# Accidentally reported 1000s of text messages as junk



## Henry Krinkle (Nov 25, 2019)

I intentionally deleted a year's worth of old text messages from my Messages app. 

(These were_ thousands of messages_ from dozens of my personal and professional contacts containing videos and photos.)

However, after selecting all the messages prior to deleting them, I accidentally pressed *"Report as Junk"* rather than "Delete".

My question, _directed to someone who actually knows the answer (rather than someone who is merely speculating)_ is:

*By doing this, did I just send the CONTENT of 1000s of my private text messages to Apple? *

Or, did I only send the_ phone numbers_ of the contacts whom I'd exchanged all these text messages with?


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## Cheryl (Nov 25, 2019)

Apple does not watch over your phone number. But you possibly alerted your cell phone provider with the phone numbers.


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## Henry Krinkle (Nov 25, 2019)

Thank you for your reply, Cheryl.

I just found this thread about it on Apple's Communities forum.

In it, a "Community Specialist" (whatever that is) named Allen A. replied with something that looks like it's from Apple which states: 

"If you get an iMessage from someone who's not saved in your Contacts, you'll see a Report Junk link under the message. Tap Report Junk, then tap Delete and Report Junk. *Messages will forward the sender's information and the message to Apple*, as well as delete the message from your device."

All the messages I deleted were from those that are in my Contacts.

So, according to this person, the sender's information and the message are both sent to Apple. It's still a bit unclear whether they meant that messages from anyone in your Contacts list are excluded from this data being sent.


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## Henry Krinkle (Nov 25, 2019)

Also, it was not a single message I was deleting (which is what they are referring to in the reply I cited). 

It was all of the messages in my Messages app that I selected. I then got the "Delete and Report Junk" button which I clicked on instead of the "Delete" button.


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## Cheryl (Nov 26, 2019)

Why would Apple collect a list of 'junk' phone numbers? And I'm not sure why that 'Report Junk' would have showed up as they are on your contact list. 

But further down on that thread it says "Since this isn't one you do not wish to block, I recommend not doing anything as you will receive the next message from the sender as long as you didn't block them. If you did block them, it will be shown in Settings > Messages > Blocked."


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## Mhuther (Nov 26, 2019)

You Most Likely Reported them to your Cell-Phone Company


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## Wolfboi7 (Jun 3, 2020)

Henry Krinkle said:


> I intentionally deleted a year's worth of old text messages from my Messages app.
> 
> (These were_ thousands of messages_ from dozens of my personal and professional contacts containing videos and photos.)
> 
> ...




that question is a great question unfortunately all the people that have put their two cents in on this thread don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground because they’re not answering your question I want to know why it is on these kind of sites people always have to put their opinion or what they think is going on when they are so far from the point it wastes our time the ones who actually want to know the answer to these questions as well as make themselves look stupid , I too  clickEd on a bunch of text messages and went to delete  them and Apple for some reason has that stupid junk option we’re not talking about emails people were talking about text messages and there is no junk folder that we can look through so I too am concerned are the people whom I reported as junk mail not gonna be able to text me anymore like are they blocked and if they are how do I unblock them and I didn’t even think about it being sent to Apple or to our phone carrier as people that send junk messages but now I’m worried about that as well and unfortunately everything in this thread is absolutely useless it has nothing to do with the question and it doesn’t answer any of our questions whatsoever so is there anyone out there who knows the answer to this question I don’t care whether Apple saves our stuff like that one chick was talking about that’s not the question that was asked So as the gentleman stated in the original question please only answer this thread if you’re going to answer the actual question at hand we don’t care about your opinions people and we don’t wanna make this into a discussion about everything under the sun but deleted text messages that were reported as junk it’s the only thing I want to read about on this thread Thank you in advance


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## Cheryl (Jun 3, 2020)

Since the OP didn't answer back to my post, I assumed he got things back in order. Not sure why you are upset... unless you have the same problem. Which in that case, you should just say - Hey, I mistakenly did this as well. What do I do?

And the answer : "But further down on that thread it says "Since this isn't one you do not wish to block, I recommend not doing anything as you will receive the next message from the sender as long as you didn't block them. If you did block them, it will be shown in Settings > Messages > Blocked.""

Please read carefully. And check out the entire post that was linked from Apple.


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## Wolfboi7 (Jun 4, 2020)

Cheryl said:


> Since the OP didn't answer back to my post, I assumed he got things back in order. Not sure why you are upset... unless you have the same problem. Which in that case, you should just say - Hey, I mistakenly did this as well. What do I do?
> 
> And the answer : "But further down on that thread it says "Since this isn't one you do not wish to block, I recommend not doing anything as you will receive the next message from the sender as long as you didn't block them. If you did block them, it will be shown in Settings > Messages > Blocked.""
> 
> Please read carefully. And check out the entire post that was linked from Apple.



if you block somebody yes they will show up in Settings messages blocked that is correct we’re not talking about blocking someone we’re talking about emails that were marked as junk I don’t see how one has to do with the other are we comparing apples and oranges and yes I sound annoyed because I get tired of people like you that post something that he’s not answering the question at hand we’re talking about text messages marked as junk so when is blocked is because you chose to block them and yes you can look them up to see what number Or person you have blocked and then you can go in your settings in your contact list them and un block them However I haven’t read anything in your post to show me where I can go to the junk text message file an un junk them so no your answer is not answering the question at hand and again I am asking to please only answer the question or do not reply at all thank you I’m not interested in any other answers but the one that I asked the question for


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## Cheryl (Jun 4, 2020)

There is no junk folder for text messages.  The OP got "Delete and Report Junk" button.


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## DeltaMac (Jun 4, 2020)

If I can decipher (and infer) from your "wall of text", i think your question is:


> If I accidentally hit "Delete and Report as junk" for a pile of messages from random senders, does "Report as Junk" also block those same senders?


If that is your question, then it should be easy to answer... Go to directory entry for a sender that has a message that you know you deleted (and reported), and check in the directory listing to see if that number is blocked. It shouldn't take too long to find a sender in your directory that was inappropriately blocked. If you don't find any directory entries for blocked numbers (among those that you haven't already blocked for other reasons), and you know that you reported messages as junk, but the sender is still not blocked, then that's your answer: reporting junk messages does not, by itself, result in a blocked sender. That's what I would expect, too.


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## CoyoteDreams (Jul 30, 2020)

2020.07.30 - I just did this too <sigh>. I decided to clean up my text messages on iPhone X (iOS 13.6) so I selected 100's of messages, then clicked delete and before I knew it I also clicked on Report as Junk, which suddenly appeared where the Delete option was. F#$! I kinda panic'd...there's no delete folder for texts, no undo...it's all a one-way street. 

I searched a lot on this and kept finding the same claptrap response over and over, which never answers the question 'What happens to those numbers I report falsely and does my accidental reporting affect the owners of these numbers...ever?' I get it...we KNOW how number blocking works, ok? We know that it's not 'blocking' these numbers and that they can still send us a text or call us. What we WANT TO KNOW is WHAT HAPPENS to these numbers that are falsely reported as junk?

I figured I'd at least 'try' to call Apple and see, since this is a function of the iOS and not a function of the mobile provider. This is not the SPAM blocking app from T-mobile or Verizon etc. Well...that was unfruitful (as expected). The most the tech knew was that they are sent to Apple (what they do with it is unknown/unclear), and possibly sent the mobile provider.

IMO I think these false positives are just drops of water in the ocean of reported junk, and aggregated with all other more commonly and more frequently reported junk messages/numbers, they don't tip over the threshold to mean anything, because the number of 'reports' for a particular false positive is very low (or almost non-existent) compared to the higher numbers of actual positives reported.

If anyone that is involved in a position that works with that 'area' of the iOS or in the telecomm field...it'd be satisfying to find out sometime what's going on in the background.


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## Ameli (Feb 22, 2021)

Wolfboi7 said:


> that question is a great question unfortunately all the people that have put their two cents in on this thread don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground because they’re not answering your question I want to know why it is on these kind of sites people always have to put their opinion or what they think is going on when they are so far from the point it wastes our time the ones who actually want to know the answer to these questions as well as make themselves look stupid , I too  clickEd on a bunch of text messages and went to delete  them and Apple for some reason has that stupid junk option we’re not talking about emails people were talking about text messages and there is no junk folder that we can look through so I too am concerned are the people whom I reported as junk mail not gonna be able to text me anymore like are they blocked and if they are how do I unblock them and I didn’t even think about it being sent to Apple or to our phone carrier as people that send junk messages but now I’m worried about that as well and unfortunately everything in this thread is absolutely useless it has nothing to do with the question and it doesn’t answer any of our questions whatsoever so is there anyone out there who knows the answer to this question I don’t care whether Apple saves our stuff like that one chick was talking about that’s not the question that was asked So as the gentleman stated in the original question please only answer this thread if you’re going to answer the actual question at hand we don’t care about your opinions people and we don’t wanna make this into a discussion about everything under the sun but deleted text messages that were reported as junk it’s the only thing I want to read about on this thread Thank you in advance


 Just because you hit make a report does not mean they can’t text you anymore!! Unless u manually added them to your block list. Reporting as junk/spam don’t block them. It’s more for the people who use free texting apps and aggravate the hell out of you without a verified service provider number. Maybe the more fake numbers that get reported they will eventually take down


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