block Text Messages On Galaxy S9
We’re all familiar with the all annoying unsolicited phone call, or the friend or family member that just won’t leave you alone. Luckily, there’s a good way that you can get rid of these people permanently, and that’s through blocking their phone number. However, the process differs from smartphone to smartphone — it largely depends on what manufacturer you’re getting it from, and then what version of Android you’re phone is on. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S9, and are wondering how you can block text messages on it, the process can be confusing at first.
Luckily, Samsung, even though you’re running the TouchWiz skin atop of Android, makes it super easy to block incoming messages. But here’s the thing: you cannot simply block messages from contacts and phone numbers — you have to block the whole phone number, which means you won’t get calls or text messages from that contact or number at all.
So if you’re OK with blocking the phone number entirely, be sure to follow along below. We’ll show you how you can in just a few short steps.
Blocking a Phone Number
There are a couple of ways that you can put a phone number in your block list. The first way is through the Phone app itself. Navigate to the Call Log, also labeled as the Recents tab in your phone app.
Now long-press the number that you want to block. When it appears, press the Details option denoted by an (I). This will take you to the details page of the contact that you want to block. If you already have a Contact profile filled out for that person, it’ll show you all of their details here. If it’s a random number, this Details page will simply be that number.
At the very bottom of the bar you’ll see an option that says Block Number. Tap it, and then a prompt will appear. It essentially confirms that you know what you’re trying to do, reaffirming that this number won’t be able to contact you in any way after blocking it. If you agree, press the Block button.
Congratulations, you’ve added a blocked number to your block list!
Blocking a Number Through Settings
You can also block a number manually — it doesn’t have to call you first to put it on your blocked number list. Once again, tap on your Phone app. At the top right corner, press the three dot menu button. You’ll want to select the options that says Settings.
On the next page, scroll down to the Call Settings subheading. Under this heading, select the option that says Block Numbers. Here, you can add phone numbers that you don’t want calling you. And, if you want to block unknown callers from reaching you, simply turn the Block Unknown Callers option to the on position. This can be nice, but at the same time, it also has the potential to mean that you’ll miss a lot of important phone calls. We recommend leaving Block Unknown Callers disabled so that you don’t miss those important calls. After all, you don’t want to miss that call for a job interview, or for an important conference call that could determine a promotion at work. So, keep to blocking numbers that you can identify and know for sure who it is.
Unblocking a number
If you decide that you want to unblock a phone number, the process is fairly easy. Once again, open up your Phone app. At the top right corner of the app, tap on the three dot menu button. We’ll want to tap on the Settings option.
Scroll back down to Call Settings and select the Block Numbers option. This will take us to the list of all the numbers you have blocked. To unblock someone, you can tap on any of them to get the option to unblock. Or, you can swipe the numbers to the left to have the option of deleting them off of your list.
What about telemarketers?
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to block telemarketers because they call from all sorts of different numbers. If you block one of them, they end up calling you from another. You can still get rid of telemarketers for good, though. Just head over to www.donotcall.gov, follow the steps to register your number on the national Do Not Call registry, and within a few days, you should stop receiving unsolicited phone calls.
Verdict
As you can see, you have multiple ways to block a number on the Samsung Galaxy S9. If you follow the steps below, blocking a number should only take a couple of seconds.