Blocking unwanted spam messages for a dementia patient's iPhone

roscoe_wc wrote:

The included filter on the iPhone does not work well as it still notifies for unread messages and she clicks and they open. She then responds to these junk messages and that just makes it worse.

Is there a way to block these unwanted spam messages?

You might want to look at Assistive Access. It's an alternate iPhone interface designed by Apple specificaly for this sort of situation.

Assistive Access User Guide - Apple Support

Once you set it up, you can implement some controls over what kind of messages can be sent and received:

Set up Messages for Assistive Access on iPhone - Apple Support

Sounds good. Here’s a guide on enabling and using it. Screen, filter, report, and block text messages on iPhone - Apple Support

roscoe_wc wrote:

Interesting. I was thinking there must be something out there for this situation as elderly and cognitively impaired are vulnerable and targeted by these groups to click through and provide personal/financial details.

I think Apple designed a great interface for this situation. I've never understood why it isn't better known. For a while, I thought I'd imagined it because no one knew what I was talking about. And it's not just to prevent scammers. It makes the phone much easier for someone to use if they have cognitive issues.

And I wish you all the best. I lived through this with my mother. It's so hard.

I recommend simply updating to iOS 26 and enabling the unknown senders filtering! It sorts unknown senders automatically into a separate list and hides notifications.

[Edited by Moderator]