You have been exchanging texts with a friend or a group of friends, but out of the blue, you get the response that “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###,” from where you are unable to text the said number again, even when you can receive text messages from them with no issues.
What could be the cause, and how is it that you are unable to send messages to a number even when you can receive messages from them, what could be the cause of an inability to text a phone number even though phone calls connect without issues? Many causes and possible fixes will be discussed in this article.
What Causes The “You Have Been Blocked From Originating Messages To ###” Response?
- One of the most popular reasons why you will get the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response when sending a text is that you were probably blocked by the recipient. Either intentionally or by mistake, in which case text messages wouldn’t be getting across to them, so you would want to reach out to the recipient to be sure they don’t have you on their block list.
- If you are getting this message when trying to send text messages to all the contacts on your phone, it would probably be an issue with your phone and your carrier. In one particular case, we had, the said phones were tied to one carrier, and for some reason, the carrier hadn’t enabled texting on their plan. Reaching out to their carrier to have their number checked was the fix in that case.
- If it’s a new phone or plan, you want to check your profile with the carrier and confirm that the phone number there matches the phone number on the phone itself. In rare cases, the carrier mixes things up, resulting in glitches like this. If this happens in rare cases, you must contact the carrier to rectify this.
- You will get the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response if you have issues with your phone settings. If text-related settings are configured incorrectly, you will probably have issues with sending text messages.
- Google apps would also cause some text messaging issues; if one Google app is blocking text messages, a range of other Google apps on your phone might block texts to and from a certain number.
- Another possible reason for the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response could be that someone spoofed your number, leading to it being added to a spam database by the carrier. This is very rare, but confirm that the numbers returning this response are all on the same carrier, if they are, you might have to file a Notice of Dispute or use the spam contesting form with said carrier.
- You also want to check that the issue doesn’t occur in only certain areas and locations. If you or the recipient move around quite a bit, then texts might not go through if either of you is in an area with a different zip code or poor network coverage.
- Messaging apps can also cause text messages not to go through. In one particular instance, we weren’t able to send text messages with our Samsung S8 default messaging app, we upgraded to Samsung S20, and text messaging came back with no issues.
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Fix 1: Insert SIM Card into another Phone
The messaging app of the said device could be the issue, so insert the SIM card into another phone and see if you can send text messages.
Chances are that the text message app of the phone in question is blocking from sending text messages.
Fix 2: Check Your Smart Family Settings
Since this blocking is from “originating” and not “sending” messages, we also want to consider the possibility that the recipient hasn’t blocked you.
Try writing the number out, deleting it from your device, and texting it. If it goes through, then some weird malware is probably stopping the texts from originating.
You also want to check the Family Base or Smart Family; turn it OFF and see if you have any issues there. We would also recommend getting in touch with customer care to request an investigation on your device.
Fix 3: Check for Blocking
You and the recipient will want to confirm that you don’t have each other on a blocklist. If you have blocked the recipient or they have blocked you, you will be getting the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response.
Read also: Message Blocking Is Active - What It Means
Fix 4: Contact the Carrier
The chances that this issue was caused on your end are pretty much almost the same as the recipient. You will want to contact the carrier to be sure you don’t have the number permanently blocked on your account, and they will have to do the same.
We found this helpful when we randomly got the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response when texting one contact.
If we waited for a day or two and retried, text messages would continue working, but we’d be getting the response after some time of exchanging texts.
It was after contacting Verizon did we realiz that some glitch was blocking the number after exchanging texts with them for some time and unblocking them when there is some text inactivity, like some filter.
Fix 5: Check the Text Format
Does your carrier support the format of the message you are trying to send? If, for some reason, the carrier doesn’t allow the sending of SMS or MMS, you will be getting this response.
Fix 6: Check Device Space
Something you also want to check is your phone space; low memory leads to a range of different issues, including an inability to send or receive text messages.
Read also: Receiving My Own Text Messages on Android and iPhone – Causes and Fixes
Fix 7: Check the Network Connection
If you’re on an iPhone, you won’t be able to send an iMessage or MMS without either a Wi-Fi connection or an active cellular data plan. You also need a cellular network connection to send an SMS, and you’d need to enable Wi-Fi calling if you want to send SMS over Wi-Fi.
Fix 8: Check Carrier Support
You also want to check whether your carrier supports MMS or Group Messaging. To check this on iPhone, go to Settings >> select Messages.
If you don’t find this feature on your device, your carrier has probably not enabled it, and you wouldn’t be able to send these types of messages, hence the “you have been blocked from originating messages to ###” response.