- The Apple device’s Settings app offers a feature called ‘Filter Unknown Senders’
- The simple switch separates known texters from strangers, saving you time every day
- READ MORE: These four iPhone tricks block ‘smartphone snoopers’
If you’re tired of being interrupted by a daily barrage of spam texts (a real danger for most Americans this election year), Apple fans have discovered a quick solution.
With the simple press of a button in your iPhone’s Settings app, you can automatically filter spam messages so you can quickly delete them.
Apple users on Reddit have been raving about the filter and delete hack all week.
“What’s up with me, someone who has been using Apple devices since the beginning of time, and only now learned this one trick?!?” one posted to the discussion in the site’s r/iPhone group.
With a simple switch in your iPhone’s Settings app, ‘Filter Unknown Senders’, you can automatically filter spam messages and organize them for quick deletion
“What’s up with me, someone who has been using Apple devices since the beginning of time, and only now learned this one trick?!?” an Apple user posted in the thread on Reddit’s r/iPhone group
The strategy, as outlined by Reddit user SpecialistWiep650is simple: first go to your iPhone’s Settings app and turn on the ‘Filter Unknown Senders’ switch.
The route is Settings > Messages > Filter unknown senders.
“This way, messages from people not in your contact list will be sorted into a separate list,” wrote SpecialistSeesaw650.
“You’ll see you have a message, but you can just swipe left to delete it.”
But there are a few extra steps to make it really useful, according to Apple users who swear by the hack.
iPhone owners will therefore likely want to add more numbers to their contacts, including the five-digit numbers that their banks or other services use to send them two-factor authentication (2FA) codes.
Then users go to Settings > Notifications > Messages > Customize notifications and disable ‘unknown senders’, which cuts off spam’s ability to harass you.
If you’re ready to view or mass delete your unwanted texts, there’s also a quick hack.
“I just learned that you can swipe up or down on messages with two fingers and delete huge amounts of messages in seconds,” one user told r/iPhone. “Or just select everything and delete.”
But there’s also a new menu option that lets you report or block junk email for any of these messages while you view them.
“Also, at the end of every message about an unknown number, they let you know that the number is not in your contact list and you can either report it as unwanted or block it,” SpecialistSeesaw650 noted.
Other tips
– Make sure you unsubscribe from any spam that has already arrived
– For iPhone users: make sure you only look at the inbox of your ‘Known Senders’ messages, otherwise you’ll still see spam messages filtering through
– Never click on an unknown link to reduce the phishing risk