WeChat is a Chinese chat app that apparently counts its users in the billions. Yes, billion. As of last year, WeChat had one billion active monthly users, whose number was slowly but steadily increasing each month. It’s so high number. With such a number comes the usual social problems, so today we will consider how to block someone on WeChat without notifying them.
Although WeChat is Chinese and designed for Chinese users, it has a global user base. It is used everywhere and is gaining ground on WhatsApp, which has around 1.5 billion monthly active users. In China, WeChat is known as Weixin and is a big part of their lives as WhatsApp is ours.
In any social network, you get the same types of users. Oversharers, smugs, narcissists, crooks, scammers, and a few normal people too. Some of these will be bearable and some not knowing how to block someone on WeChat is essential to your survival as with any social network.
How to block someone on WeChat
From my own experiments I have found that WeChat does not notify you that you have blocked someone, but they can find out if they want to. As with most social networks, there is no active notification that you have been blocked as this can have negative consequences for the blocker and the network in general. However, if someone gets suspicious, it doesn’t take much effort to find out.
Blocking someone on WeChat is simple.
On iPhone, do this:
- Open WeChat and select Contacts.
- Select the profile of the person you want to block.
- Select the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of their profile.
- Select Profile Settings and turn Block on.
If you just want to see a little less, you also have the option to Hide your Moments or not share your own Moments. If they are oversharing or posting too much, this may be a better option.
On Android, do this:
- Open WeChat and select Contacts.
- Select the profile of the person you want to block.
- Select the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of their profile.
- Select Block from the slider menu.
- Confirm by selecting OK.
You can also select the person’s profile from within a chat or a post. You don’t have to use Contacts. If you just want to block their Moments or prevent them from seeing yours, you have to select Moment Options from their profile as you access the Block option.
Are blocked contacts notified on WeChat?
As stated, I was not notified when someone blocked me during my experiments. It was easy to find out if I was blocked though. For one, I stopped seeing posts that blocked me and immediately raised suspicion. Then all I had to do was go to their profile and look at their recent posts. I knew I was blocked because I couldn’t see their new updates or Moments. I was able to confirm this with my colleague while experimenting, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.
The next best way to find out if you have been blocked on WeChat is to send a message. If you send one and see a message rejection notification, you’ve been blocked.
There are other ways to check if you have been blocked on WeChat. Try starting a group chat with the person. Since they will still be in your Contacts, you can try to start a group chat with them. If you can’t see their moments but join the chat, you will be blocked.
If you use Walking Steps on WeChat, apparently you can say it there too. I don’t use this feature, but if you suddenly stop seeing Steps to Walk updates and they continue to use the app as far as you know, you will be blocked.
There may be other ways to find out if you’ve been blocked on WeChat, but these are the ones I know of. If you find that you are blocked, it might be a good time for some self-reflection to understand why or time to move on and find new friends. It’s not always personal. Sometimes people block because they feel that way or because they can. This is part of the ‘charm’ of social media and something we all have to get used to.
This is how you can block someone on WeChat without informing them. Do you know any other ways to tell if someone has blocked you? Do you know any way around it? If you do, tell us below!
