Filter unknown senders is on but I’m still getting notification alerts when they’re received. Why isn’t there a silence option for the unknown texts similar to the silence option on unknown phone calls? That’s really the most frustrating part, getting spam texts in the middle of night and still being woken by them defeats the whole purpose of filtering them. Am I missing something?
iPhone X
Howdy nikogief!
It sounds like you're still getting notified of messages from unknown senders with the filter on. We can understand your need for a solution and would like to look into this with you.
Are the messages you are receiving iMessages or just regular text? While this setting works for iMessages, it won't be able to filter out texts, however, you still have the option to block these numbers.
For steps, look here under "Block messages from a specific person or number":Block, filter, and report messages on iPhone
We hope this helps.
Enjoy your week!
Howdy nikogief!
It sounds like you're still getting notified of messages from unknown senders with the filter on. We can understand your need for a solution and would like to look into this with you.
Are the messages you are receiving iMessages or just regular text? While this setting works for iMessages, it won't be able to filter out texts, however, you still have the option to block these numbers.
For steps, look here under "Block messages from a specific person or number":Block, filter, and report messages on iPhone
We hope this helps.
Enjoy your week!
Well unfortunately, as suspected, there is currently no way to do this. Apple Support confirmed it. Also "report as junk" is only an option for imessages, which is silly because a majority if not all of my spam texts are SMS. I guess for now I just have to live with spam texts waking me up in the middle of the night. Only workaround is to schedule your phone's Do Not Disturb option or turn it on before you go to sleep and turn it off again in the morning. But of course you'll miss any real person trying to get a hold of you. Also, this doesn't solve anything during waking hours.
Sounds like major oversights if you ask me. They told me to report it on their feedback page, so who knows when this will actually happen, if ever.
nikogief,
We definitely understand your concern. The way we separate iMessage from regular SMS is by color. iMessages are blue, while regular SMS is green. You can also see if the message was an iMessage by looking at the top of the message thread.
Take a look at Settings > Messages on your iPhone. Is Filter Unknown Senders turned on? If so, does the Junk have messages? If not, when you receive one of these messages does it allow you to report it as Junk?
Reporting the messages sends the message and the senders number to Apple, this helps us prevent these kind of messages from being sent to your device.
You can find out more here: Block phone numbers, contacts, and emails on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
We hope this helps.
Cheers!
Hey CarlAVII ,
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if they are iMessages or not because I never respond to them to see how the text goes through. Is there somewhere where you can see that without sending a response? Blocking individual number is a waste of time, they've moved on to a new number as soon as they send the text. These are Robotexts and spoof numbers with Malware links in the messages. For example I received a text at 6:48AM and the same message again at 9:33AM from completely different numbers, both with the same text message body but with a new malware link. From what I can tell, there is no end to the amount of phone numbers they have in their arsenal. I'm worried it's only a matter of time before I accidentally somehow click on one of the malware links. The filtering is doing a fine job of keeping them separated, but the fact that I can't have them automatically silenced is a bit of a let down. It's only doing half of its intended job, as far as I'm concerned. Apple has made it possible with phone calls, now I'm hoping they'll complete the functionality by adding the same feature to unknown texts/iMessages, as well.
Personal note: The amount of spam text and phone calls we (the public) receive daily is unprecedented. A dozen or more a day for me. I'm shocked that government / telecommunication companies / cell phone providers and manufacturers have let it get this bad. It's harassment and a clear gateway for enabling criminal activity. It's top of the list of FCC complaints and yet still no solution has been found. I understand there are international boundaries and laws to contest with, but still, I'm shocked that there isn't a more global movement to end this very prominent issue.
Thanks again, Happy Holidays
N
nikogief,
We'd like to have our support Advisors take a deeper look at this issue. Please reach out to them here: Get Support
Enjoy your weekend!
In case you don’t get alerted about replies to her post:
Hi! I am here for the same exact reason! Looking on why there’s a filter and still you get the alerts!
I have received texts messages in the middle of the night too! Once it was around 3:30am and scared the crap out of me as I have a kid away in school.
it seems as they have been increasing in frequency lately and yes, I get the same message 3 or 4 times (at least!) from different numbers too!
I have AT&T ( I read all companies have this), and I forward the text and number to them which I believe goes directly to FCC. I am going to try to attach some screenshots. So, according to them, they are trying to do something. Does it make a difference? Heck no! I still get bombarded with these texts day and night. And funny thing, lately these are rotating (non-stop!): last day to get a gun permit; thank you for your loyalty and making your last payments on time; AT&T giving away old iPads to make room for the 2021 inventory; and the one that promises you’ll go down from XXL to M SharkTank’s belly burning fat product! It’s beyond frustrating.
I have to go through forwarding the text, then sending the number I received it from. Then I block the number. For what?! To have that same message come back from a different number hours later! So, I do, I do feel your pain!!!!
The fact that it is only for iMessages serves no purpose. Most of these scammers probably know this and will find a way to block what type of phone they use. Honestly, the unknown senders filter, makes no sense! Even if you have the filter, sometimes you open iMessages and all pop up, doesn’t matter that you chose to keep known senders as your option. Oh!!! By the way! I still do get alerted when an iPhone user/ unknown sender sends me a text. I have a neighbor that keeps sending messages that I ignore due to being political in nature and I do not appreciate it. I do not block her, because you never know if she might need my help someday. Still, her texts, I see them pop up on my locked screen as if I had her number saved. Oh, I have never replied to her either, so I don’t think it is because iMessages recognized i replied back.
So, Apple, not working with iMessages either!
Even with the unknown callers the phone still rings! So, I guess in my case it’s Murphy’s Law!
ISA
Dec 26, 2020 9:59 AM
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Question:
Q: Silence message notifications from unknown senders
[Edited by Moderator]
Less,
Thanks for the reply, sounds like Ingrid331 and I are getting the same exact spam messages. The top of the spam message says “text message” so I’m guessing that means it’s SMS. I understand the color coating of blue vs green but those colors only appear on MY messages, not the sender’s, and I’m not responding to the messages in order to find out. Yes the filter is on, hence me starting this thread :), but the functionality is a bit useless if it doesn’t have the option to silence the notifications in the unknown sender list.
I’ve never seen a “report as junk” function in messages... can you show us where that is? However, I imagine this still wouldn’t solve the issue at hand, since the messages always come from a different number. Again, blocking an individual number doesn’t stop robotexts that rotate thousands of phone numbers. You can see in my screenshot the same spam text comes from a new number every time. Similar to Ingrid331, I spent a lot of time reporting the messages to ATT, but it’s futile since they simply keep coming. And from what I’ve seen, the paid 3rd party apps block unknown numbers completely, which isn’t a solution since there are times when a legitimate unknown number is trying to reach you. (Also the idea that people are making money to block the texts, is just as bad as the spam text itself. Both are capitalizing on the business of spamming people).
Would love to see an option to SILENCE ALL UNKNOWN SENDER texts. Seems easy enough to program in an update since you’ve already done it for phone calls.
thanks all the same.
N
I’m sorry to having confirmed this. I had an idea that was the answer you would get, as I had already tried this.
i wonder if giving feedback to the right department will somehow work. It works with the calls, regardless if they have iPhone or not, so probably there’s a way to do it for messages.
Disclaimer, LOL: keep in mind, I’m not a computer tech, not sure how it works so maybe I’m completely wrong! BUT... If the system is able to filter these messages, why not create notification alert options for the unknown folder?
For me, the do not disturb is not an option. All my family lives far away, and as many others I only have my cell phone. With that said, my iPhone is the only they can reach me at all times.
It is extremely annoying (scary, too!) to wake up to a text alert in the middle of the night. I keep reporting them to no avail to AT&T, but there’s really nothing they can do, I guess.
I don’t know about you, but the last 2 weeks I have received 18 (spam) texts, and 14 have come from the same area code! And not the same area code as my number, as spam calls usually are. I wonder if there is a way to block an area code? I don’t know anyone there anyway.
Well, just wanted to touch base and once again show you, you are not alone! And somehow this will get figured out, either by Apple, FCC (I think that’s the dept that deals with these texts) or telephone companies. Or maybe a company will create an app that will allow to filter these unknown messages? 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 Hopefully soon enough!
You get it... 👍🏼
Glad I’m not alone here.
Oh I see your name is MoonJ, not Less! Haha, I thought the Less/More at the bottom of your message was your name signature... whoops.
thanks MoonJ
Silence message notifications from unknown senders
