Phone and Tablet Tips
Brilliant things to do on your device
iOS
Filter messages from unknown senders
In our ‘Block all spam calls’ Cover Feature in Issue 709 (buy a back issue from www.snipca.com/56069) we complained about the “meagre protection against unsolicited texts” in the Messages app for iPhone and iPad. Apple must have listened, because iOS 26 improves how the app deals with messages from unknown senders.
A new Screen Unknown Senders feature automatically filters messages from numbers that aren’t in your Contacts to an Unknown Senders folder. You can access this in the app’s top-right menu (see screenshot 1 below).
If a message is from a legitimate source, tap ‘Mark as Known’ to move it to your main conversation list. Any future messages from that number won’t be filtered.
The new option is disabled by default, unless you previously enabled Filter Unknown Senders (the older, less effective version of the feature).
To turn it on, tap Filters in the Messages app and choose Manage Filtering. Scroll down to Unknown Senders and switch on Screen Unknown Senders (screenshot 2 below left).