June 24, 2025, 2:49 pm | Read time: 5 minutes

Your WhatsApp messages aren’t being delivered or read? Your contact may have blocked you. TECHBOOK explains the signs to look for.

Blocked on WhatsApp? These Are the Signs

Sometimes there are just contacts and groups on WhatsApp that are simply annoying. They might send nonsensical or just too many messages or get caught up in endless discussions. If you have such contacts but don’t want to delete them right away, you can block them on WhatsApp. This can be done in two ways with just a few clicks.

Open the relevant chat on WhatsApp and then click on the three dots in the upper right corner. Under “More,” you’ll find the option “Block.” The other path is through the chat window and the contact. At the bottom, in red, there’s the option to block the contact. Once activated, the blocked person can no longer reach you via WhatsApp and won’t receive any of your status updates. But how do you find out if you’ve been blocked by someone on WhatsApp? The following signs might give you a clue:

1. Profile Picture Disappeared

WhatsApp itself doesn’t offer a setting that shows if someone has blocked or deleted you. The developers justify this step with user privacy. So, you have to go on a search for clues: Is the contact’s profile picture still visible? If so, it might be an old one.

Take another look at the user’s profile: Can you access the profile info? Or does the picture suddenly disappear, leaving only a gray placeholder? If so, it might indicate that you’ve been blocked! However, there’s also a setting that only allows saved contacts to see the person’s profile picture. If this function is activated and you’re not a saved contact, you generally won’t have access to the profile picture, whether blocked or not.

2. Timestamp

Another indicator is the so-called timestamp–the small display in the chat under the user’s name that shows when they were last online. If a contact blocks you, you can no longer see this. But be careful: The timestamp isn’t shown for all users, as this function can also be disabled. Just because you can’t see the timestamp for some users doesn’t automatically mean you’ve been blocked.

Also interesting: These WhatsApp messages can get you in legal trouble!

3. The Second Checkmark Is Missing

If only one checkmark appears on sent messages, you should be skeptical. But what do the checkmarks actually indicate? One checkmark means you’ve successfully sent the message and it’s somewhere on WhatsApp’s servers. But only when the second checkmark appears does it mean the message has actually reached the recipient. If that’s not the case, there might be a technical issue with WhatsApp, or the recipient currently has no internet connection–or they don’t want to receive messages from you and have blocked you.

If the checkmarks are blue, it means the recipient has read the message. We explain in this article how you can disable this function.

4. Call Doesn’t Go Through

With WhatsApp, you can also make calls over the internet–both voice calls and video calls. However, such connections can only be made with contacts you haven’t blocked on WhatsApp. So, if you suspect this has happened, simply call the person via WhatsApp. If you can’t get through at all, it’s a sign that someone probably doesn’t like you.

Also interesting: Ghosting–when messages go unanswered

5. Create a WhatsApp Group

Lastly, there’s another clue that can show you more precisely than all the previous ones whether a contact has blocked you on WhatsApp. You need to create a new group and add the suspected blocker to it. Here’s how:

Open WhatsApp and go to the messenger’s menu via the three dots. Here, you’ll find the option “New Group” at the top. Once you click on it, you’ll access your contact list, where you can select members for the group. Specifically add the person you suspect has blocked you. If your suspicion is correct, they won’t be listed among the group members. You can find the list in the group’s menu under “Group Info.”

Tip: If your suspicion turns out to be false and the contact hasn’t blocked you on WhatsApp, you should be prepared to respond to any inquiries and provide a reason for creating the group.

More on the topic

Video platform TikTok introduces group chats – what users should know

Spam filter, user name, … WhatsApp plans several functions against unwanted messages

Practical innovation WhatsApp gets its own address book

Blocking with SMS and Calls–Is It Possible?

If you’ve been blocked on WhatsApp, you can’t write or call this person–but only within the app itself. You can still send messages and make calls via regular mobile service. However, you should consider why the person blocked you and whether you should respect this boundary.

If you want to ensure that a contact truly can’t reach you anymore, you should block this person not only as a WhatsApp contact but also as a regular phone contact. Both Android and iOS allow you to block a caller in just four steps:

iOS

1. Open the Apple Phone app.
2. Go to Contacts.
3. Click on the contact you want to block.
4. Scroll all the way down and select “Block Caller.”

Android

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Click on a contact you want to block.
3. Go to the three-dot menu.
4. Tap on Block.