In Apple iOS 16 and later devices, Apple added a feature for reporting SMS and MMS received as junk in the iMessages app. For me, like most other users, the Report Junk feature is junk in itself. It has to be the most needless and frustrating feature on iOS 16. It disrupts your user experience as it pops up whenever you need to delete a message.
So, every affected Apple device user wants to know how to turn off report junk on iPhone. But is this even possible?
What’s the Report Junk on iPhone iMessages
Report Junk is a feature on Apple devices that lets you report a message you deem spammy, harassing or just junk in every sense.
This feature is intended to expand the Report Junk functions in messages. For example, this previously only allowed you to report blue bubble iMessage content. But you can now use this feature for reporting a message as junk.
All you have to do is open the Apple messages app on your iPad or iPhone to report messages received as junk.
Now, open a message from the sender you want to report. Then tap the Report Junk feature in the blue text below the message.
Then tap the Delete and Report Junk from the pop-up to confirm the action, and you are good to go.
This useful feature helps to keep unwanted messages at a fair distance. But we all know what happens after deleting a message. First, a pop-up asks you to report the message as junk. Then a secondary message, “Don’t Report as Junk,” shows up.
And that’s not all!
The Report Junk feature always appears below every message, above the Delete option. So, many people have had messages mistakenly reported as junk when all they wanted to do was delete the message. For example, many iPhone users have had their banks, mobile carrier, and closed ones reported to Apple because of this feature. So for affected iPhone users, this is the height of it.
Therefore, many felt the problem should be resolvable with a few taps to disable the feature. That leads us to the next question, can you turn off Report Junk on iPhone?
Can You Turn Off Report Junk on iPhone?
Unfortunately, as of the time of writing this, there is no option to turn off report junk in iMessage. So, many Apple users are still searching for a way to turn off report junk in iMessage on iPhone.
However, you can let Apple know your thoughts using the Apple feedback page.
Hopefully, Apple will listen and makes it possible to disable Report Junk in newer versions.
For now, when you report the message as junk or spam, the message will be sent to Apple, and iOS will permanently delete the message from your iPhone. But it won’t stop the sender from sending you messages.
But if you want, you may block the sender’s number to stop receiving messages from them.
How to Not Report a Message as Junk
For now, I suggest you keep in mind that this feature-turned-bug is always lurking. So whenever you want to delete a message, be careful enough to select the right option so you don’t tap the Report instead of the Delete button.
Another tip is to block the SMS sender, so you don’t have to delete their messages all the time. I showed you earlier how to block text messages and stop spam messages generally. These should suffice for now while we hope Apple looks at the issue.
As for the numbers you mistakenly reported as junk, don’t worry; Apple only does something if thousands of reports have been sent over a particular user.
