1

The Messages app on iOS has a feature that seems intended to prevent spam messages from appearing in the list of messages I see by default: choosing to filter on "Known" senders only. I'd have thought that this would filter out spam messages from unknown numbers, but that's not what it does, so I constantly get such messages appearing as "Known":

enter image description here

What does "Known" actually mean? How do I use it or some other feature to prevent spam from unknown addresses from appearing in Messages?

orome
  • 11,983
  • 64
  • 144
  • 260
  • The filter only sends to a separate list, it doesn't prevent them arriving. Where in the world do you live? Many places have 'do not call' lists & spam-prevention government services. Forwarding the message to 7726 [spells SPAM on an alpha-dialler] can report violations & help prevent future posts. – Tetsujin Sep 27 '20 at 17:25
  • I understand that such messages are still there, but I expect them not to appear under "Known", which they do. – orome Sep 27 '20 at 17:27
  • United States, unfortunately. – orome Sep 27 '20 at 17:27
  • idk how it works in the states. I'm on the UK's 'do not call' list. Anyone who violates that can & will be taken to court if they can be traced. Forwarding to the UK spam number seems to just make then 'go away' for me at least. I never get repeats of the same spam type. – Tetsujin Sep 27 '20 at 17:29
  • 1
    And you have healthcare, don't rub it in! – orome Sep 27 '20 at 17:31

1 Answers1

1

It’s too late for iOS to reclassify previous contacts once they are in Known. For those, make one contact called Telemarket Spam and block that contact.

As more trickle in, take manual action on them if you don’t want to engage your carrier to block them.

So far, my Known hasn’t been breached, so I’m crossing my fingers I can avoid SMS spam for 38 days. I’ve got about 125 numbers I needed to block since they got through when I had filter unknown callers off (like when I need to accept a return call from AppleCare and spam leaks in) (My email accounts x RIP, spam city due to the election funding and drama llamas and sharing lists I presume). T-Mobile USA is doing an excellent job once I enabled their free block service for spam.

bmike
  • 235,889
  • Another issue is that even if a message goes to "unknown" I get a notification about it. Is there a way to suppress notifications from "unknowns"? – orome Oct 05 '20 at 20:36