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What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp?

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  • 3 min read

WhatsApp is unarguably one of the best and most popular instant messaging apps as far as features are concerned, and the number of users worldwide can attest to that. WhatsApp’s policies regarding encryption of conversations and underlying security are not quite up to the mark, and some pretty solid alternatives can give you the privacy on instant messaging you’ve been searching.

WhatsApp recognises the possibility of potential spam messages or even messages from people you longer wish to converse with, and the block functionality aims to curb these issues. This does raise the question, what happens when you block someone on WhatsApp? Can they still send you messages, or call you? Is your profile picture still visible to them? Here we will answer these questions and more to help you understand what happens when you block someone on WhatsApp.

Also read: What’s the difference between blocking and muting on Whatsapp?

Past Conversation Threads

Blocking someone doesn’t affect any of the old conversations, or media you’ve shared before you blocked the contact. These items don’t go away until you delete them manually.

New Messages and Read Receipts

WhatsApp makes an effort to keep things private, by ensuring that it’s not apparent that you’ve blocked someone. To that end, the person you’ve blocked can see the typing box, but any messages sent to you will not be delivered. All they end up seeing will be a single, grey tick.WhatsApp to delete unsaved chats as they deploy teams to curb fake news To send a message to someone you’ve blocked, you’ll need to unblock them. Calling works in a similar fashion, where the person you’ve blocked will be able to call your WhatsApp number and hear the ring, but you won’t see any notification.

Online and Last Seen status

When you block someone, they cannot see if you are online. The status area under your name in the chat thread will appear blank. This works both ways, meaning you will also not be able to see their online status.

Similarly, blocking someone affects the ‘Last Seen’ functionality as well. Blocking a contact makes your last seen status invisible to each other, and this works irrespective of the fact whether you have hidden the last seen to your contacts or not.

Also read: Why I chose YoWhatsApp over other WhatsApp mods?

Profile Picture

If you end up blocking a contact on WhatsApp, your profile picture is invisible to them. The default WhatsApp profile picture takes its place in the conversation thread for the contact.

However, the blocked contact’s current and future profile picture updates will be visible to you, unless they block you too.

Status and About

While ephemeral statuses come with their own privacy options, blocking a contact automatically hides your stories from them. The textual status you’ve added in the ‘About’ section is also hidden from the blocked contact. You can still view the blocked contact’s status, and any future updates made to it.

Group Chats

Group chats remain unaffected, regardless of blocked contact presence. The blocked contact, and you will be allowed to share messages in a common group, without any hindrance.

Also read: Top 11 Android Lite apps for Android Go phones

Prathik Jayaprakash

Prathik Jayaprakash

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