If You Unblock Someone on WhatsApp, Do Messages Arrive?
If you unblock someone on WhatsApp, will you receive their messages? Only new ones. WhatsApp says you won't receive any messages, calls or status updates the person sent while they were blocked. From the moment you unblock, you can both send and receive again.
So anything sent during the block is gone for good, and the only way to get it is to ask them to send it again. Whether the other person finds out is a separate question, and WhatsApp doesn't answer it.
What you get back and what you don't
Unblocking is not a catch-up. It reopens the line going forward and leaves the gap as it was.
| During the block | After you unblock |
|---|---|
| Their messages, calls and status updates never reached you | Those stay lost, WhatsApp says you won't receive them |
| The old chat stayed in your chat list | It's still there, now open for new messages |
| They stayed in your contacts, you stayed in theirs | Nothing to restore |
| Your last seen, online, status and profile photo changes were hidden from them | WhatsApp says status updates flow again; its page doesn't spell out the rest |
WhatsApp's wording is that after you unblock, "you and the sender will now be able to send and receive messages, calls, and status updates." It doesn't say anything about holding or replaying earlier ones.
WhatsApp doesn't hold those messages for you. If you need what they sent, ask them to send it again.
Will they know you unblocked them?
WhatsApp's help pages on blocking and unblocking don't say the person is notified, and they don't say they aren't. We can't give you a yes or a no from an official source. What the pages do describe is what the other person experiences while blocked: their messages show one grey tick and never a second, they can't see your status or profile photo updates, and their calls don't go through.
Those signs are the thing to think about. After you unblock, messages they send will go through, so the ticks will reach two. Someone watching closely could work out the change. WhatsApp itself says it can't tell people whether someone has blocked them, and that the signs it lists may have other causes. Our guide to how to know if someone blocked you lists them, and what happens when you block someone covers the other half.
How to unblock on Android
- Tap More options (three dots), then Settings.
- Tap Privacy, then Contacts, then Blocked contacts.
- Tap the contact name or phone number.
- Tap Unblock.
Other ways: search for the contact, tap and hold the name, then tap More options > Unblock. Or open the last chat from that contact, scroll to the bottom and tap Unblock.
How to unblock on iPhone
- Tap Settings or your profile picture, then tap Privacy > Contacts > Blocked.
- Swipe left on the contact's name, or tap Edit and the red minus sign.
- Tap Unblock.
Alternatively, open the chat, tap the sender's name or unknown number and tap Unblock. Or swipe left on the chat in your chat list and tap Unblock.
Unblocking a business
The same steps apply, and the same rule does: whatever the business sent while blocked doesn't arrive. WhatsApp also asks for a reason when you block a business, which is separate from unblocking. If you used Block and report, WhatsApp received the last five messages from the chat. Its page doesn't describe unblocking as withdrawing that report.
Groups and the old chat
Two things people expect unblocking to change, and what WhatsApp's pages say:
- Shared groups. While blocked, you still saw each other's messages in a shared group. That's unchanged.
- The old chat. It stayed in your list the whole time, and WhatsApp suggests you can archive or delete it separately if you wanted it gone.
If you want to reconstruct what a customer said during the block, the only source is the customer. Our post on a customer deleted a WhatsApp message covers the other case where the original is gone.
Where Tenashi fits
Teams block numbers for good reasons: spam, abuse, a wrong number. The risk is blocking a real customer by mistake. Whatever they sent during the block was never delivered by WhatsApp, so it isn't in your phone, and it isn't anywhere else either.
That includes Tenashi. Tenashi connects to your own number as a linked device and stores the messages that number sends and receives from the date you connect it. It can't receive what WhatsApp never delivers, and blocking or unblocking happens on the phone, not in Tenashi. What it does give you is a shared inbox with follow-up reminders, so a customer who has gone quiet gets chased instead of forgotten. See our guide to WhatsApp for business for the wider set-up.
Plans start at $18/mo. Get started.
FAQ
If I unblock someone on WhatsApp, will I receive their messages?
You'll receive new messages from the moment you unblock. WhatsApp says you won't receive any messages, calls or status updates the sender sent during the time they were blocked. Those are never delivered, so ask the person to send them again.
If I unblock someone on WhatsApp, will they know?
WhatsApp's help pages don't say whether they're notified, so there's no official answer. They may notice changes: new messages they send now get delivered and show a second tick, calls go through, and WhatsApp says status updates can be sent and received again.
Will I get old messages after unblocking someone on WhatsApp?
No. Messages sent during the block aren't held and delivered later. WhatsApp states you won't receive them. Chat history from before the block stays in your chat list, because the old chat remains there while someone is blocked.
What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp and then unblock them?
Blocking stops their messages and calls and hides your last seen, online, status and profile photo changes from them. Unblocking lets you both send and receive messages, calls and status updates again, but anything sent in between stays lost.
How do I unblock someone on WhatsApp?
On Android go to More options > Settings > Privacy > Contacts > Blocked contacts, tap the contact and tap Unblock. On iPhone go to Settings > Privacy > Contacts > Blocked, swipe left on the name and tap Unblock. The chat itself also has an Unblock button.
Unblocking reopens the line from now on and never fills the gap. To keep the conversations on your business number where the whole team can see them, get started with Tenashi.