Countless messages are sent every day via WhatsApp – including unwanted ones. Therefore contacts can be blocked. This is how you notice it as an affected person.
Have I been blocked by a contact? Many WhatsApp users have certainly asked themselves this question. But that is not so easy to answer. Because WhatsApp promises to protect the privacy of its users.
How to know who is blocking you on WhatsApp
If a user blocks another user, this will be treated confidentially by the service and will not be revealed. Not even the affected contact finds out directly that they have been blocked on WhatsApp. But there are several signs that show in total whether your own messages are in vain.
1: WhatsApp profile picture disappeared
Profile pictures are only visible for the contacts with whom an exchange is actually desired. The uploaded photo remains hidden from blocked contacts. So if the profile picture suddenly disappeared, this could be a sign that the other person has imposed a WhatsApp lock. Of course, it could also be that the user has deleted their profile picture for other reasons.
2: Second gray tick is missing
Another indication is the second tick: Usually, two gray ticks appear after each WhatsApp message. The first means that the message has arrived at WhatsApp’s servers. As soon as a second gray tick appears, the message has arrived at the recipient.
If only a gray tick appears at first, the recipient’s phone could be switched off or have poor reception. However, if after a reasonable amount of time there is still only one tick, it indicates a blocked message, especially if the contact’s profile photo has also disappeared. In the case of blocked contacts, only a gray tick is always displayed after the message.
Note: The gray ticks do not say anything about whether the message has been read – this is only the case if there are two blue ticks. This also applies to group chats: only when all participants in the group have received and read a message will both ticks be colored blue. If you want to deactivate the blue tick, you can do so in the settings under “Account” and “Privacy”.
3: Time stamps are no longer visible
The third clue is the two timestamps “last online” and “online”. “Online” means that the contact has WhatsApp open and also has an internet connection. “Last seen” shows when the contact last opened WhatsApp.
Anyone who has been blocked can no longer see both timestamps in the chat view. The status “last online” can be hidden by the user in the data protection settings. However, the “online” time stamp cannot be suppressed.
4: Calls are unsuccessful
If you are still unsure, you can also try a WhatsApp call. Calls to users who have blocked the caller never go through.
Note: Users can also disable the read receipt and the display of their profile picture by changing their privacy settings.