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Want to know if someone blocked your number? It's not as straightforward as you may think.

If someone has blocked your number that means they do not want to hear from you. 

But how do you know if your number has been blocked or if for some reason your calls and messages are not going through to that person? In that case, you may want to try and determine if your number really has been blocked without bothering the person you are trying to contact. 

There isn't just one way to do this, however, and the process can be more complicated than you might think.

How do you know if someone blocked your number? 

Knowing if someone has blocked your number depends on the type of phone you have. Neither iPhones nor Androids have a feature that will tell you if your number has been blocked. The only way to know for certain would be to ask the person you suspect,​​​ but you may not want to do that because they may not want to talk to you.

There are steps you can take to try and determine if your number has been blocked without directly asking the person. 

One method you can use on any type of phone is by calling the person you suspect has blocked you. 

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While typically you can expect to hear anywhere from three to 12 rings when you call someone before going to voicemail, a blocked number will only ring once and then go straight to voicemail, according to Tom’sGuide.com. If you call and it goes straight to voicemail that means you are not blocked and the person is already on a call or their phone is off.

According to Tom'sGuide.com, if you decide to leave a voicemail with a blocked number it will not go to their inbox, but instead to another inbox for blocked numbers.

According to Macworld.com, if you own an iPhone and want to be more certain that your number has been blocked you can also try to call with a masked number by dialing *67 before dialing the phone number you want to call.

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If this time the phone rings or the person picks up it means your number probably has been blocked. You can also use this method by hiding your caller ID in the settings of your iPhone by going to “phone”  and then “Show My Caller ID” and then turning this feature off. 

However, because of iOS 13, a software update for Apple products, this method may not work anymore because of a new feature iPhone users can use to silence unknown callers. If the person you are attempting to reach uses this feature and does not have your contact in their phone, then their phone will not ring, according to MacWorld.com.

But the most obvious and easiest way to determine whether your phone number has been blocked is to use another phone to try and call the person you suspect has blocked you.

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How do I know if someone blocked my number on an iPhone? 

If you own an iPhone and the person who you suspect blocked your number also owns an iPhone there are a few additional steps you can take to see if you have been blocked. One way is to send an iMessage. 

According to Business Insider, an iMessage message will appear in a blue text and a regular SMS will appear in a green text bubble. When you send someone an iMessage you should see a “Delivered” notification which will appear under your text bubble. This notification may also change to “Read” if the person you are messaging has their read receipts on and they have read your message.

If you have an iPhone and the person you suspects has blocked you also owns an iPhone you can try sending them a message through iMessage to determine if you really have been blocked.

If your message is sent as an iMessage in the blue bubble and the “Delivered” or “Read” notification does not appear then you may have been blocked, according to Business Insider. If you send a message as a regular SMS in the green text bubble and you do not get a “Delivered” notification but instead get a notification similar to “Message not Delivered” or no message at all, that means you were probably blocked.

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How do I know if someone blocked my number on an Android? 

According to Tom’sGuide.com, the texting method is more reliable on an iPhone than with an Android because not all Android phones have the notification feature.

There is a way, however, you can try and see if someone blocked your number on an Android without calling them. 

If you own an Android phone there are additional steps you can take to see if someone has blocked your number.

You can see what happens when you delete this person's contact from your phone. If you delete their contact and then try to search their name in contacts and they come up as a suggested contact, that means they probably didn’t block you, according to Business Insider. 

To delete a contact from your Android these are the steps you will want to take. 

  • Open the Contacts app
  • Tap on the person you believe may have blocked you.
  • In the upper-right corner of your screen you will see three dots. Tap them. 
  • Tap "Delete"
  • Close out of the Contacts app and then open it again
  • Use the search bar and type in the person's name.
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