What Does Message Blocking Is Active Mean? How to Fix Blocking Active Messages

“Free Message: Unable to Send Message, Message Blocking is Active” Most of you, especially T-Mobile users, are acquainted with this error message while trying to send text messages. If you have ever encountered this error message, you certainly know how particularly bothersome it can be.

Anyone receiving such notification when trying to send an urgent message will easily get frustrated. We rely a lot on text messages because it has been an integral part of our day-to-day communication. Any problems leading to delay in sending or receiving the information can be annoying.

Fortunately, the error can be worked around. I'll be covering everything regarding the message blocking issue through this article, making it easier to follow for users who may have experienced this issue.

What Exactly is “Message Blocking is Active”?

“Message blocking is active” means your carrier cannot deliver your text messages to the recipient. In simple words, any message you send will not be received by the recipient if message blocking is active. A default text message “Free Msg: Unable to send a message- Message Blocking is active” will be displayed on the screen.

It happens when either the sender or the recipient is on the blocked lists of each other. Blocked contacts may be the usual reason for this error message, but there are other multitudes of reasons. We have listed all the possible reasons why you may see the “message blocking is active” error on your phone;

The possible reasons why such notifications show up are:

1. Block List

The most probable reason behind this issue is blocking. There's a good chance that you get a pop-up stating “message blocking is active” when the sender is blocked by the recipient or vice-versa. Learn if the other person has blocked you or not. You need to verify this by contacting each other and confirming if the call is successful or not.

2. Short Code issue

As per the study, T-Mobile users are the ones who are frequently encountering the message blocking problem, and the problem is mainly with shortcodes. Shortcodes are numbers designed for two-way high-speed communications.

T-Mobile users can face the message blocking issue if the shortcodes are non-functional or inactive. Once you have confirmed that the shortcode error does not originate from your side, you need to consult your service provider or seek professional help with it.

3. Service Outage

Service outage also plays a prominent role in message blocking issues. Of course, a service outage is never your fault. Therefore, before retrying, you need to give it some time as there's a possibility that your network provider is performing maintenance and has paused the messaging service. Or you can also contact your service provider to know about the issue and fix it for you.

4. Premium message access

Make sure your or the service to which you're sending the message supports premium text messaging. The selected carrier might not support premium text messaging because you won't sometimes send messages. It is important to make sure that the problem isn't coming from the recipient.

5. Unsuitable Plan

Typically, you'll experience the error message if your subscription package does not support messaging services. For instance, if you choose the plan that provides data only, you won’t send messages when on that plan.

Contact customer service if you are unsure whether you have chosen the right package or verify that you have selected the correct plan for sending text messages.

6. Unworkable SIM CARD

Sometimes the issue can also be associated with your SIM card. For instance, your SIM card is being blocked. When this happens, you may not be able to send any messages to anyone. You can either contact your service provider to see if they can fix the issue or purchase a new SIM card with the necessary data plans.

How to Fix Blocking Active Messages?

1. Review Contact Lists and Unblock

The recipient may have blocked you, which is why you are receiving this error message. You can only send a message if they unblock you, regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental. In the case that they have not blocked you, you should check whether you have blocklisted them. If the recipient is on your blocked list, remove the number and send the message again.

How Does Blocking/Unblocking Phone Numbers Work on Android & iOS devices?

i. Android

To use the inbuilt block/unblock feature on Android,

Step 1:Open your Phone app on your Android devices.

Step 2: Tap on the vertical three dots icon found on the top right corner.

Step 3: If you're using the latest Android version, tap on Settings and scroll down to find Blocked numbers. Here, you’ll find all the numbers you’ve blocked. If you haven't blocked any contact so far, you can try blocking unknown contacts.

Step 4: All you need to do is tap on “Add a Phone Number” and add the specific number you want to block.

Step 5: You will find an option to unblock the contact next to their name/number for unblocking contacts.

Step 6: Click on it to remove them from your block list.

ii. IOS

To use the inbuilt block/unblock feature on iPhone,

Step 1: Open your Phone app and click on Advanced Options.

Step 2: Go to Settings and scroll down to Blocked Numbers. You will find an option to unblock the contact next to their name/number for unblocking contacts.

Step 3: Click on it to remove them from your block list.

2. Make sure you have the correct recipient’s details

Try deleting the contact information and saving it again when you have unblocked the contact and still cannot send a message. There is a possibility that the Android Operating System is a bit buggy or corrupted to cause such errors.

3. Check your Network Coverage

A bad network is a probable cause of message blocking active error. While many of us can easily identify sufficient network coverage in our devices, few fail to note this, especially when we rush or send urgent messages.

You'll usually see a cross symbol in place of the graph bars if your phone cannot receive bands. If you are sure you are within a coverage range, restart your phone or switch to airplane mode for a few seconds. Check whether the network bar appears or not.

4. Check country code

If you are unknown, you must add the country code of your recipient when you send a text message overseas. If the code is not included, the message will be unsent. If you are unsure about the specific country code, Google it and format your recipient's number accordingly.

5. Check your text content

The attachment of pictures and documents in messages can trigger an error message, even though most carriers allow that. Since text messages are intended to be light, any additional elements may complicate their transmission.

Using external or add-on apps like the Tenor Gif keyboard on your Android or iOS device can also result in errors such as message blocking and failure to communicate. You should uninstall them and check for the problem.

6. Enable Premium message access

It is common for you to experience this problem if your device is set to disable premium messages. To prevent this from happening,

Step 1: Go to Settings, then select App Management.

Step 2: Look for the Messaging icon, and after you find it, scroll down until you see Special Access. You should see an Allow Premium Access option.

Step 3: If you haven't enabled it yet, make sure you do so.

7. Check for Storage

To prevent this problem, you must maintain a free space of at least 15-20 percent on your mobile device. This is especially important for iPhone users since many of the devices come with storage limitations. Just free up the space on your smartphone if it has reached the limit so that you can resume the use of messaging services.

8. Confirm you have the right message plan

Mobile networks offer a variety of plans that may or may not include messages. You may experience a "message blocking is active" problem if you subscribe to a mobile plan without messages. Therefore, make sure your mobile operator offers you a plan that includes both data and messages.

9. Check the validity of your number.

There are also cases where your phone is still porting or deregistered or suspended by your network provider. If that is the case, confirm the status of your number by contacting your provider or try it yourself through the phone settings page on your account. The issue shouldn’t be encountered if your number is listed as ‘Active’.

10. Check messaging service settings on your device.

If your text messages service is disabled or the network setting is not configured correctly, the issue can be encountered. In such cases, review your device settings and modify them appropriately.

Additionally, the problem of message blocking can also arise if the time and date on your device are incorrect. It's better to enable auto-update of date and time to prevent message blocking from happening.,

11. Update to the latest software version (a must for iPhone users)

It might be a good idea to ensure that the software on your device is up to date. IOS software updates are extremely important to iPhones compared to Android phones. The problem could be that you're using an iPhone with older updates, or you haven't installed a new update in a while.

12. Factory reset your phone.

If none of those steps mentioned above work, a factory reset may be the last option you can try out. Factory reset is termed the last option because it will erase all the data presented on your phone. Both Android and iOS users can easily find this option in their phone's settings menu. Once the reset is complete, you can set up your phone and try sending a message after that.

Other Solutions

Besides text messaging services, message blocking is an active error and can also be extended to other means of communication. Here we’ll be discussing them along with their solutions.

1. Gmail

“Message blocking is an active error” in Gmail can be encountered because of incorrect recipient’s email address and sending of bulk mail or spam email.

The best way to resolve the issue would be to check the recipient's email address thoroughly and avoid sending bulk emails or spam emails intended to collect personal information. If the problem persists even after this, try contacting the support team.

2. T-Mobile

As mentioned earlier, T-Mobile users experience the highest number of message blocking errors than all other messaging services. That's possibly due to the T-Mobile carrier network. Whatever it is, T-Mobile users can try a few things out to solve the problem.

Android users can check and clear cache data (if present in the messaging app), restore default settings in APN or confirm the entered SMSC number is correct. Meanwhile, if you are an iPhone user, check for the recent updates in the first place and upgrade to the latest version. You can also confirm if the issue is related to the network by putting the t-SIM in other devices.

3. Lycamobile

If you are experiencing the issue on Lycamobile, the first thing you should do is check if your plan has expired. If that’s the case, purchase a plan by visiting the Lycamobile website. Another possible fix is that you configure the mobile network settings by saving the recommended settings from Lycamobile.

You can also try checking if your device has the preferred message center settings. For this, go to your Message Settings and select Sending profiles. You can ensure that the figure matches the recent message center of Lycamobile. If not, contact them to get the up-to-date number.

4. iMessage

iMessage, as we know, is Apple's default messaging app that lets Apple users send messages over the internet. Many users switch to it, and those who haven't switched or registered to iMessaging can send the text through a normal messaging platform.

If you are an iMessaging user and it is not working properly, you can reset your Network Settings. Your data will not be affected, but any Wi-Fi networks and APNs previously used will be deleted.

Conclusion

Sending text messages might be an old way to communicate, but it still is popular today and has a large user base. It remains the top priority for users, and encountering the "message blocking is active" issue can make things challenging for them, but not anymore now.

The issues can be easily solved by the methods mentioned in this article. You need to choose one according to your device's operating system. The methods presented in this article are tried and tested and should work without further issue.