How to unblock a number

There are three separate places a number can be blocked, and they don't talk to each other:

1. On the phone itself. The block list in iOS or Android settings. This is what most people mean by blocking, and it's the list you'll find in the sections below.
2. At the carrier. Verizon Call Filter, AT&T ActiveArmor, and T-Mobile Scam Shield each keep their own block list inside their own app. A number blocked here never reaches your phone at all, so your phone's settings can't unblock it.
3. In a third-party app. Truecaller, Hiya, RoboKiller and similar apps maintain a fourth list, and they can also auto-block numbers you never touched.

Work down the list in that order. If a number is unblocked on the phone but still can't get through, check the carrier app next.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Phone.
3. Tap Blocked Contacts.
4. Find the number, then either swipe left on it and tap Unblock, or tap Edit in the top right and tap the red minus beside it.

One thing worth knowing: iPhone keeps a single shared block list across Phone, Messages, and FaceTime. Whether you originally blocked the number from a call, a text, or a FaceTime request, it appears in all three places and removing it from any one of them unblocks it everywhere. Full detail and the edge cases are on how to unblock a number on iPhone.

On a Pixel or most stock-Android phones:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap the ⋮ menu (top right) → Settings.
3. Tap Blocked numbers.
4. Tap the X beside the number, then confirm Unblock.

On a Samsung Galaxy:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap ⋮ → Settings.
3. Tap Block numbers.
4. Tap the minus or trash icon beside the number.

Android's Messages app can hold its own separate block list, so check there too if texts still aren't arriving. Step-by-step for each version is on how to unblock a number on Android.

If you blocked the number through your carrier rather than your phone, it has to be unblocked in the same place:

• Verizon — open the Call Filter app, go to the blocked list, and remove the number. If the line is on Verizon Smart Family, blocks can also be set by the account owner in that app instead.
• AT&T — open AT&T ActiveArmor (previously Call Protect), find the number in the block list, and remove it.
• T-Mobile — open Scam Shield, then remove the number from your block list.

Carrier blocks are the usual reason a number stays unreachable after you've cleared it from the phone's settings, because the call is stopped before it ever reaches the handset.

Landlines use dial codes rather than a settings screen, and the exact codes vary by provider — these are the common North American ones:

• *80 turns off Selective Call Rejection, the feature that blocks the specific numbers you added with *60. To remove one number rather than switch the whole feature off, dial *60 and follow the voice prompts to edit the list.
• *87 turns off Anonymous Call Rejection, which blocks every caller who hides their caller ID. Dial *77 to switch it back on.

If your home phone runs over cable or fibre — Xfinity Voice, Spectrum Voice, Verizon Fios — the block list is usually managed in the provider's web portal or app instead, and the dial codes may be disabled. Check the portal first.

• Calls ring normally again from the next call onward. Nothing is retroactive.
• Texts sent while the number was blocked are gone. They were never delivered to your phone and they don't arrive late once you unblock. On iPhone, voicemails left by a blocked caller do get stored — look under Blocked Messages at the bottom of the Voicemail tab.
• The other person is never notified, in either direction. They weren't told when you blocked them and they aren't told when you unblock them.
• Nothing changes about your own caller ID. Unblocking a contact is a different thing from unhiding your own number — that's covered on how to block your number when calling.

The number is unblocked but the phone still isn't ringing for them. Usually one of these:

• Silence Unknown Callers is on. If the caller isn't saved in your contacts, iOS sends them straight to voicemail without ringing. Turn it off under Settings → Phone → Silence Unknown Callers, or just save them as a contact.
• A Focus or Do Not Disturb schedule is running. Calls are suppressed for anyone outside the allowed list, which looks identical to being blocked.
• The carrier's spam filter caught them. A number flagged as spam network-side can be filtered even with an empty block list. Check the carrier app.
• Call forwarding is still switched on from something you set up earlier, sending every call elsewhere before it rings. Calls going straight to voicemail walks through each cause in order.