What is “Message Blocking is Active” on iPhone? (Easy Fix!)

Close up of hands holding a phoneClose up of hands holding a phone

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Sometimes when you try to text someone, the message won’t go through to your desired recipient, which can be frustrating to deal with.

If the “message blocking is active” notification appears when you try to send a message, it usually means either you or your recipient blocked the phone number.

Please continue reading to learn more about why you can’t send a text message to the person you’re trying to contact. Sometimes, this happens by mistake, and we can walk you through the solution.

What Does Message Blocking is Active Do

Everyone who owns a smartphone has run into a situation where they put their phone in their pocket with the screen on and unknowingly hit a bunch of buttons.

Message blocking makes it so messages cannot be sent or received to another person through SMS on an iPhone.

If you own an iPhone and try to send a message, but the “message blocking active” notification appears on your screen, you need to get rid of this notification to text your recipient.

However, this situation can also occur if you experience an interruption through your mobile provider or technical difficulties.

If you’re positive that the person you’re trying to contact hasn’t blocked you on iMessage, then you should contact them on a different platform because they may have blocked you by mistake.

How to Unblock a Number on iPhone

After you unblock a phone number from your iPhone, you can send as many messages as you want over iMessage so long as you have phone service.

Follow the steps below to unblock a phone number on your iPhone so you can get in touch with the people you need and remove the “Message Blocking is Active” message:

  1. Unlock your iPhone and go into your settings menu.
  2. Find the “blocked contacts” in your settings menu and select the contact you’re concerned about.
  3. After selecting this contact, hit the right corner of your screen to edit and unblock the person you’re trying to text.

Blocking contacts by accident is much more common than you would expect, and unblocking a contact is extremely easy.

Contact Your Mobile Provider

Some people are under the misconception that you need to contact your phone company every time you block a phone number that you want to unblock.

While not always true, if you and your desired recipient both unblocked your numbers or your phone numbers never appeared in each other’s block list, there might be something wrong with the mobile connection.

Sometimes, this notification occurs when you or the person you want to get a hold of doesn’t have mobile service.

If you’re positive you paid your phone bill this month, you need to contact your mobile provider immediately to figure out what’s happening.

Sometimes, mobile providers experience shortages in their connections, making it difficult for people to use their monthly Service plan. However, these shortages are temporary.

Consider Your SIM Card

If you have an outdated or unusable SIM card in your iPhone, you will not be able to send messages or use your mobile data.

Typically, when you get a new iPhone, your mobile provider will send you a SIM card that you can put in your phone to stay connected to your service.

If you did not receive a new SIM card, you need to contact your mobile provider for a new one you can use immediately.

If you go to your mobile provider’s store, they can provide you with a SIM card the same day, so you don’t have to wait for a shipment to use your phone.

Update Your iPhone

If you’ve waited too long to accept a software update from Apple, you need to update your iPhone to send messages again.

Here is how to do that:

  1. Enter the phone settings menu on your iPhone.
  2. Select “software update” under the general menu.
  3. Automate your updates, so you don’t have to go through this problem again.
  4. Wait for your device to restart.

Many procrastinate as long as possible to update their iPhones because they don’t want to turn off their phones in the middle of a task.

However, the longer you wait to update your software, the more problems you’ll encounter when you try to use your applications.

Final Thoughts

When you can’t send a text message to the person you need to get ahold of, this can be a super frustrating experience.

Fortunately, this problem is usually resolved when you or the person you want to contact unblocks the other phone number.

If you both have the phone numbers unblocked, then one of you might be experiencing trouble with your mobile provider.

If this message appears when you try to send text messages to everybody on your iPhone, you need to contact your mobile provider and have them resolve the problem.

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