How To Block Text Messages on the Galaxy S7

While most people receive some form of robocalls and spam, it’s a bit more rare to receive unwanted text messages. Still, it’s entirely possible that a company will receive your phone number and begin sending you soliciting messages through SMS. Not only can these messages be annoying or frustrating, but they can start to feel like harassment depending on the rate of incoming texts. These messages can even charge your phone bill with data or texting usage, depending on your phone plan.

Luckily, blocking text messages on a Galaxy S7 is an easy feat, accomplished within the standard messaging app included on your phone. Here’s our guide on blocking text messages on your Galaxy S7.

Open Messages’ Settings

First, start by opening the messaging app on your phone. This guide was designed for those using the standard SMS app included with Samsung phones, called Messages, so if you’re using a third-party SMS app downloaded from the Play Store, you’ll want to look in your apps’ settings for a Message Block or Blacklist feature. Alternatively, you can block phone numbers through the Phone app, which will block both phone calls and messages. We have an entire guide on blocking phone calls right here.

Once you’re inside the messaging app, tap the triple-dotted menu button in the top-right corner of the screen. This will expand a few options, including Edit, Mark All as Read, and Help. Tap “Settings” to open up your messaging settings.

The settings menu isn’t too long, taking up less than a full page on the Galaxy S7. Five down from the top, you’ll see an option called “Block Messages.” Pressing this menu will carry you to a new screen, complete with three options: block numbers, block phrases, and blocked messages.

Options for Blocking Texts

Let’s take these one at a time. The first selection, block numbers, will bring you to a list of any previously-blocked numbers, along with an entry field to block additional numbers from messaging you. This list is shared by both the dialer application and the messaging app, so if you’ve previously blocked numbers from calling you, you’ll see them in this field. If you know the phone number of the culprit messenger, you can enter it using the dial pad provided by the app. If you don’t know the number from memory, you can hit the “Inbox” button to jump into your message inbox. From here, select the SMS thread that contains messages from the spam number or the number you wish to block. This will add their phone number to the blocked numbers list. If you block the wrong number, you can come to this list to delete their entry. Finally, if you’re trying to block the number of a contact saved in your phone, you can hit the “Contacts” button next to “Inbox” to view your contacts list. This will allow you to entirely block a contact from reaching out to you, so if you have an ex-significant other or family member you wish to cease communications with, you can use this function to block them.

The second selection, block phrases, works a bit differently. This allows you to automatically block any messages that contain a specific phrase selected by you. There are plenty of use cases for this, though it really depends on your specific situation. If you want, you could mark words like “compensation,” “loan,” or “opt out”—all phrases often found in spam messages—to try to block text messages before they even get to you. Likewise, if you know of people who send you texts or content you don’t want to see, you could use common phrases to block out what they’re writing. Do be careful using this feature, though, because it has the potential to block out messages others send you that could contain important content or notices.

Finally, the last selection on the list, blocked messages, isn’t a new selector or way to block messages. Instead, any and all blocked messages stopped from reaching you will be archived here, where you can view them separate from your main inbox. Though the majority of messages that find their way in here are from spammers or other useless senders, if you utilize the blocked phrases ability, you may want to check this every so often, if only to ensure important messages from friends, family or colleagues don’t accidentally end up in the trash can.

Using Third-Party Apps

As I said above, if you’re using a different app for your texting purposes, you’ll want to check with that individual app to see if you have the option to block or blacklist numbers. The majority of modern SMS apps contain some feature similar to this. If the app you’re using doesn’t contain a way to block or blacklist numbers from messaging you, use the Samsung Phone application to manually block a number from calling or texting you. This feature works system-wide, so any infringing number will be limited from contacting you. Finally, it’s worth noting that there are multiple applications on the Play Store that promise to block text messages, including Mr. Number and SMS Blocker. Unfortunately, starting with Android 4.4, Google modified how SMS permissions worked in Android. Only one application can be set to send, receive, or modify your SMS messages, so these blockers will either not function or cause issues with receiving your text messages. The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge shipped with Android 6.0, and were updated to 7.0 a few months ago. For this reason, we don’t recommend using a third-party SMS blocker to block numbers. Instead, either use the standard SMS method highlighted above, or the phone-blocking system that stops numbers from contacting you no matter which app you’re using for texting.

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Despite the limitation on SMS apps imposed by Google for security concerns, most texting applications have a way of blocking numbers from contacting you. If you’re using the standard Messages app provided by Samsung, you can easily block both numbers and phrases, and even check your blocked messages like you would a spam folder inside your email account. If you are using an SMS app that won’t block numbers on its own, you can still block numbers from contacting you through the dialer application provided on every Galaxy S7. Samsung has done a great job in making it easy to block spammers and robocalls from reaching you.