What happens when you block a number

Calls. They dial, hear one ring — sometimes none at all — and land in your voicemail greeting. That's identical to what they'd hear if your phone were off, in Do Not Disturb, or if you declined the call. There is no message, no tone, and no error.

Texts. On iPhone, an iMessage to someone who blocked them stays blue and appears sent, but never shows *Delivered*. An SMS just appears sent. On Android, the message shows as sent with no error. In every case the message is discarded on your side — it isn't held for later.

FaceTime. Rings on their end, never on yours.

The deliberate ambiguity means no single test proves a block. One unanswered call proves nothing. A pattern — always exactly one ring, always straight to voicemail, over days, while other people reach you fine — is the closest thing to a signal.

Blocked calls don't appear in your Recents list. Blocked texts don't appear in Messages and don't trigger a notification. FaceTime requests don't ring.

The one exception is voicemail, and it surprises people: a blocked caller can still leave you a voicemail. It's recorded and stored on your phone. It just doesn't notify you or appear with your normal messages.

On iPhone, open Phone → Voicemail and scroll to the bottom for a Blocked Messages section. On most Android phones, blocked voicemails either don't record at all or appear in the standard voicemail list depending on the carrier's voicemail platform — behaviour here is carrier-dependent rather than Android-dependent.

Blocking is tied to a phone number, not to a person. That leaves several gaps:

• A different number gets straight through. Another phone, a work line, a Google Voice number, or a burner app all ring normally.
• Withheld caller ID gets through. Someone dialling *67 before your number arrives as "No Caller ID" — a different identifier as far as the block list is concerned. Blocking "No Caller ID" as a category needs a separate setting, not a block-list entry.
• Other apps still work. WhatsApp, Signal, Instagram, and email are entirely separate — each has its own block list.
• Spam keeps coming. Robocallers rotate numbers constantly, so blocking each one individually never catches up.

iPhone keeps one system-wide list shared by Phone, Messages, and FaceTime — block in any of the three and all three are blocked. It lives in Settings → Apps → Phone → Blocked Contacts. Blocked voicemails are kept in a separate section.

Android varies by manufacturer and by phone app. In Google's Phone app the list is under Phone → ⋮ → Settings → Blocked numbers. Samsung keeps its own equivalent under Phone → ⋮ → Settings → Block numbers. Messages blocking is often, but not always, linked to call blocking — on some builds they're separate lists, which is a common source of "I blocked them and they still texted me."

On both platforms, this is device-level blocking. It happens on your phone, after the call has already reached your line — which is why it does nothing about your bill, your carrier, or a second device on the same number.

These are two different systems with two different lists, and confusing them explains most "the block isn't working" complaints.

Device blocking is the Settings list described above. It's free, instant, and only applies to that one handset.

Carrier blocking happens on the network before the call reaches your phone — AT&T ActiveArmor, Verizon Call Filter, T-Mobile Scam Shield. Each keeps its own list inside its own app, invisible from Settings. A number blocked at the carrier will never show up in your phone's blocked list, and vice versa.

If a number seems blocked but isn't in your Settings list, check the carrier app before assuming something is broken.