In iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26, Apple added a helpful way to filter out messages from unknown senders and potential spam. To turn it on, open Messages, tap the Filter button in the top right, choose Manage Filtering, and enable Screen Unknown Senders and Filter Spam.

Once that’s set up, messages from unknown numbers won’t show up in your main conversation list. You’ll still see a badge on the app, but you’ll need to tap the Filter menu to view messages in the Unknown Senders or Spam sections. The Phone app works in a similar way. You can enable call filtering in Settings > Apps > Phone, and unknown callers will appear in their own filtered lists.

If you want to move someone out of Unknown Senders, just open the conversation and tap Mark as Known.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Liubomyr Vorona)