How to stop spam texts on iPhone

1. Two rules: don't tap, don't reply

Almost every harmful spam text needs you to do one of two things: tap a link (or call a number) or write back. The text itself can't hurt you; reading it is fine.

• Don't tap links or open attachments. The link is the attack. Parcel fees, toll fines, suspended accounts, tax refunds and "is this you?" alerts all lead to a page that collects card details or a login. If a message might be real, open the company's app or type its address yourself.
• Don't reply, not even STOP, unless you know the sender is a real business you signed up with. For a stranger, any reply confirms that the number is live and read by a person, which makes it more valuable, not less.

2. Report and delete

1. Open the conversation. Under a text from a sender who isn't in your Contacts, iOS shows Report Spam. Tap it, then Delete and Report Spam. Apple receives the sender and the message, and the conversation is deleted.
2. In the US, UK and Canada you can also forward the text to 7726 (it spells SPAM on a keypad). Carriers use these reports to block senders at network level. Elsewhere, check your carrier's website; many countries have a similar number.
3. If the text pretends to be a company, you can also report it to that company; most banks and delivery firms publish an address for phishing reports.

Reporting doesn't protect you immediately, but it is the only step that helps everyone else too.

3. Block a persistent sender

Tap the sender's name or number at the top of the conversation, tap Info, then Block. Blocked numbers can't call or text you.

Be realistic about what this achieves: a single number that keeps texting you, such as a sales line that won't take no for an answer, is worth blocking. Scam campaigns rotate through hundreds of numbers and email-to-text gateways, so blocking alone rarely ends them. Content filtering, next, works across numbers.

4. Turn on Apple's built-in filters (iOS 26 and 27)

iOS has two separate tools, and they are easy to mix up:

1. Open Settings → Apps → Messages and scroll down to the Unknown Senders section. (On iOS 27 you can also open Messages, tap the Filters button and choose Manage Filtering.)
2. Turn on Screen Unknown Senders. Texts from numbers that aren't in your Contacts, and that you have never written to, go to an Unknown Senders list, without a notification and with links disabled. On iOS 17 and 18 the switch is called Filter Unknown Senders.
3. Tap Allow Notifications. Keep Verification Codes and Personal on, and turn on Transactions, so codes, bank alerts and delivery texts from unknown numbers still notify you and show up in your Messages list for 12 hours. Leave Promotions off. Options can vary by country.
4. Turn on Filter Spam, the last switch in the section. This is Apple's own spam detection; texts it judges to be spam go to a Spam folder (called Junk on older versions). In some regions it is on by default.

Apple also documents a limit worth knowing: text message filtering doesn't apply to any sender you have replied to three times or more. Those senders have to be blocked or reported instead.

5. When an SMS filter app helps, and what to look for

Apple's screening separates known from unknown senders. A third-party SMS filter goes one step further: iOS hands it the content of each text from an unknown sender, and the app decides whether it is spam. That is what lets a filter keep a first-time legitimate sender (a code, a delivery update) out of Spam while sending a scam with the same unknown-number status there.

You probably want one if, after step 4, scam or marketing texts still get through, or if you rely on texts from unknown senders and don't want to live in the Unknown Senders folder.

What to check before you install one

• Where the decision is made. Apple runs filter extensions without network access, but it lets a developer declare a server that the system can forward messages to. Apps that decide on the device can't see your texts leave the phone; apps that defer to a server can. The app's privacy label and its website should say which.
• Protected categories. Ask whether verification codes, bank alerts and delivery updates are explicitly protected, or just "usually fine". A filter that occasionally hides a code is worse than no filter.
• Language. Most filters are trained on one or two languages. Check that yours is covered and that the developer publishes dated accuracy numbers with a method, not a slogan.
• Price and trial. Prices range from a one-time few dollars to more than ten dollars a month, usually because call blocking is bundled in. Pay for what you need.
• One at a time. iOS allows one third-party SMS filter to be active. Installing a second one switches the first off.

We make AntiSpam, which decides on the device, protects codes and bank alerts with explicit rules, and publishes its measurements and method. It isn't the right choice for everyone: it does nothing about calls, and its English engine is new. Our comparison of spam text blockers covers the alternatives, Apple's own filter included.

6. Get fewer spam texts in the first place

• Treat your number like a password. Prize draws, quizzes, coupon pop-ups and "text us for a discount" forms feed the lists spammers buy.
• Unsubscribe only from senders you recognise. For real companies, STOP works and is enforced by law in most countries.
• Tick the box. When you sign up for anything, look for the consent for marketing texts and for sharing your number with partners, and decline both.
• Do-not-call registries help a little. They bind legitimate marketers, not criminals. Expect fewer sales texts, not fewer scams.
• Keep iOS updated. Apple's screening and spam detection improve with each version, and so do the protections around links in Messages.

7. If you already tapped or replied

• If you entered card or bank details, call your bank now using the number on the back of your card, and ask to block the card.
• If you entered a password, change it on the real site and anywhere else you reused it, and turn on two-factor authentication.
• If you installed a profile or an app from the link, remove it (Settings → General → VPN & Device Management) and run an iOS update.
• Report it: in the US to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, in the UK to Action Fraud, in Australia to Scamwatch, elsewhere to your national fraud service. Your report helps take the sites down.