In Apple iOS 16 and later devices, Apple added a feature to report received SMS and MMS messages as spam in the iMessages app. For me, as for most users, the Report Spam feature is itself spam. This is arguably the most useless and frustrating feature in iOS 16. It disrupts the user experience by showing up every time you need to delete a message.
So all affected Apple device users want to know how to disable spam reporting on iPhone. But is it possible?
What is the iPhone iMessages spam report?
Report Junk is a feature on Apple devices that allows you to report a message that you consider spam, harassing, or just plain unwanted in any sense of the word.
This function aims to extend the functions of reporting unwanted messages. For example, this function previously only allowed you to report the content of an iMessage with blue bubbles. But now you can use this feature to report a message as spam.
Simply open the Apple Messages app on your iPad or iPhone to flag received messages as spam.
Open a message from the sender you want to report. Then tap Report Spam in the blue text below the message.
Then tap the Delete and Report Spam buttons in the pop-up window to confirm the action, and you're good to go.
This useful feature helps keep unwanted messages at bay. But we all know what happens after a message is deleted. First, a pop-up asks you to report the message as spam. Then a second message, “Do not report as spam”, is displayed.
And that's not all !
The Report Spam feature always appears below each message, above the Delete option. As a result, many people have had their messages mistakenly marked as spam when they simply wanted to delete them. For example, many iPhone users have had their bank, cell phone carrier, and loved ones reported to Apple because of this feature. For affected iPhone users, this is the final straw.
This is why many users felt that the problem should be able to be fixed by turning off the feature with just a few clicks. This brings us to the next question: can you disable Report Junk on iPhone?
Can you turn off Report Spam on iPhone?
Unfortunately, as of this writing, there is no option to turn off spam reports in iMessage. That's why many Apple users are still looking for a way to disable unwanted reports in iMessage on iPhone.
However, you can provide feedback to Apple using Apple's feedback page.
Hopefully Apple will listen and make it possible to disable Report Junk in future releases.
Currently, when you report a message as junk or spam, the message is sent to Apple and iOS permanently deletes it from your iPhone. But this won't stop the sender from sending you messages.
But if you want, you can block the sender's number to no longer receive messages from them.
How not to report a message as spam
For now, I suggest you keep in mind that this bug-turned feature is still out there. So, when you want to delete a message, make sure you select the correct option so that you don't press the Report button instead of the Delete button.
Another tip is to block the sender of the SMS, so you don't have to permanently delete their messages. I showed you above how to block text messages and stop spam in general. These tips should be enough for now, hopefully Apple looks into the problem.
As for the numbers you mistakenly reported as spam, don't worry; Apple only does something if thousands of reports have been sent for a particular user.