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About reporting and blocking someone on WhatsApp
You can report problematic content to WhatsApp. You can also stop receiving WhatsApp messages, calls, and status updates from someone by blocking them. Blocking and reporting problematic users helps keep WhatsApp safe. Learn how to block and report someone in this article.
If you feel you or anyone else is in immediate danger, please contact your local emergency services.
Report a contact, business, or unknown number
When you report someone, WhatsApp receives the last five messages sent to you by the reported user or group, and they won’t be notified. WhatsApp also receives the reported group or user ID, information on when the message was sent, and the type of message sent (image, video, text, etc.). Reporting a user without blocking them won’t stop you from receiving their messages, calls, and status updates.
We might ban accounts if we believe the account activity is in violation of our Terms of Service. Per our Terms of Service, we retain the right to ban the user without notification. Please be aware that a user report of conduct in violation of our Terms of Service won't necessarily result in us banning the user or otherwise taking action against the user.
Block a contact, business, or unknown number
When you block someone, messages, calls, and status updates sent by the contact won't show up on your phone and won’t be delivered to you. Your last seen, online, status updates, and any changes made to your profile photo won't be visible to contacts you've blocked. Blocking a contact won't remove them from your contacts list, nor will it remove you from the list on the contact's phone. The existing chat will remain in your chatlist. You can delete the chat if you want to remove it from your chatlist, or archive the chat to hide it from your chatlist.
After you block someone:
- You'll see You blocked this contact under the blocked contact’s name and in your chat with them. They won’t see this.
- You can choose to Unblock or Delete Chat after blocking someone. You’ll also have the option of archiving the chat instead. Uncheck the box next to Report to WhatsApp if you don’t want to report the person you’re blocking.
- Blocked numbers are visible in the Blocked section (iPhone and KaiOS) or Blocked contacts section (Android), which can be found in Settings > Privacy.
Note:
- Blocking a contact won’t stop that user from seeing your messages in a group you both participate in, and you’ll see their messages in that group as well. Please don't participate in groups with people you don't wish to communicate with.
- We can't block or unblock contacts on your behalf. If you're concerned whether a blocked contact will know if you're blocking them, read about being blocked by someone.
- Contacts can’t see your status after you’ve blocked them. But, they can see your status if you post it before you block them.
- You can see a contact’s status if they posted it before you blocked or deleted their number from your phone’s address book. The status will disappear within 24 hours and you won’t see future status updates from that contact.
Block high volumes of unknown messages
As an advanced security measure, you can block high volumes of unknown messages to help protect your account and improve device performance.
If Block unknown account messages is turned on, WhatsApp will block messages from unknown accounts when they exceed a high volume. During this period, your contacts can message you as usual. Message blocking stops after message rates return to normal.
Learn how to block unknown account messages.
Related resources
- How to block and report someone on WhatsApp
- How to stay safe on WhatsApp
- How to block unknown messages