WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world, with over 2 billion users. With so many people using WhatsApp, it’s common to encounter situations where you may want to block someone on the app.
Blocking someone on WhatsApp prevents them from seeing your last seen, profile photo, status updates, and prevents them from contacting you. Their messages will not go through. However, one common question people have is: if you block someone and they send you messages, will you receive those messages if you unblock them later on?
The Short Answer
The short answer is: No, you will not receive any messages sent while you had the contact blocked.
When you block someone on WhatsApp, any messages they send you during that time are not stored or queued up to be delivered later. Those messages are simply deleted and disappeared forever.
So if you block someone for a day, week, or month, and they try to message you during that time, you will never see those messages, even if you unblock them later on. The messages are not recovered.
Looking at This in More Detail
Let’s look at this situation more closely to understand exactly why blocked messages on WhatsApp are not delivered at a later time when unblocking.
What Happens When You Block Someone?
When you block a contact in WhatsApp, it severs communication between you and that person in these key ways:
- Your last seen, profile picture, about, and status updates are hidden from them
- You cannot receive calls or messages from them
- Any messages they send will show one check mark (delivered to WhatsApp server) but never get a second check mark (delivered to your device)
- If in a group, you can no longer see their messages or interact with them in the group
So in effect, blocking makes it seem like you “disappeared” from that contact’s perspective. They can no longer see your profile or online status, and their messages to you will never be delivered.
What Happens to Messages Sent While Blocked?
When the contact you’ve blocked sends you a message, here is what happens:
- The message is delivered to the WhatsApp server like normal.
- The WhatsApp server sees you have blocked the sender.
- Instead of routing the message to your device, the server simply discards or deletes the message.
- The message is never stored anywhere. It is permanently deleted.
So in this sense, any messages sent to you while blocked are essentially sent into a “black hole.” The sender will see one check mark (sent), but the messages are instantly discarded and deleted before they can reach you.
Why You Don’t Get the Messages When Unblocking
Given this behavior, it’s clear why you don’t receive the messages if you unblock later on:
- The messages were already deleted from WhatsApp’s server and don’t exist anymore.
- They were never stored anywhere to be delivered at a future date.
- WhatsApp has no way to “retrieve” messages that were already discarded while blocked.
In essence, the messages are simply gone forever, so there is nothing to deliver if the block is removed. WhatsApp does not have a backup of messages sent during the blocked period.
What If You Block Someone by Mistake?
Because blocking deletes all messages sent to you during that time, you may be worried about accidentally blocking someone and losing important messages.
If you think you may have blocked someone unintentionally, the best thing to do is unblock them right away before too much time passes. This minimizes the risk of permanently losing messages you wanted to receive.
You can also warn the contact that you think you blocked them unintentionally, and ask them to resend any important messages from during that time.
Does the Sender Get a Notification if You Block Them?
When you block someone on WhatsApp, they do not receive any notification or message informing them of this.
From the sender’s perspective, it will simply seem like you are offline, ignoring them, or never received their messages.
The only way for a sender to know if they are blocked is if they try to call you. A blocked call will go directly to voicemail after ringing once. But for messaging, there is no outright notice that they were blocked.
Can You Tell if Someone Blocked You?
Just as others are not notified when you block them, you are also not directly notified if someone blocks you on WhatsApp.
However, there are some signs that may indicate you were potentially blocked by a contact:
- Your messages never show “delivered” or “read”
- Your calls to the contact go directly to voicemail after one ring
- You can no longer see their last seen or online status
- You are removed from any groups you had in common
While not guaranteed signs of being blocked, these can be strong indicators in many cases. There is no definitive way to know for sure if you are blocked by someone else though.
Can a Blocked Contact Still See Your Profile Photo?
When you block someone, you completely prevent them from viewing your profile photo and last seen / online status. It will appear empty or offline to a blocked contact.
So no, a blocked contact has no way to see your profile picture, view when you were last online, or see any other activity. Your account is essentially hidden from their view while blocked.
In Summary
- Messages sent while a contact is blocked are permanently deleted and undiscoverable.
- There is no way to retrieve messages sent during the blocked period if you unblock later.
- Blocking provides no notification to the other user that they are blocked.
- Unblock as soon as possible if you think you blocked someone accidentally.
- Signs like one-ring calls and lack of ‘delivered’ statuses may indicate you are blocked.
Conclusion
In conclusion, any messages sent by a blocked WhatsApp contact are permanently deleted and will not be received if you unblock that person later on. Blocking effectively makes you invisible to the other person and severs all forms of communication.
While useful for cutting off contact with someone, blocking should be done carefully in case important messages are lost accidentally. The best practice is to unblock as soon as you realize someone may have been blocked unintentionally, to avoid missing key messages you need to receive.