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How can I block unwanted emails by key words instead of addresses?

So far I can only block unwanted emails on iPad by opening them and blocking their addresses. This doesn’t work for the unscrupulous senders of scams and ads who send the SAME emails COUNTLESS times, using a NEW address every time - I can never get ahead of them this way! On a laptop I can block emails by key words in the subject line. I am getting countless repeated advertising emails every day - often in duplicate - for everything from sandals, thru’ camera lenses to disgusting explicit sex ones and I’ve had a severe sense-of-humour failure. Can anyone help???

iPad, iPadOS 14

Posted on Oct 7, 2021 1:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 7, 2021 2:43 AM

Hi Walcot


Junk and Spam filtering is a good way forward...

If your receiving email is iCloud based you can set rules in the cloud.

Move unwanted mail containing words in the subject line to any folder/bin.

Create a separate rule for each word you want to block but beware to only use words that you wouldn't expect to appear in a legitimate email.


Plus you can add further filter rules to send a specific domain name to the bin

Putting a wildcard * at the beginning of the email address *@domain.com will catch all emails from that domain


A better alternative is to block the whole domain the emails are coming from

If you make a contact from one of the spammers emails and add the wildcard * to the email you can then add this contact to the block email list from settings > mail > blocked


Blocking the domain name with a wildcard email address will block all emails from that address.

This should reduce the amount of addresses you need to block, simply by blocking the domain they are all coming from.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 7, 2021 2:43 AM in response to Walcot

Hi Walcot


Junk and Spam filtering is a good way forward...

If your receiving email is iCloud based you can set rules in the cloud.

Move unwanted mail containing words in the subject line to any folder/bin.

Create a separate rule for each word you want to block but beware to only use words that you wouldn't expect to appear in a legitimate email.


Plus you can add further filter rules to send a specific domain name to the bin

Putting a wildcard * at the beginning of the email address *@domain.com will catch all emails from that domain


A better alternative is to block the whole domain the emails are coming from

If you make a contact from one of the spammers emails and add the wildcard * to the email you can then add this contact to the block email list from settings > mail > blocked


Blocking the domain name with a wildcard email address will block all emails from that address.

This should reduce the amount of addresses you need to block, simply by blocking the domain they are all coming from.

Oct 7, 2021 1:55 AM in response to Walcot

The native Mail App is quite limited in its capabilities - available sorting and filtering being quite rudimentary. There are other well known third-party Mail Apps that might provide facilities closer to your needs.


In addition to other Mail Apps, assuming that your Mail Provider has a web-portal through which you can access your email, you may find that you can apply filters at the server - prior to content being downloaded by your Apple devices via IMAP or POP3.

Oct 7, 2021 2:50 AM in response to TerryWebbs

All excellent and helpful information - if the recipient address is an Apple email address and the unwanted email is originating from a consistent/identifiable domain.


Unfortunately, most spam and phishing email has a spoofed (sometimes random) email address. Therefore, attempted blocking by source address or domain is generally ineffective.

How can I block unwanted emails by key words instead of addresses?

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