Ask Jerry: How can I filter incoming messages?

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Welcome to Ask Jerry, where we talk about any and all the questions you might have about the smart things in your life. I'm Jerry, and I have spent the better part of my life working with tech. I have a background in engineering and R&D and have been covering Android and Google for the past 15 years.

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Ask Jerry is a column where we answer your burning Android/tech questions with the help of long-time Android Central editor Jerry Hildenbrand.

I'm also really good at researching data about everything — that's a big part of our job here at Android Central — and I love to help people (another big part of our job!). If you have questions about your tech, I'd love to talk about them. 

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How can I filter incoming messages?

Google Gemini in google messages

(Image credit: Jay Bonggolto / Android Central)

Michael asks:

Is there a way to filter text messages based on keywords, or auto-filter spammy texts besides just putting all unknown numbers in a folder? I get about 5-10 political texts from different numbers per day and it'd sure be nice to block them by keywords.

Thanks

Ugh. I'm sure about 200 million Americans with a smartphone feel your pain and I'll wager as many people around the world also get unsolicited political messages and hate it. They prove that a by-product of tech innovation is that spamming people is super easy and must be profitable. Nobody would do it if it wasn't working to make money.

Unfortunately, they'll probably be getting worse in the U.S. in the next few months as the 2024 elections draw near. And it sucks that there's no easy way to stop it.

I always want to front-load the answer for people who aren't going to read down the page and I wish the answer was better news:

On both Android and iOS, it's easy to search through all of your messages by a specific keyword, but you can't block them or automatically filter them using a keyword. It's an omission that seems like an oversight; this should be there and it's not.

You can filter out all messages from unknown numbers but that's not the same thing and may affect things like two-factor codes or legitimate messages from mail carriers or emergency services.

I do want to say that I have found putting my number on the National Do Not Call Registry seems to have lessened the number of messages I get asking for donations. I still get them and I'm not sure of any side effect of putting my phone number on yet another government list but I get fewer of them than I have in the past using the same number. Or maybe it's the placebo effect.

Spam caller detection settings on a Google Pixel 8a

If you can do it for calls you can do it for messages, too, Google. (Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

With Google putting Gemini into messaging and Apple doing the same with Siri it would be a great thing each could do. Cross-checking a list of words to a filtering tool is one of those things that AI would be exceptionally good at and many people would find it helpful. Maybe it will come in a future update.

I've been told there are third-party apps that have this ability. SMS Organizer was recommended as one but I'll admit I've not tried any. Since the functions are built into the messaging system I don't see any reason why they shouldn't work as advertised but I will warn you to check the app's permissions closely.

A search could be done on the device and any filtering should also stay on the device, but with any third-party app, you're using personal data as payment so it's always worth checking what a company is collecting.

I'm not familiar enough with iOS to know about any apps with this feature and the web isn't much help because it only wants to tell me how great filtering unknown numbers on your iPhone is. Maybe someone will comment with more info. 

In the meantime, we just have to block them one by one unless we want to use a third-party app.

Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Threads.

  • SyCoREAPER
    TLDR; 3rd party apps.

    Disclaimer: I have no association, commission, or any other gains by mentioning this:

    Pulse SMS can block messages with specific words or phrases, it has a easy to manage blacklist. It also has cross-devkcd syncing that works (unlike Google and Samsung Messages). What it is lacking and this is Froogle-Google won't open the damn RCS API is RCS Messaging but no 3rd party messengers have this. Only Google Messages and Carrier firmware Samsungs using their messaging app (dual RCS which even Google Messages doesn't support). .
    Reply