Spam is a sad reality of the digital marketing age and can occur anywhere, even on Apple’s popular iMessage service. And while spam SMS or junk text messages are annoying enough, the problem with spam sent on Apple’s messaging service is that it doesn’t even require a phone number, as iMessage is available on non-cellular iPad tablets, the company’s Mac computers. and iPod Touch.
There are two ways to stop unwanted iMessage requests on your iDevice, and here’s how to do it:
1. Report spam to Apple
TUAW He discovered a support document on Apple’s site that details how users can report spam to the company. This suggests that Apple is aware of iMessage spam and may indeed be concerned that it will become a growing problem or nuisance in the future.
When reporting iMessage marketing spam to Apple, it is assumed that Apple manages a blacklist of frequently reported phone numbers or email addresses associated with the iMessage service so that they cannot access the iMessage service in the future. The crowdsourced reporting service is still unclear, and perhaps Apple could easily add a “mark as spam” option in the future, as with Google’s Gmail email service, to quickly report spam from the Messages app. But for now, here’s what you need to do:
To report spam iMessages to Apple, please send an email with the following details to: [email protected]
2. Manually block the user yourself (iOS 7 only)
A new feature of iOS 7 is to block callers, FaceTime video chats, and iMessage from people you don’t want to communicate with. Whether it’s ex-bosses, ex-girlfriends, or the much-hated iMessage marketing spammers, you can block them so the messages don’t even show up. Not only will you be notified of future messages from anyone who has been blocked, but you will also not receive any messages.
Unfortunately, you cannot block someone from one service and block them from another. For example, if it’s not marketing spam and it’s personal iMessage spam from a close friend, you can’t block that friend’s iMessage and still allow them access to FaceTime and phone calls. When a person is blocked, they are blocked on all services, universally.
Here’s what you need to do to block an iMessage spammer. You can initiate blocking directly from your address book (if it’s a personal contact) or from the iMessage app if a number or email address is listed there.
Press the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be greeted with the Phone, FaceTime, and Info options. Click info or “i”.
When you do this, you will be redirected to the contact’s information. Scroll down and hit “Block This Caller”.
Apple will show you a popup showing what this means, and if you agree, select “Block Contact” from the popup and you’re done blacklisting that person.
