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How to stop or reduce spam text messages (including political texts)

Last reviewed October 25, 2026

Menu names below are for iOS 26 and current Google Messages and Samsung Messages. Apple and Google rename these settings often; if a menu item is missing, look for the closest wording.

The short version

You cannot make spam texts stop completely. Nobody can. What you can do, in about fifteen minutes, is turn on the filtering your phone and your carrier already provide for free, and then block and report the few messages that still get through. Do the three steps below in order. Step 1 is the one that makes the biggest difference, so do that one even if you do nothing else.

Two rules apply to every spam text, before you do anything else: do not tap any link in it, and do not reply to it unless it matches the specific cases described under When to reply STOP below. Replying to a scam text, even with the word STOP, confirms that your number is live and gets you more spam, not less.

Why you are getting these

Your phone number is not a secret. It is in data-broker databases, in the customer lists of every company you have ever given it to, and, if you are a registered voter, in the voter file that most states sell or give away to campaigns. Sending a text costs a fraction of a cent, so anyone with a list sends to the whole list. Political campaigns are a special case: federal law lets them text you without your permission as long as a human presses send rather than a machine, and the National Do Not Call Registry does not apply to them at all. That is why the political texts spike before every election and then mostly disappear afterward. The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026; expect the volume to collapse within a few days of that date regardless of what you do.

Step 1: Turn on your phone's built-in filtering

This is the step that matters most. Once it is on, messages from numbers that are not in your contacts go to a separate list and stop making noise, and obvious spam gets dropped into a spam folder automatically. You can still read those messages whenever you want; they just stop interrupting you.

iPhone (iOS 26)

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. Tap the Filters button in the top-left corner (it looks like three horizontal lines with a small circle).
  3. Tap Manage Filtering.
  4. Turn on Screen Unknown Senders.
  5. While you are here, confirm that Filter Spam is also on. It is on by default in iOS 26.

You can reach the same switches from Settings > Apps > Messages, then scroll down to the Unknown Senders section. On iOS 18 and earlier the setting is called Filter Unknown Senders and lives at Settings > Messages.

After this is on, texts from unknown numbers appear under Filters > Unknown Senders, and automatically detected spam appears under Filters > Spam. Check those lists once in a while for anything legitimate, such as a text from a doctor's office or a delivery driver. If a real message lands there, open it and tap Mark as Known (or Not Spam in the Spam list), or add the sender to your contacts, and future messages from them will come through normally.

Apple's own instructions: View conversations from unknown senders in Messages on your iPhone and View and recover spam messages on your iPhone.

Android with Google Messages (Pixel, Motorola, most others)

  1. Open the Messages app.
  2. Tap your profile picture or initial in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap Messages settings.
  4. Tap Spam protection. On some phones this is under Protection & Safety first.
  5. Make sure Enable spam protection is turned on. It usually is by default.

Suspected spam is moved to the Spam & blocked folder, which you can find by tapping your profile picture again. Google's instructions: Spam protection in Google Messages.

Samsung Galaxy with Samsung Messages

Many Galaxy phones ship with Google Messages as the default texting app; if your Messages app icon is a blue speech bubble, follow the Google Messages steps above instead. If you use Samsung's own Messages app:

  1. Open Messages.
  2. Tap More options (the three vertical dots in the top-right corner), then Settings.
  3. Tap Block numbers and spam.
  4. Turn on Caller ID and spam protection. This is Samsung's Smart Call feature, which flags and filters suspected spam.

Samsung's instructions: Block a phone number or contact on your Galaxy phone.

Step 2: Block and report each spam text that still gets through

Filtering catches most of it. For the rest, take ten seconds per message to block the sender and report it. Reporting matters more than it feels like it does: Apple, Google, and the carriers all use these reports to update the filters that protect everyone, including you.

iPhone

To report: open the message from the unknown sender, scroll to the bottom, tap Report Junk, then tap Delete and Report Junk. On the major US carriers this works for ordinary SMS texts as well as iMessages. If you do not see Report Junk, use the 7726 method below instead.

To block: open the conversation, tap the name or number at the top, tap Info, scroll down, and tap Block this Caller. Note that reporting alone does not block the sender; do both.

Apple's instructions: Screen, filter, block, and report messages on iPhone.

Android with Google Messages

To block and report in one step: in the conversation list, touch and hold the spam conversation, tap Block, make sure Report spam is checked, then tap OK. From inside a conversation, tap More options (three dots), then Details, then Block & report spam, then OK.

Google's instructions: Report spam in Google Messages and Block or unblock a number in Google Messages.

Samsung Messages

When a text arrives from a number not in your contacts, Samsung Messages shows a banner at the top of the conversation offering Report spam. Tap it, check Block number in the pop-up, and confirm. To block a sender at any other time, open the conversation, tap the number or name at the top, and tap Block number.

Every phone: forward the text to 7726

All three major US carriers run the same free reporting service. Forward the spam text to the number 7726 (it spells SPAM on a keypad). You will get an automated reply asking for the sender's phone number; copy it from the original message and send it back. The report goes to your carrier's spam team and to an industry-wide database. It costs nothing and does not count against your plan.

  1. iPhone: touch and hold the message bubble (not any link inside it), tap More, tap the forward arrow in the bottom-right corner, type 7726 in the To field, and send.
  2. Android: touch and hold the message bubble, tap More options (three dots), tap Forward, type 7726, and send.

If the sender shows as an email address rather than a phone number, or forwarding is not available, copy the text of the message, start a new message to 7726, paste it, and send.

Step 3: Turn on your carrier's free tools

Each carrier filters spam on its network before it reaches you, and each offers a free app with extra controls. The settings worth turning on are the ones that block texts sent from email addresses, since that route is used almost entirely by spammers. You will not lose anything real by blocking it unless a doctor's office or school specifically sends you email-to-text alerts.

Verizon: Verizon's free Call Filter app handles spam calls. For texts, the main tool is 7726 reporting plus the block list in the My Verizon app or website. Verizon's instructions: Report Spam Messages and Call Filter FAQs.

AT&T: install the free AT&T ActiveArmor app from the App Store or Google Play and sign in with your AT&T account. Turn on Block all texts from email. On iPhone the app can also sort suspected spam texts into separate folders. If a spam text has no visible sender number, AT&T also accepts forwarded messages at abuse@att.net. AT&T's overview: What is AT&T ActiveArmor.

T-Mobile: the network blocks known spam texts automatically with nothing to turn on. The free Scam Shield features live in the T-Life app; dial #662# from your phone to turn on Scam Block for calls. For texts, T-Mobile's advice is to forward to 7726 and never reply. T-Mobile's instructions: Help with scams & spam and Scam Shield.

If you are on a smaller carrier (Mint, Visible, Cricket, Metro, Boost, Google Fi, and so on), you are riding on one of these three networks and 7726 still works. Check your carrier's support site for its own app.

Political texts specifically

Most political texts are legal, which is why the normal filtering catches fewer of them. The rules, in plain terms, are these. Campaigns, parties, and political action committees are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry, so registering there does nothing for political texts. Federal law requires your consent before a campaign can text you with an autodialer, but a text that a human sends one at a time does not require consent, and campaigns use software that lets volunteers press send very quickly. Once you reply STOP, the sender is legally required to honor it.

So the practical answer for political texts is different from the answer for scam texts: reply STOP. It works, because campaigns face real penalties for ignoring it, and it is the only opt-out that exists. There is no master switch; each campaign, PAC, and party committee keeps its own list, so you will have to reply STOP to each one. Then block the number anyway, because they rotate numbers.

A few political-season texts are scams wearing a campaign costume. Treat any of the following as a scam and do not reply: a text asking you to donate through a link, a text claiming there is a problem with your voter registration, or a text offering to let you vote by replying. If you want to donate to a campaign, go to the campaign's website yourself. If you want to check your registration, use your state's official election site, which you can find through vote.gov.

If a campaign keeps texting after you replied STOP, you can file a complaint with the FCC at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov; choose the Phone form and the Unwanted Calls/Texts issue. The FCC's full explanation of the rules: Rules for Political Campaign Calls and Texts.

When to reply STOP, and when not to

This is the question people get wrong most often, so here is the test. Reply STOP only when you can identify the sender as a real organization: a political campaign or party, or a business you actually have a relationship with (your pharmacy, your bank, a store you shop at), especially when the text comes from a five- or six-digit short code. Those senders are regulated and the STOP works.

Do not reply at all when the text comes from a random ten-digit phone number or an email address, when it contains a link to a site you do not recognize, when it claims a package is stuck, a toll is unpaid, or your bank account is locked, or when it is a "wrong number" or "hey, is this still your number?" style opener. Those are scams, and any reply, including STOP, tells the sender your number is active and worth more spam. Block, report, and move on.

Things that help a little over the long run

Stop giving your number to websites that do not need it; when a form asks for a phone number and it is optional, leave it blank. When you do give it, look for the pre-checked box agreeing to marketing texts and uncheck it. Paid data-broker removal services exist and do reduce spam somewhat over several months; they are optional and they do not remove you from voter files. Changing your phone number is a last resort that costs you a great deal of hassle and stops working the first time you give the new number to anyone.

What not to bother with

You do not need a paid spam-blocking app. The free filtering built into your phone and your carrier's free tier does the same job for the texts that matter, and most paid apps want access to all of your messages. You also do not need the paid premium tier of your carrier's app for texts; those upgrades mostly add call features. Finally, the Do Not Call Registry at donotcall.gov is worth signing up for because it is free and reduces telemarketing calls, but it does nothing against scammers, who ignore it, or political campaigns, who are exempt from it.

Trusted references

Every link in this article goes to the manufacturer, the carrier, or a US government agency. If you want to read further, start here:

  1. Federal Trade Commission: How To Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages. Report scam texts to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
  2. Federal Communications Commission: Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts.
  3. Apple: Screen, filter, block, and report messages on iPhone.
  4. Google: Report spam in Google Messages.
  5. Samsung: Block a phone number or contact on your Galaxy phone.

Still need help?

Admin2x gets a high volume of requests for personal cybersecurity help, so all of it runs through our support ticket system rather than through phone calls, texts, or screen-sharing sessions. Before opening a ticket, please read the article above and complete the steps it describes; most tickets are resolved by the first step alone. If you have done that and something specific is still not working, open a ticket and tell us exactly which step failed and what you saw on the screen.

To open a ticket, send an email to support@admin2x.com or use the Admin2x Support Portal, where you can also check the status of a ticket you already opened. Tickets are answered in the order received.