What Does Message Blocking is Active on iPhone Mean? 🤔

The Messages app on iPhone is one of the best ways to send and receive messages, especially if your friends and family are in the Apple ecosystem. Apple does its best to keep the Messages app error-free and hassle-free to use as well.

Nevertheless, sometimes, messaging-related errors pop up on iPhone and Android. Most of these errors can be fixed in an instant, though. However, message blocking is active on iPhone errors can be quite frustrating for people. You might have come across this error once or twice, and you know how difficult things become.

In this article, we have explained what message blocking active on iPhone error means. We have also talked about how you can fix the error as soon as possible.

What is the Meaning of Message Blocking is Active on iPhone Error

If you get the ‘message blocking is active on iPhone’ message when you try to text someone, there are two potential meanings. One, you may have unknowingly added the person you are trying to text to in the block list of the iPhone. Two, the person you are trying to text may have blocked your number on iMessage. It is also possible that parental controls enabled on your iPhone are preventing you from contacting the person.

We should also note that this problem comes in different forms. If you go to the Android ecosystem on T-Mobile, you may see a message like “free message unable to send message; message blocking active.” Fortunately, you can use the same methods to fix both types of errors on the iPhone.

While these are the common reasons why you face message blocking active on iPhone error, some other factors may also contribute to the problem. We will look at these reasons in detail.

Potential Reasons You See the Message Blocking is Active on iPhone Notification

Here are the common instances that cause the message blocking is active on iPhone error to appear.

• Blocklist: You may have added the number you are trying to send the message to on the blocklist. On the other hand, the person may have blocked you as well. You can check if it is the case by calling the person.
• App Restrictions: You will not be able to send messages if the Messages app has some restrictions. In this case, the Messages app will tell you that it cannot send the message. Alternatively, you may be shown the error as well.
• Service Issues: Have you checked whether the messaging service on your provider is working as fine as it should? Well, problems with the service provider can cause the “free msg: unable to send a message – message blocking is active” error.
• Premium Messages Disabled: If you have disabled premium messages on your iPhone, you will come across a message blocking error when you try to send a text. It means you have to check with your cellular career.
• Cellular Plan Restrictions: Another reason for the abovementioned iPhone error might have to do with your cellular plan. For instance, if your plan has exhausted the number of SMS texts, you may face an error.
• Problem with Recipient: Often, the root cause of the message blocking active on iPhone error has to deal with the recipient’s device. For instance, suppose that you have sent a message with images and emojis. If the recipient’s device does not support these things, you will see an error.

In addition to these, carrier-specific issues are also known to cause the message blocking is active on iPhone error. For instance, T-Mobile is shown to have this issue. In these instances, you can get a better solution by contacting the technical support team of your cellular carrier. Also you can try the Eyezy app that enables message blocking and monitoring messages.

Now that you know what causes the message blocking is active on iPhone error to appear, can we go through the solutions?

How to Fix the Message Blocking is Active on iPhone Error?

We have listed the solutions in the order of their probability of solving the issue. It means we will cover some basic steps first and recommend advanced options later. Some of these solutions can be used on an Android smartphone as well if you are wondering.

#1 Basic Steps to Fix the message blocking is active on iPhone error

1. Make sure that you are staying in an area with cellular coverage. If your iPhone has a Cellular over WiFi feature, you should consider turning off WiFi to stay on the cellular network.
2. You can turn off and turn on your iPhone to fix the message blocking is active on the iPhone error. To do it, you have to go to Settings > General > Shut down.
3. Ensure that you are attempting to send the messages using the official Messages app on iOS. Other messaging apps may not have all the required permissions on the iPhone.
4. Update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS. You can do it by going to Settings > General > and choosing Software Update. Apple is known for fixing these errors through software patches.
5. Last but not least, make sure that your cellular number is working properly. You can consider calling other numbers or texting someone else from the contact list.

If you do not have luck with these steps, we will move on to the advanced options. As you can guess, those advanced steps require more work from your side.

#2 Check Your Block Lists

First, you have to check whether you have blocked the person you are trying to send the message to. It can be found by going to Settings > Phone > Blocked Contacts. If you have unknowingly blocked the person, you can remove them from the list.

Similarly, you have to ask the other person if they have blocked you on iMessage. Of course, if you know why they have blocked you, it is a different situation. You can send them a traditional SMS message or call them up if you are not sure. Once they have removed your number from the blocked contacts list, you will be able to send and receive messages again.

If you cannot call the person from your number, you can try calling them from another number. If the call goes through, it means you have been blocked by the recipient. Depending on the situation, you may have to stay still.

#3 Check the Content

You may see the message blocking is active on iPhone error due to the content in the text message as well. Sometimes, text messages contain more than simple text; they contain emojis, emoticons, photos, videos, and other attachments. These attachments may stop the message from going through, and you may see a message: “unable to send the message – message blocking is active” on your iPhone.

Therefore, if you cannot send messages to a person, you should try sending the same message after you’ve removed the additional contents from the text. In other words, try to send them a clean text and see if it is working properly.

#4 Send the Text using SMS

Most people forget it, but you can send a message without iMessage on the iPhone. In case you are confused about what has happened, you can try sending an SMS instead of an iMessage. To do it, you have to go to Settings > Messages > and disable the iMessage button. From this point onwards, your device will send messages via SMS.

If you still cannot send the message, it means something is wrong with the SMS service. In that case, you will have to get in touch with cellular career support. On the other hand, if you face the problem the other way around, you can turn on iMessage and see if the message goes through. You can use the same steps to turn on and register for iMessage from your iPhone.

If your text messages are seen on a green bubble, it means you are sending normal text messages, which are slower than iMessage texts.

#5 Check the Email-to-text Address

Email-to-text is an amazing feature that you can find on iPhones and other devices. It means you are sending an email that will be converted to a text message. However, because you are typing in an email address, the chances of getting it wrong are high. You can prevent this situation by double-checking the email address in the case.

Correcting the email address often solves the message blocking is active on iPhone error without much effort from your side. By the way, also keep in mind that you cannot send multimedia messages to an email-to-text number. They are restricted in terms of the content you can transfer.

The Ultimate Solutions

Let’s say that you tried all the methods we have mentioned above but could not solve the message blocking is active on the iPhone error. In this instance, you can try some of the ultimate solutions for the iPhone. Please keep in mind that they may cause some inconvenience. For instance, resetting your iPhone means you may have to start from the beginning.

• If nothing works, you can remove the SIM card from the iPhone and put it back again. If there were issues with configuring the SMS services, a re-inserted SIM card should do the job. Once you have set up messaging services again, the message blocking is active on the iPhone error will not appear.
• If you think you made some changes to the settings before seeing the message blocking is active on the iPhone error, you can always restore your iPhone to factory settings. Keep in mind that you do not have to delete your information from the device. Instead, only the settings can be restored back.
• Lastly, if nothing else works, you can reset your iPhone and set up things from the beginning. It will make sure that the settings are back to the standard options.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

If you came here wondering how to deactivate message blocking on the iPhone, you would have the answers by now. We have also explained why you are seeing the message blocking is active on the iPhone error in the first place. At the end of the day, you will be able to send text messages and iMessage texts with ease – of course, unless someone has blocked your contact on the other side. In that case, you have to ask the person to unblock you.