Android Does a great job of handling incoming spam SMS messages. But there are two things you may find you have to do manually. The first is to delete spam SMS messages. Given the constant flood of spam that floods our various inboxes, these messages can increase. You definitely don’t want to allow your device to be flooded with blocked spam messages.
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Another thing you may need to do is add blocked numbers manually. Android does a pretty good job of catching and blocking spam numbers, but it’s not 100% every time.
So, how do you delete these messages and add new blocked numbers? Let me show you how.
What will you need?
The first thing you will need is a device running Android. It should run at least Android 10, but Android 11 will be better. You will also need to collect some spam SMS messages. If you haven’t received that first spam message yet, consider yourself lucky and just list this information for the inevitable day when the spam starts flooding in.
How to Delete SMS Spam
The first thing we’ll do is delete some of the junk SMS messages you’ve accumulated. It’s a very simple process but it can be a pain (because there’s still no opt-in option — Google, are you listening?).
To delete your junk messages, open the Messages app. From the main window, tap the Menu button and then tap ‘Spam and Blocked’.
In the Spam and Blocked window, you’ll have to manually tap each message you want to delete.
The trick to selecting messages is that you have to first long press one of the messages to select it. Once you’ve selected that first message, you can go through the list and tap once to select each one. After selecting all the messages to delete, tap the trash can at the top right to delete the messages.
After tapping on Trash, you will be asked to confirm the deletion. Tap Delete, and the messages will disappear from your spam and blocked messages folders.
See: How to Record a Phone Call on Android in 5 Ways
How to Manually Add a Phone Number to Spam and Block
Now, we will manually add a new phone number to the spam and blocked list. From the same screen, tap the Menu button and then tap Blocked Contact. In the resulting window, tap Add a number.
Type the number to add and tap Block.
And that’s it. You have just added a new number to the Android Messages Blocked Numbers list. You will never have to worry about receiving SMS messages from this number again.
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