THERE are some “red flags” iPhone owners should look out for – maybe you’ve been blocked.
Since the dawn of the digital age, humans have had one more thing to worry about: being blocked or ghosted by friends, colleagues or significant others online.
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No one likes to be blocked and ignored, it can make you doubt yourself, lower self-esteem and lead to anxiety and other mental health issues in the long run.
For those people that do hit the ‘block’ button and rid themselves of someone from their online life, it’s not always an act of malice. Most of the time it’s about self-preservation.
If that person has hurt or offended you or is sending you messages that are negatively impacting you, it is sometimes easier and less stressful to remove them from your online life altogether.
However, being on the receiving end is never easy. Especially if you’re not sure what you’ve done wrong. Confronting the matter can help, and asking what you’ve done wrong to seek closure can help.
But how do you know for sure that you’ve been blocked by someone in the first place? There’s no way to know aside from the blocker telling you outright.
However, if you’re an iPhone user, there are a number of ‘red flags’ that can determine if you’ve been blocked or not.
While they are not definitive, they will give you a sense of whether you’ve been put on the blacklist by your contact.
Reg flag 1: Phone rings once then goes to voicemail
If someone has blocked you on iPhone, your calls will go straight to voicemail. The other person won’t be notified you called, nor will they see a badge notification if you’ve left a voicemail.
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Beware, of course, that your call going direct to voicemail doesn’t automatically mean you’ve been blocked. It could be that your contact has simply turned their phone off and can’t receive calls.
Try calling at different parts of the day as a constant directing to voicemail over longer periods could be a clearer sign you’ve been blocked.
Reg flag 2: iMessage is sent as an SMS message
In most instances, when an iMessage isn’t deliverable, it will be sent as an SMS message instead, which appears as a green bubble in iMessage chats.
So if you’ve recently been chatting via iMessage and all of a sudden your messages turn to green SMS texts, it could be that you’ve been blocked.
On the other hand, it might just be that your contact has their phone switched off, has no internet access or – if it’s been a while since you last messaged – has changed their number.
Alternatively, they might have even migrated to an Android device as SMS is what all non-iPhone messaging systems use to deliver texts between contacts.
Reg flag 3: SMS not delivered
Unlike Apple’s iMessage, there’s no way to know whether an SMS message has been read by the recipient but there is still a way to check its status, so if a text has been sent as a green bubble, it will usually show as either ‘sent’ or ‘delivered’.
The ‘sent’ badge simply means the message was sent to the recipient but has not yet been delivered to their device yet.
If the message badge never turns to a delivered status, this could be a sign you’ve been blocked, especially if it’s been a long period of time.
Again, it could simply mean that they’re just out of their service area and haven’t been able to receive messages when you sent them.
Reg flag 4: You’ve been blocked on other messaging apps
If you’re confident you’ve been blocked on iPhone, chances are the person in question has blocked you on other messaging platforms, too, so it’s worth checking there, also.
If you have their contact details for WhatsApp, for example, check to see if their ‘last seen’ is still visible in the chat window. If it’s gone, it could be a sign you’ve been blocked.
Additionally, any messages you send to a contact who has blocked you on Whatsapp will always show just one check mark as opposed to the double check mark, which shows it’s been delivered.
Check out our How to check if you’ve been blocked on WhatsApp for more signs that you might have been blocked on the platform.
Reg flag 5: Calls or messages from other numbers go through
If you’re determined to contact the person that you think has blocked you and you really want to find out what you’ve done to deserve being ghosted, one quick and easy method that will put you out of your misery is calling them from another number.
If your calls are heading straight to voicemail but your attempts from the new number go through, it’s almost a dead cert that you’ve been blocked.
Although, it might not paint you in the best light if they answer and you proceed to confront them about it.
It could be intimidating for the recipient and even viewed as harassment if you proceed to try and make contact from all directions and they’ve made it clear they need space.
It’s never a great feeling knowing someone has blocked you, especially if the reasons why are not clear; it can be infuriating and even feel humiliating. However, try and resist the urge to pursue contacting the person who blocked you.
If you don’t give them the space they need and continue to badger them, it could escalate and you’re likely to only make matters worse.
If you are feeling hurt or upset about the situation, try talking to someone about it or try journaling to give you perspective as opposed to channelling all your energy on the one you believe has blocked you.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
