Why can’t we remove blocked phone numbers in bulk?

There isn’t a bulk-unblock option on iPhone or iPad right now. Apple’s current iOS 26 instructions still show removing blocked entries one at a time.

No one here can say if or when Apple will add bulk removal. I’d send this as a feature request through Apple’s iPhone feedback page.

For future spam calls, I’d also look at Settings > Apps > Phone and use Call Screening or the Spam filter instead of manually blocking every number. That should help keep the blocked list from growing into the thousands again.

victhemagician wrote:

I appreciate the quick response. Hopefully someone from Apple will respond to my comment.

I will use your suggestions once I remove the 2,800+ blocked calls I still have 🤓.

Apple won't respond with a comment, because they provide no Support here, as this is just a Community Support forum made up of Apple users.

It has never been an option on the iPhone, while like many other features it can be done on a Mac. In order to send Apple a Feature Request that they will see for the iPhone, you would need to use the Feedback link here. It would not be a difficult feature to implement, although there has never been any discussion on it with any of the previous iOS versions until the recent message that was added in iOS 26.6. that notifies users that the limit has been reached. Previously blocking had no effect after the limit was reached and there was no message indicating that was the reason. Send them that Feedback today.

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Secondary reply. First sorry for my first response about using a Mac. I didn't notice this in your initial post:

I am not buying a Mac just to remove the phone numbers.

But then there's this.

It showed I had over 3,000 blocked numbers.

Blocking that many numbers (and email addresses) is pointless. Scammers move on to new numbers/addresses after no more than a week. Meaning, you'll never get another spam message/email/call from nearly all of those blocked items again.

You now have the unenviable task of deleting almost all of those one at a time. I think the blocked list is in the order they were added. Newest are on top. So, start at the bottom and delete 99% of the entries.

In the future, never let the list get beyond 100. When it reaches that point, once again delete most of them.

There is no bulk-unblock option on an iPhone. However, there is a shortcut for unblocking individual contacts that you might not be using. It saves you having to drill down all the way to the individual contact screens.

See the "Use Settings to manage Blocked Contacts in iOS 26" section of

Block phone numbers, contacts, and emails on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Well, they could make it possible to select multiple entries or to select all entries and then delete the selected items.

And there's no reason they couldn't. The function to grab multiple entries already exists in Contacts.

When you display a Contacts list, you can tap on an entry with two fingers, then hold your fingers to the screen and slide up or down to select a contiguous set. If you reach the top or bottom of the visible entries, the list will scroll in that direction while continuing to pick up more contact entries. Once you have a selection, lift your fingers, then press and HOLD with one finger on any one of the selected items to get a contextual menu where you can Copy, Share, Merge or Delete the selected items.

The point of all of that is the method to mark and remove multiple items already exists. It just hasn't been implemented in the blocked list.

TrishEllen wrote:

I have over 3000 blocked numbers and emails on my iPhone & iPad that I did not manually block. Please implement a way to delete these other than one by one!

You are not speaking to Apple, and they will not hear your request for this feature. As others have already said, you could try leaving a comment using Apple's Feedback page.

victhemagician wrote:

I can hope that Apple personnel do look at community forums. If they get enough negative comments on an issue, maybe they will make changes requested by the purchasers of their products.

You can hope as much as you want. In this case, it won't do much good. Submit your feedback to where Apple will actually see it:

Product Feedback - Apple

Zurarczurx wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

PLEASE tell us what you think the solution is? What would you suggest to Apple?

Well, they could make it possible to select multiple entries or to select all entries and then delete the selected items.

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

The more feedback they get, the more likely they are to consider a change.

jjspelman wrote:

This is absolutely awful. I have thousands of blocked callers. Had I known there was a limit and then not have the ability to delete in bulk, I would never have started. This needs to be addressed @Apple.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

victhemagician wrote:

I can hope that Apple personnel do look at community forums. If they get enough negative comments on an issue, maybe they will make changes requested by the purchasers of their products.

As we all know, it takes a huge amount of time to remove the blocked numbers manually.

I already use the Call Screening option.

PLEASE tell us what you think the solution is? What would you suggest to Apple?

Increase the size of the list from 3,000 to 6,000, perhaps? We’ve already had one post from someone who has 6,500. 10,000 maybe; I’m sure there are people who will reach that, however it will slow opening email to crawl as the app must scan the blocked list for every arriving email.

Do you have any other suggestions?

My suggestion. Clear out the blocked list, as it doesn’t do any good anyway, or just leave it as is and ignore it. And don’t try to add any new addresses.

I don’t block any addresses at all, and pretty much all of my spam goes to my junk folder without any action on my part, and I can clear it with 2 clicks or taps when it gets unruly.

victhemagician wrote:

I never knew these blocked numbers were kept on the phone. Once I clear these, I will check monthly to clear any that are listed. Frustrating, but there is a work around. Thanks.

If a number is blocked you added it to the block list. So if you don’t add any there won’t be any to clear.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

PLEASE tell us what you think the solution is? What would you suggest to Apple?

Well, they could make it possible to select multiple entries or to select all entries and then delete the selected items.

This is absolutely awful. I have thousands of blocked callers. Had I known there was a limit and then not have the ability to delete in bulk, I would never have started. This needs to be addressed @Apple.