How to Stop Spam Texts and Block Spam Text Messages on iPhone and Android
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The short answer
Forward the message to 7726, which spells SPAM, and reply with the sender number when your carrier asks. It is free on all three major US carriers and does not count against your plan. Then switch on the filter your phone already has: Screen Unknown Senders under Manage Filtering in the iPhone Messages app, which Apple turns off by default in iOS 26, or Spam protection under Protection and Safety in Google Messages. Do not reply to the sender, not even to say STOP, because a reply confirms a live person reads the number. None of that reduces how many texts are sent to you. That number is set by how many places publish your phone number, which is why removing the listings is the only step that changes the volume.
Last updated 25 August 2026. Every setting path, short code, price and limit below is read off a primary source: Apple, Google, the FTC, the FCC and each carrier's own support documentation, checked on that date.
The five layers that act on a spam text, and what each one costs
Four of these five are free and three of them are already running on your phone right now. Read the last column before you pay for anything. It is the only one that separates a tool that hides a message from a tool that stops it being sent.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Layer | Cost | What it does to a spam text | Cuts how many texts are sent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your carrier, at the network | Free on all three major carriers | T-Mobile checks every SMS, MMS and RCS message against its anti-spam system before delivery and drops what matches. AT&T and Verizon run their own network filtering and neither publishes a rate for it. | No. It decides what reaches the handset. |
| The phone itself: iOS or Google Messages | Free, already installed | Sorts messages from people you have never replied to into a separate filter, and on Android drops what the on-device model scores as spam into a Spam and blocked folder. | No. It decides what you see. |
| A paid blocker app | $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year at Nomorobo. RoboKiller publishes no figure. | Adds its own database of known spam senders on top of the two free layers, and filters phishing texts. | No. It is a fourth filter on the same delivered message. |
| Reporting to 7726 | Free, and it does not count against your plan | Sends the sender number and the message to your carrier so the campaign can be fingerprinted and blocked for everyone, including you. | Indirectly, and only for that campaign. |
| Removing the number from the sites publishing it | The slow one | Takes the phone number off the people-search listings, marketing files and lead lists that sell it to the companies buying text campaigns. | Yes. This is the only row that changes how many texts get sent. |
The economics are why the top four rows read the way they do. A text costs a fraction of a cent to send, so a campaign that gets filtered by 95 percent of recipients is still profitable, and the sender has no reason to stop. Filtering changes your experience of the campaign. It does not change the campaign's math. The same pattern holds for voice, which is covered in our call blocker app pricing comparison.
Six steps, about fifteen minutes
How to block spam text messages, in the order that works
-
Step 1
Forward it to 7726 before you delete it
This is the step almost everyone skips and it is the only free action that helps anyone other than you. Copy the message, forward it to 7726, which spells SPAM on the keypad, and reply with the sender number when your carrier asks for it. Verizon and T-Mobile both confirm there is no charge and T-Mobile texts back a confirmation. The FTC recommends it because it is how a campaign gets fingerprinted and blocked at the network for every customer.
-
Step 2
Do not reply, and do not text STOP to a stranger
Verizon puts this plainly in its own support pages: do not respond to spam texts or click any links. STOP is a legal requirement for a company you actually gave your number to, and it works there. Sending it to an unknown sender only proves a live person reads that number, which is exactly the signal a list seller is paid for. Block and report instead.
-
Step 3
On iPhone, turn on Screen Unknown Senders
Apple changed this in iOS 26 and the change catches people out: Screen Unknown Senders is off by default. Open Messages, tap the Filters button at the top of the conversation list, tap Manage Filtering, scroll to Unknown Senders and switch it on. If you had Filter Unknown Senders enabled back on iOS 18, the upgrade carries it across and it is already on.
-
Step 4
On iPhone, add the Text Message Filter for Transactions and Promotions
Same screen, second switch. Tap Text Message Filter and turn it on, along with any third-party filtering extension you have installed. It sorts SMS, MMS and RCS from unknown senders into Transactions and Promotions folders. Apple states one limit worth knowing: filtering does not apply to any sender you have replied to three times or more.
-
Step 5
On Android, check spam protection is on in Google Messages
Google turns it on automatically and notifies you when it does, so this is a verification rather than a setup. Open Google Messages, tap your profile picture, then Messages settings, then Protection and Safety, then Spam protection. Google notes the option only appears if your device supports it. Detected spam can be dropped outright or moved to the Spam and blocked folder.
-
Step 6
Register on the Do Not Call list, then deal with the supply
The FCC codified that Do Not Call protections apply to text messages, so marketing texts to a registered number are illegal, and its rules require carriers to block texts from invalid, unallocated and unused numbers. Registration is free and permanent. After that, the only lever left is where your number is published, because that is what decides how many campaigns buy it in the first place.
How to block spam texts on iPhone: every control Apple gives you
Apple reorganized this in iOS 26 and renamed the main switch, which is why half the advice online still tells you to look for a setting that no longer exists under that name. Filter Unknown Senders became Screen Unknown Senders, it moved into a screen called Manage Filtering, and it now ships switched off. If you upgraded from iOS 18 with the old setting already on, Apple carries your choice across and it stays on.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Control | Where it is | What it does | What it will not do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Unknown Senders | Messages, Filters button, Manage Filtering, Unknown Senders | Moves messages from anyone you have not interacted with into a separate Unknown Senders filter | Off by default in iOS 26 unless you upgraded with Filter Unknown Senders already on |
| Allow Notifications by category | Manage Filtering, Unknown Senders, Allow Notifications | Lets Time Sensitive, Personal, Transactions or Promotions messages still notify you | Allowed messages sit in your conversation list for eight hours, then move to Unknown Senders |
| Text Message Filter | Messages, Filters button, Text Message Filter | Sorts SMS, MMS and RCS from unknown senders into Transactions and Promotions | Does not apply to any sender you have replied to three times or more |
| Third-party filter extensions | Same screen, listed under Text Message Filter | Hands unknown-sender messages to an installed app such as a paid blocker to categorize | Only works for senders that are unknown to you in the first place |
| Block this Caller | Open the conversation, tap the sender, Block this Caller | Stops that one number reaching you across calls, messages and FaceTime | One number at a time, and a campaign rotates through hundreds |
| Report Junk | Under a message from an unknown sender | Sends the sender and the message to Apple and your carrier | Reporting does not block by itself |
The detail that decides whether you keep Screen Unknown Senders switched on is the notification behavior, because the usual objection is that a filter will swallow something that mattered. Apple's default is that Time Sensitive messages, which is the category verification codes and urgent requests fall into, still notify you. You can widen or narrow that under Allow Notifications with four toggles: Time Sensitive, Personal, Transactions and Promotions. Turn Promotions off and leave Time Sensitive on and you get the arrangement most people actually want.
There is a wrinkle in how those allowed messages behave. If you permit notifications for a category, Apple shows the message in your main conversation list for eight hours and then moves it into the Unknown Senders area. Nothing is deleted. It just stops occupying the list. Apple also notes that this per-category choice is available in the United States, Brazil and India, and that in most other countries unknown senders notify you by default.
The limit worth committing to memory is the reply threshold. Apple states that message filtering does not apply to any sender you have replied to three times or more. That is sensible behavior for a business you actually deal with. It is also the mechanism behind the advice not to answer spam: reply enough times and you have taught the phone to stop filtering that sender for you.
Apple Watch is a common complaint here and the fix is on the phone, not the watch. The watch mirrors the phone's Messages notification behavior, so the categories you allow under Allow Notifications are the ones that will buzz your wrist.
Android, Google Messages
Where the Android switch lives
- 1. Open Google Messages and tap your profile picture or initials at the top right.
- 2. Tap Messages settings, then Protection and Safety, then Spam protection.
- 3. Check Enable spam protection is on. Google switches it on automatically and notifies you, so usually it already is.
- 4. To report a sender, press and hold the conversation, then tap Block, then Report spam, then OK.
Google says the option only appears if your device supports it. Detection runs on the device using machine learning models, so it works with no data connection, and any link in a message is uploaded to Google to check whether it is malicious. Messages scored as spam can be dropped outright or moved to the Spam and blocked folder.
How to stop spam texts on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile
The three carriers are not equivalent on texts, and the gap is bigger than it is on calls. One of them filters your messages at the network and says so. One of them tells you plainly that texts are not its job. The third sells a well-known spam product that does not touch texts at all.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Carrier | Filters texts at the network | Text blocking you control | 7726 reporting | The detail that matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile and Metro | Yes, at the network since 2014, no extra charge | Free in the T-Life and ScamShield apps | Free, and T-Mobile replies with a confirmation text | T-Mobile checks each SMS, MMS and RCS message against regularly updated spam fingerprints and blocks what matches before it is delivered. |
| AT&T | Network filtering runs, no published rate card for texts | No. AT&T does not filter texts inside ActiveArmor and points you to Apple and Google instead | Free | The only carrier of the three that states outright in its own support pages that text filtering is not its job. |
| Verizon | Network filtering runs, no published rate card for texts | Block up to 5 numbers free in My Verizon, but the block expires after 90 days. Verizon Family blocks up to 20 permanently. | Free, and Verizon asks you to reply with the spammer number | Call Filter, including the paid Plus tier, is a call product. It does not filter your text messages. |
Two things in that table catch people out. Verizon's free block list holds five numbers and expires after 90 days, which is a reasonable tool for one persistent ex-colleague and useless against a campaign. And Verizon's Call Filter, including the paid Plus tier at $3.99 a month, is a call product: the full Verizon Call Filter breakdown covers what it does and does not cover. AT&T is the same story from the other direction, and its own documentation is refreshingly direct about it, as the AT&T ActiveArmor pricing page sets out. If you want a carrier-level view of how the labels differ on voice, that is in Scam Likely, Spam Risk and Scam Shield.
Why the spam texts keep arriving from different numbers
Everything above works on the message. Nothing above works on the list. A text campaign starts with a file: rows of phone numbers, usually enriched with a name, a city, an age range and sometimes a home address, because a targeted text converts several times better than a blind one. That file is bought, and the sellers who assemble it pull from public records, marketing databases, breached data and people-search sites that publish the whole profile for anyone to scrape.
Once your row is in that file it is copied, resold and merged into other files. Blocking the number that texted you removes one line from one sender's rotation. The row is still in the file, the file is still for sale, and the next buyer gets a fresh block of numbers with it. That is the whole answer to why the texts arrive from different numbers, and why the volume never drops no matter how long the block list gets.
The tell is personalization. A text that opens with your first name did not come from random digit dialing, it came from an enriched list, and an enriched list almost always traces back to a profile that publishes your name and number in the same place. That is a listing you can have taken down.
Removal is slower than a toggle and it is the only thing on this page that reduces the number of texts sent. Start with the data broker opt-out list, and see how to remove your phone number from the internet for the per-site process. The equivalent question on the voice side is answered in why you keep getting spam calls.
The order that works
Do these four, in this order
- 1. Report to 7726 and stop replying. Free, takes ten seconds, and it is the one action that helps the next person who gets the same campaign.
- 2. Turn on the filter your phone already has. Screen Unknown Senders and Text Message Filter on iPhone, Spam protection in Google Messages on Android. Both free, both already installed.
- 3. Register on the Do Not Call list. Free, permanent, and the FCC has confirmed those protections cover text messages, not just calls.
- 4. Get the number off the sites publishing it. Slowest, and the only one that reduces how many texts are sent. It is also the one that has to be maintained, because listings repopulate.
Steps one to three are free and take an evening. Only step four changes the supply, which is why it is the one worth automating.
Frequently asked questions
How do I stop spam texts from different numbers?
Stop blocking numbers and start filtering senders. A campaign rents blocks of numbers and burns through them faster than anyone can block them, so blocking is always one number behind. Switch on Screen Unknown Senders on iPhone or spam protection in Google Messages, which act on every unknown sender rather than a list you maintain, and report each one to 7726 so the campaign itself gets fingerprinted.
Why am I getting spam texts all of a sudden?
Because your number moved onto a new list, and that usually has a traceable cause: a quote form, a loan or insurance application, a competition entry, a house move that produced fresh public records, or a breach resale. People-search sites rebuild profiles constantly, and each refresh republishes the number for the next lead buyer to scrape. The surge starts a few weeks after the listing goes up.
Why am I getting spam texts with my name in them?
Because the sender bought the name and the number together. A raw phone list is cheap and converts badly, so lead sellers enrich it, and a people-search profile that carries your name, age, city, relatives and phone number is exactly the enrichment source. Seeing your own name in a spam text is a reliable sign your number is sitting on a published profile rather than in a random dialing range.
How do I stop spam texts on iPhone without blocking?
Use filtering, which is what Apple built for this. Turn on Screen Unknown Senders in Messages under Manage Filtering, and turn on Text Message Filter on the same screen. Together they move anything from a sender you have never replied to into a separate filter and sort SMS, MMS and RCS into Transactions and Promotions. Nothing is blocked, so a real message is still reachable, it just stops interrupting you.
How do I block spam texts with no number, or from email addresses?
Filtering handles these and blocking mostly cannot. Texts arriving from an email address or a short code have no ordinary phone number to add to a block list, so the working move is Screen Unknown Senders on iPhone or Google Messages spam protection on Android, both of which key off whether you have ever interacted with the sender rather than off the number format. Report the message to 7726 as well.
How do I block spam texts from 5 digit numbers?
Those are short codes, and legitimate ones are required to honor STOP. If it is a service you knowingly signed up for, a bank, a pharmacy, a retailer, replying STOP is the correct and effective action. If you never signed up, treat it as spam: do not reply, block the conversation, report it in the Messages app and forward it to 7726 so your carrier can see which short code is being abused.
Should I block spam texts?
Block them, but do not expect it to reduce the volume. Blocking is a per-number action against a sender that has already moved on to the next number in the block it rented. It is still worth doing for repeat senders and for anything abusive. The layers that scale are filtering, which acts on all unknown senders at once, and reporting to 7726, which acts on the campaign.
How do I stop political spam texts?
Political texts are the hardest category because most political speech falls outside the marketing rules the Do Not Call Registry enforces, so registering does not cover them. What works is the same three moves as any other spam text: filter unknown senders at the phone level, block and report each committee that texts you, and reduce the underlying supply by taking your number and address off the voter-adjacent people-search profiles that campaign vendors buy for targeting.
How do I stop spam texts from recruiters and job offers?
Recruiter spam usually traces to a resume or a job board profile carrying your mobile number, which gets resold well beyond the site you posted it on. Remove or mask the number on any public resume, then treat the texts themselves as spam: filter, block, report to 7726. If the texts name you personally, the number is on an enriched list, and the durable fix is getting the profile carrying it taken down.
Does the Do Not Call Registry stop spam texts?
Partly, and only against senders who follow the law. The FCC codified that Do Not Call protections extend to text messages, so a marketing text sent to a registered number is illegal. That binds real companies with compliance departments. It does nothing to a scam operation running toll-notice or package-delivery texts from rotating numbers, because those were already breaking the law.
How do I stop spam texts on Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile?
They differ more than you would expect. T-Mobile filters SMS, MMS and RCS at the network and has since 2014, at no extra charge. Verizon lets you block up to 5 numbers free in My Verizon, but the block expires after 90 days, and Call Filter is a call product that does not touch texts. AT&T states in its own support pages that ActiveArmor does not filter texts and points you at Apple and Google. All three accept 7726 for free.
How do I report a spam text message?
Three places, and doing all three takes under a minute. Forward the message to 7726, which spells SPAM, and reply with the sender number when your carrier prompts you. Report it in the app: Report Junk on iPhone, or Block and report spam in Google Messages. Then report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Do not click any link in the message first.
How do I stop spam text notifications without missing verification codes?
Apple built the exact control for this. In Messages, open Manage Filtering, scroll to Unknown Senders and tap Allow Notifications, then leave Time Sensitive on and switch Promotions off. Time Sensitive covers verification codes and urgent requests, so the login code still buzzes while the casino promotion does not. Apple notes this granular choice is available in the United States, Brazil and India.
Will changing my phone number stop spam texts?
Only for a while, and Verizon says so itself: changing your number stops spam calls temporarily, not permanently. A new number is quiet until the first form, warranty card or public record ties it to your name, at which point the same people-search profiles rebuild around it and the same lead buyers pick it up. You also inherit whatever lists the previous holder of that recycled number was already on.
How do I stop hundreds of spam texts for good?
Nothing stops them for good at the phone. Filters, blocks and blocker apps all act after a text has been sent and paid for, so the sending rate never changes. Volume drops for good only when the number stops being available to buy, which means the people-search listings, marketing databases and lead files that publish it have to come down and be kept down as they repopulate.
Next, deal with the supply side
Filters decide which texts you see. These pages cover the places your phone number is published, which is what decides how many get sent.
Remove your phone number from the internet
The removal side: getting the number off the sites that publish it, one by one.
National Do Not Call Registry
Free, permanent, covers texts as well as calls, and the FTC is candid about who it does not bind.
How to stop spam calls on iPhone
The voice equivalent: five built-in Apple controls and what each one will not do.
Verizon Call Filter pricing
Every tier priced, plus the phones the app refuses to run on.
AT&T ActiveArmor and Call Protect pricing
Free versus $7, and why eleven of the thirteen paid features have nothing to do with your phone.
Why you keep getting spam calls
The six things that put your number back into circulation, and which of them you control.
Data broker opt-out list
The sites to start with, and what each one asks for before it will remove you.
A filter hides the text. It does not take your number off the list that sold it.
Run the free exposure scan at the top of this page to see which people-search sites are publishing your phone number right now. Dataremoval is in early access and there is nothing to buy today.
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