For a long time iOS had the ability to filter messages from unknown senders that were not in your contacts. However, it did not stop the flood of spam from advertisers who managed to fly under the radar of the filters placed. The frequency of such offensive messages has only increased over the years. However, with iOS 11, Apple gave the command to filter SMS spam in your hand. You can now choose to forward incoming messages through a third-party filtering application to separate junk messages from essential messages that you may need to deal with. This works similarly to phone or email spam filters, helping to prevent trash from reaching our main inbox. So, if you want to organize your message inbox, here are some of the best third-party apps you will need to block unwanted SMS on your iPhone:
Best SMS Spam Blocker Apps for iOS 11
1. VeroSMS
If you are looking for a simple SMS filtering iOS app that sends incoming SMS to the junk folder, VeroSMS should be your first choice. Although it filters messages by itself, you are the guide on the same because you should Identify each keyword that VeroSMS should block from being shown in the main messages tab. You can define a blacklist/whitelist using keywords and sender names (such as AT-AIRTEL) whether or not you want the application to filter.
And you don’t have to worry about VeroSMS playing with the content or details of the SMS because all spam processing happens locally on the device. Neither contact information nor private messages are sent to an online server for processing.
However, if you are already feeling overwhelmed by the manual updating of the blacklist/whitelist with new keywords, Download a crowdsourced keyword list for your immediate location. To filter messages by keywords in this crowdsourced list, simply complete a $0.99 in-app purchase.
To organise: (Freein-app purchase available)
2. SMS Shield
Entering every negative keyword to filter messages can be tiring. So it will be much easier for you to use SMS Shield as much as possible. automatically detect spam SMS such as promotions, advertisements, phishing and scam attempts using machine learning algorithms. However, you still have the option to add more keywords that you think should not appear in your message inbox. Everything SMS processing is done offlinelocally on the device.
In our tests, SMS Shield was able to filter most spam without any interference from us. Definitely my favorite feature of the app. Frequent Traveler Mode, this was able to save me from constant roaming message spam from my carrier. I’m traveling from Noida to Delhi for business and I get a ‘Welcome to New Delhi..’ message every day. Thanks to SMS Shield, I no longer have to worry about such messages.
SMS Shield is one of the best SMS spam filtering apps, but Requires you to pay $3.99 for annual subscription. There is no free tier, but you are given a seven-day free trial to test the app’s unblocking features. You can choose to continue with the current subscription or switch to another app, expiration of the trial period.
To organise: (Freein-app subscription plans start at $0.99/month)
3. SMS Checker
SMS Checker is another machine learning enabled Free SMS filtering app if you want to manually add keywords again. However, it also includes Smart Filters To automatically separate junk messages. This smart filter is not only limited to English conversations, it can also easily filter out Turkish spam texts. However, you have to make a one-time payment to enable automatic blocking.
The developers are currently training the app to understand and filter messages in more languages in the near future. Until then, you can define customizable rules, a blacklist and a whitelist to include keywords or sender’s name and not receive the same notifications.
Smart Filters currently work online and send SMS data to unknown servers, but the English filter is expected to be available offline in the next update. This means that all transactions will take place offline on the device, helping to protect your privacy. If you can cut a high enough one-time payment, SMS Checker is also one of the better SMS spam detection apps.
To organise: (Freeone-time in-app purchase option)
In addition to these three apps, we tried a handful of other SMS blocking apps, but none of them hit their mark. They allow some spam messages to leak through the cracks and that’s exactly what we don’t want. You can also try Truecaller to access both phone and message filtering, but the latter is still finicky.
It’s also important to understand that if you reply to a contact at least three times, SMS filtering will stop working. This is because iOS 11 now assumes that you are talking to a known person and no longer requires collecting their texts under the junk tab.
Enable SMS Spam Filtering in iOS 11
After downloading and installing any of the above mentioned SMS blocking apps, jump into Settings to get rid of unwanted SMS in your message inbox. Follow the steps outlined below:
- First, go to: Settings > Messages To enable the feature by selecting the third party SMS blocker app of your choice.
- Under the Message Filtering section, “Unknown and Spam”
note: Here, you will see two different options, iMessage Filtering and SMS Filtering. The first enables local filtering of unsaved contacts from your message inbox, while the second displays the full list of third-party SMS blocking apps you have installed.
- If you touch any of these apps, for example VeroSMS, you will see a popup with a privacy warning message. Faucet “enable” To enable spam SMS filtering on your iPhone running iOS 11.
- When you return to the Messages app, you will now have a new “SMS JunkAdded ” tab to your message inbox in iOS 11. All unwanted text will now appear under this tab.
Is It Safe To Trust Third-Party Apps With Private Data?
The primary concern of anyone sharing their personal messages with a third-party app will be their privacy. Text messages not only contain the sender’s contact information, but can also contain special passwords, addresses, links or more. Apple has considered everything before giving access to the SMS APIs to third-party developers. he designed certain security measures to prevent misuse of your private data.
First, the company warns users that their SMS may be transmitted from the device to process the content for proper filtering. As seen above, it shows a warning popup that you must accept to enable SMS blocking. This means you give third-party applications access to your messages to process them online or offline.
Apple acts in good faith and puts its full trust in developers, allowing them to send private data to online servers for processing. However, he instructed them to delete the messages after receiving them or to encrypt them if put on hold. This can allow developers to accumulate large amounts of data that could be breached by attackers if not carefully protected.
To counter the same thing beforehand, developers can download databases and assign all rules to work offline. This means that your messages, including the sender’s contact information, no longer leave the iPhone. All SMS filtering will be performed locally, allowing developers to take full advantage of the powerful new chips running iOS 11 for machine learning-assisted processing. This means your private messages are safe and you can use these third-party apps to clean your inbox.
SEE ALSO: How to Hide App Icons in iMessage in iOS 11
Clean Message Inbox by Blocking SMS Spam in iOS 11
We’re grateful to Apple for finally blessing iPhone users with the SMS filtering feature in iOS 11 because we know how difficult it is to review the mess that iMessages and message spam make together. If you’re not too nervous about privacy, any of the solutions mentioned above will come in handy for eliminating spam from your message inbox. If there is an SMS blocking app that you think should be mentioned, comment below and let us know.
