- Screening unknown senders and filtering spam takes about a minute on an iPhone or an Android phone. It moves texts out of your sight and does not stop the senders.
- Reporting a text helps your wireless provider block similar messages: forward it to 7726 or use the report option in your messaging app. Apple says reporting does not stop the sender, so block the number too.
- The Do Not Call Registry covers marketing texts as well as calls since March 26, 2024, but it only reaches senders that follow the law.
- Senders rotate numbers. In a 2026 study, 674 texts came from 188 different numbers and no opt-out method stopped them, so the fix that removes the cause is a separate number for each site.
iPhone, Android and 7726
How do you stop spam texts? Screen unknown senders, report spam, and use a separate number.
Turn on your phone's unknown-sender and spam filters, report and block what gets through, and forward spam to 7726. ExpressNumber handles the cause: each listing, quote form or seller gets its own named number, and the texts to it land in a web inbox instead of on your phone.
$0 todayEvery outside fact on this page was read on the organization's own page, linked at the foot.
These are the six ways to stop spam texts and what each one misses.
The first row removes the cause for every new form. The next four clean up the number you already have, and the registry only reaches senders that follow the law.
| Fix | What it stops | What it misses | Cost | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A separate number for each site | Texts to the number you gave out. They land in a web inbox under the number's name, not on your phone, and a number that leaks can be burned. | Senders who already have your real number. | Free for 7 days, then $9.99 a month | About 5 |
| iPhone: Messages, Manage Filtering | Texts from numbers that are not in your contacts go to their own folder, and you are not notified unless you allow it. | Real senders you have not saved, such as a clinic or a courier, land in that folder too. | Free | About 1 |
| iPhone: Filter spam. Android: Spam and scam protection | Texts your phone detects as spam go to a spam folder. | New spam that nothing has flagged yet. | Free | About 1 |
That number, for good. A report also tells Apple or Google, and may reach your wireless provider. | The same sender on a new number. | Free | Under 1 | |
Nothing on your phone at once. It helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages. | The text that is already there. | Free | Under 1 | |
Marketing texts from senders that follow the law. | Scammers, who ignore the list, and any sender you gave permission. | Free | About 3 |
You can stop spam texts on an iPhone with three settings in Messages.
Open Messages, tap the filter button, then Manage Filtering, and turn on Filter spam, Screen Unknown Senders and Text Message Filter. Texts from people who are not in your contacts move to their own folder, and spam goes to a Spam folder you can check.
- 1Open Messages. In the conversation list, tap the filter button, then tap Manage Filtering.
- 2Turn on Screen Unknown Senders. Their texts go to a separate folder and you are not notified about them. Tap Allow Notifications to let some categories through.
- 3Turn on Filter spam. It is on by default, and spam it detects moves to a Spam folder. If a real text lands there, tap it, tap Not Spam, then tap Move to Messages.
- 4Tap Text Message Filter and turn it on. SMS, MMS and RCS messages from unknown senders are sorted into Transactions and Promotions folders.
- 5To report a text you have not opened, swipe left on it and tap Delete and Report Spam. For one you have opened, tap Report Spam at the bottom, then Delete and Report Spam. To block the sender, open the conversation, tap their icon, tap Info, scroll down and tap Block Contact.
9:41
Manage Filtering
Filter spam
Screen Unknown Senders
Text Message Filter
Allow Notifications
Outlined rows are the ones to change
Unknown Senders
(212) 555-0166In its own folder, no notification
(305) 555-0118Sorted into Promotions
Reporting does not stop the sender, Apple says, so block the contact as well. You cannot report a message after you have replied to it, and text filtering skips any sender you have replied to three times or more. A block in Messages also blocks that number in Phone, FaceTime and Mail. You cannot block a group conversation, so leave it or mute it.
Sources: Apple: Screen and filter text messages on iPhone · Apple: Report spam and block senders in Messages on iPhone
You can stop spam texts on Android from Google Messages' spam and scam protection.
Open Google Messages, tap your profile picture, then Messages settings, Protection & Safety and Spam and scam protection, and choose Standard or Enhanced protection. Standard is the default and spots spam on your phone, and a reported sender is blocked and moved to a Spam & blocked folder.
- 1Open Google Messages and tap your profile picture or initials at the top right.
- 2Tap Messages settings, then Protection & Safety, then Spam and scam protection. The setting appears only if your device has it.
- 3Choose Standard protection, which detects spam on your device, or Enhanced protection, which adds analysis of message data in a secure space to catch complex scams. Google says either mode keeps your messages private to you.
- 4To report a text, touch and hold the conversation, tap Block, tap Report spam, then tap OK. Inside a chat, tap More options, then Details, then Block & report spam.
- 5Reported messages move to your Spam & blocked folder. You can report a sender without blocking them.
9:41
Spam and scam protection
Enhanced protection
Standard protectionOn
No protection
Spam & blocked
Outlined rows are the ones to change
Spam & blocked
(415) 555-0142Reported and blocked
A report sends the sender's number and the last 10 incoming messages from that sender to Google, where employees and contractors may review it. It may also send a copy of the number and the latest text to your mobile carrier. Your own earlier replies to the sender are not sent.
Sources: Google Messages Help: Change spam protection · Google Messages Help: Report spam
Forwarding a spam text to 7726 helps your provider block similar messages.
Copy the message and forward it to 7726, which spells SPAM on a phone keypad, then report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC says this helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages in the future.
Do not tap the links in a spam text. The FTC says a legitimate company will not ask for information about your account by text. If a message might be real, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real, not the one in the text.
The FCC added a second layer in 2024. When its Enforcement Bureau notifies a mobile provider of illegal texts from a number, the provider must block all texts from that number. The FCC's compliance guide dates the requirement to July 24, 2024.
The FTC also points to your phone's own filter for spam and unknown senders, your carrier's blocking tools and blocking apps. Use the settings above first, then report what gets through.
Reporting a spam text
Forward it to 7726, then delete it.
Copy the spam messageDo not tap any link in it.
Send
Forward it to 7726The digits spell SPAM on a phone keypad.
Reported
Your wireless provider can block similar textsThe FTC says this is what the report is for.
Sources: FTC: How to recognize and report spam text messages · FCC compliance guide for its text message rules (DA 24-910) · ReportFraud.ftc.gov
Spam texts keep coming because senders rotate through many numbers.
In the 2026 lead study, the test profiles received 674 texts from 188 different numbers. Each profile that got texts was contacted 17 times on average by 5 senders, and none of the opt-out methods the researchers tried stopped the texts.
One test profile received 209 texts from 59 different senders. The authors call rotating sending numbers a strategy that reduces the chance of detection or blocking, which is why a block on one number rarely lasts.
Texts also arrived from other numbers than the calls. Only 5 text senders matched a number seen in the calls, so blocking the number that rang you does little about the texts that follow. Most senders used cloud messaging platforms built to send at scale, not ordinary mobile carriers.
Texts are a smaller share of complaints than calls, and not a small one. 15% of the 125,367 unwanted-call complaints the FCC logged between October 2025 to September 2026 were about a text message.
FCC unwanted-call complaints
15% of the FCC's unwanted-call complaints were about a text message.
- Prerecorded call41% · 51,301 complaints
- Live caller26% · 33,189 complaints
- Text message15% · 19,314 complaints
- Kind not stated17% · 21,563 complaints
125,367 complaints, October 2025 to September 2026. FCC open data, read November 4, 2026.
The same file shows complaints by area code, month and state on spam calls by area code.
Sources: Vekaria, Demir, Kollnig and Shafiq: Understanding Data Collection, Brokerage, and Spam in the Lead Marketing Ecosystem (2026) · FCC open data: CGB Consumer Complaints Data
The Do Not Call list now covers marketing texts, but only from senders that follow the law.
Since March 26, 2024, the FCC's rules say the National Do Not Call Registry's protections extend to text messages: a sender needs your prior express invitation or permission before sending a marketing text to a wireless number on the registry. Scammers ignore the list, so it is one layer and not a fix.
Register once, for free
Registering at DoNotCall.gov is free and the registration does not expire, the FTC says. The FCC says the same registry now covers marketing texts.
Marketing texts need permission
A sender needs your prior express invitation or permission to text a number on the registry. The FCC's rule took effect March 26, 2024.
Providers must block on notice
When the FCC's Enforcement Bureau notifies a mobile provider of illegal texts from a number, the provider must block all texts from it.
A sender you agreed to still gets through
A marketing text you gave permission for is allowed, so the registry does not help with a sender you signed up for.
To register, follow the steps in how to stop spam calls or go straight to DoNotCall.gov.
Sources: FCC compliance guide for its text message rules (DA 24-910) · DoNotCall.gov · FTC: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
The cleanest fix is a separate number whose texts land in a web inbox.
Every setting above works after your number is already on a list. ExpressNumber works before: give a listing, a quote form or a seller their own named number, and the texts to it land in your web inbox instead of on your phone.
Calls to the same number forward to the US or Canada mobile you confirmed. If the number named Marketplace ad starts to collect spam texts, you know which place gave it away, and you burn it in one tap. Burning is permanent, so that sender is cut off for good.
Numbers are receive-only: they take texts and calls and never make or send either. Good uses are a marketplace listing, a car dealer, a quote form, a dating profile or a delivery. Keep your real number for your bank and the people you talk to every day: numbers are US only, and some banks and services refuse virtual numbers.
Basic is $9.99 a month with 5 numbers, and the first 7 days are free. Why you get so many spam calls shows how senders find a number, and how to stop spam calls covers the call settings.
How a separate number takes texts
The text goes to the number on the form, not to your phone.
A sender texts the number on the formIt is named after the place that got it, such as Marketplace ad.
Lands
The text lands in your web inboxIt shows under the same name. Your own phone stays quiet.
If it leaks
Spam on one name? Burn that numberOne tap, permanent. Your real number never changed.
These are the questions people ask first.
Open Messages, tap the filter button, then Manage Filtering. Turn on Screen Unknown Senders, Filter spam and Text Message Filter. To report a text, swipe left on it and tap Delete and Report Spam, and to block the sender, tap their icon, then Info, then Block Contact.
In Google Messages, tap your profile picture, then Messages settings, Protection & Safety and Spam and scam protection, and choose Standard or Enhanced protection. To report a text, touch and hold the conversation, tap Block, tap Report spam and tap OK.
Your number reached a sender through a form, a data broker, a leaked database or a recycled number, the same routes as spam calls. In the 2026 lead study, the test profiles received 674 texts from 188 different numbers, and the text senders were mostly different numbers than the ones that called.
7726 spells SPAM on a phone keypad. Copy a spam text and forward it to 7726, and the FTC says that helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages in the future.
No. If a text asks for personal or financial information, the FTC says do not click any links, and a legitimate company will not ask for account information by text. If it might be real, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real.
It covers marketing texts from senders that follow the law. Since March 26, 2024, the FCC says a sender needs your prior express invitation or permission to send a marketing text to a number on the registry. It does not stop scammers.
Senders rotate numbers. In the 2026 study, one test profile received 209 texts from 59 different senders, and the authors say rotating numbers reduces the chance of detection or blocking. Block and report each sender, and stop giving your real number to the next form.
Yes, from senders you have not saved. Their texts go to a separate folder instead of your main list. On an iPhone you can mark a sender as known or allow notifications for some categories, and nothing is deleted.
There are more pages on the same problem.
Every outside fact on this page comes from these sources.
Read November 4, 2026. The complaint counts are the FCC's open data, as read on the date printed beside them.
- FTC: How to recognize and report spam text messages
- FTC: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
- DoNotCall.gov
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- FCC compliance guide for its text message rules (DA 24-910)
- Vekaria, Demir, Kollnig and Shafiq: Understanding Data Collection, Brokerage, and Spam in the Lead Marketing Ecosystem (2026)
- Apple: Screen and filter text messages on iPhone
- Apple: Report spam and block senders in Messages on iPhone
- Google Messages Help: Change spam protection
- Google Messages Help: Report spam
- FCC open data: CGB Consumer Complaints Data
Give every form a number whose texts never reach your phone.
Hand out a number you can burn. Keep the one your family calls.
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