How to Block Emails on Gmail in 2026: Desktop, Android, iPhone

To block emails on Gmail, open a message from the sender, click More (the three dots next to Reply), then choose Block "[sender]". The Gmail app on Android and iPhone uses the same menu: tap More, then Block. Every future email from that address goes straight to your Spam folder, and you can undo it any time.

Blocking feels final, and that's the point when someone won't take the hint. But it only stops one address, it doesn't unsubscribe you from anything, and for newsletters it's often the wrong tool. This guide covers the steps on each device, what blocking actually does, how to stop a whole company's domain, when to unsubscribe or report instead, and how to undo a block you regret.

Block, unsubscribe, report or filter: which one you need

Gmail gives you four ways to stop unwanted email (reporting covers both spam and phishing), and each one fits a different sender. Blocking is for a person or address you don't want to hear from. Unsubscribing is for mailing lists. Reporting spam or phishing is for junk and scams. A filter is for anything broader, like an entire domain.

Sources: Google's pages on blocking, unsubscribing, spam, phishing and filters.

Picking the right one saves you a second round of cleanup. When a shop I'd bought from once started emailing me daily, my first instinct was to block it. I unsubscribed instead, because it was a real store I'd chosen to buy from, and blocking would have left me on their list with the mail piling up in Spam.

How to block someone on Gmail on a computer

On a computer, you block a sender from inside one of their emails, using the More menu beside the Reply button. These steps come from Google's help page on blocking:

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. Open an email from the sender you want to block.
3. At the top right, next to Reply, click More (the three vertical dots).
4. Click Block "[sender]". The menu shows the sender's name or address in place of [sender].

From then on, new email from that address lands in Spam. Google's page talks only about future emails, so treat the old ones in your inbox as yours to delete or archive.

I went this route with a recruiter who kept writing about roles I'd never applied for, even after I'd replied once to say no thanks. One polite no is enough. After that, blocking is a perfectly reasonable answer, and a quieter one than a second reply.

How to block emails on Gmail on Android and iPhone

In the Gmail app, blocking works the same way on Android and on iPhone or iPad: open the email, then use the More menu at the top right. Google lists the steps for Android and for iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the Gmail app.
2. Tap an email from the person you want to block.
3. At the top right, next to Reply, tap More (the three dots).
4. Tap Block "[sender]".

What happens after you block a sender in Gmail

When you block a sender in Gmail, their future emails still arrive, but they go to your Spam folder instead of your inbox. Google's blocking page says exactly that, and a few things follow from it:

• It's one address at a time. The block covers the address you chose. If the same company writes from a second address, that one still gets through.
• It doesn't unsubscribe you. Google says so plainly: blocking a sender doesn't take you off their mailing list. Their mail just piles up in Spam.
• Moving one message out of Spam doesn't lift the block. According to Google's spam page, a blocked sender's email keeps going to Spam after you move a message out, until you unblock them.
• Google's page doesn't mention telling the sender. Nothing in the help article says the other person is notified. Their email is simply sorted into your Spam folder.

That last point is different at work. When a Google Workspace admin blocks a sender for the whole organization, Google's admin guide says the messages are rejected and the sender gets a rejection notice. A personal block from the More menu is quieter.

How to block emails from a whole domain in Gmail

Gmail's Block option has no setting for a whole domain, so you stop everything from @example.com with a filter instead. As How-To Geek's walkthrough points out, the block menu only catches one address, while a filter on the domain catches every address behind it. Filters are made on a computer; the Fashion Institute of Technology's IT guide notes you can't create them in the mobile app.

1. In Gmail on a computer, click Settings (the gear) at the top right, then See all settings.
2. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab and click Create new filter.
3. In the From box, type the @ sign and the domain, such as @example.com.
4. Click Search first to check which emails match, then go back and click Create filter.
5. Tick Delete it. To clear out what's already in your inbox, also tick Also apply filter to matching conversations.
6. Click Create filter to save it.

Google's filter page covers the same flow from the search box: click Show search options, enter your criteria and click Create filter. To catch several domains or addresses in one filter, put OR between them, for example @example.com OR @example.net, the way Google's search operators page shows with from:amy OR from:david.

Do the search step every time. A short domain can match more than you meant: @mail.com, for instance, also matches every @gmail.com address, which How-To Geek flags as the classic mistake. When a cold sales sequence started reaching me from a new address at the same company every week, a filter on their domain ended it in one go, but I checked the search results first to make sure no real contacts shared it.

Trash or Spam: which is better for a blocked domain?

Delete it sends matching mail to Trash, where Gmail permanently deletes it after 30 days. A block sends mail to Spam instead. I prefer Trash for a domain I'm certain about, because Spam is where I go looking for real emails that got misfiled, and I don't want it crowded. If you're less sure, skip Delete it and choose to apply a label instead, so you can review the mail before it disappears.

How to unsubscribe in Gmail instead of blocking

For newsletters and promotions, unsubscribing is the better choice, because it stops the mail at the source rather than hiding it. Gmail offers two ways. In a single email, click Unsubscribe next to the sender's name, then Unsubscribe or Go to website in the pop-up, per Google's unsubscribe page. Or use the subscriptions list to see everything at once:

1. In Gmail on a computer, click More in the left menu, then Manage subscriptions.
2. Find the sender. Gmail shows how many emails they've sent you recently.
3. Click Unsubscribe next to them.

In the app on iPhone and iPad, tap Menu, then Manage subscriptions, then Unsubscribe next to the sender. Google is releasing the subscriptions list gradually, so your account may not have it yet. Some senders send you to their website to finish; the pop-up also offers Block instead if you'd rather not visit their website.

Two details from Google's subscriptions page are worth knowing. It can take a few days for the sender to process the request, so a message or two may still arrive. And unsubscribing from the list page removes you from all of that sender's active lists, while the button inside one email may only cover a single list. I run through Manage subscriptions every couple of months; it's the fastest way I know to see which brands have quietly worked their way into my week.

How to report spam or phishing in Gmail

Reporting spam moves a message out of your inbox and into Spam. Use it for junk you never signed up for, not for lists you joined; Google asks that you unsubscribe from those instead. On a computer, select one or more emails and click Report spam at the top. In the Android app, open the email, tap More, then Report spam.

Phishing is different: it's an email trying to get your password, account numbers or other private details. To report one on a computer, open the message, click More next to Reply, then Report phishing, as Google's phishing page describes. Don't click its links or reply first. When an email claims to be from someone you know, Google suggests contacting them through details you already have rather than anything in the message.

How to unblock someone on Gmail

To unblock a sender, repeat the blocking steps and choose Unblock "[sender]" from the More menu instead, on a computer or in the app. If you can't find one of their emails, use the full list of blocked addresses in settings, per Google's help page:

1. In Gmail on a computer, click Settings, then See all settings.
2. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
3. Tick the box next to each address you want to unblock.
4. Click Unblock selected addresses.

New email from them goes back to your inbox. Google's page talks about future email, so for anything that arrived while they were blocked, open Spam, tick the messages and click Not spam to move them back, as Google's spam page explains. The same tab lists your filters, so a domain filter can be edited or deleted there too.

I once blocked a supplier's billing address by mistake while clearing out a run of automated notices, and only noticed when I went looking for an invoice. Now I scan the blocked list whenever I'm in that settings tab anyway.

Why am I still getting emails from someone I blocked?

A blocked sender's email can still reach you when it comes from somewhere the block doesn't cover. Check these:

• They used a different address. A block covers one address. Block the new one too, or use a domain filter if they keep rotating.
• You're looking in Spam. Blocked mail still arrives, just in Spam, so searching in:anywhere (which includes Spam and Trash) will still find it.
• It's a mailing list. Blocking doesn't unsubscribe you, so the list keeps sending. Unsubscribe as well.
• It came through a group. On a Google Workspace account, Google's admin guide says messages sent through Google Groups can still reach members depending on their settings, even from blocked senders.
• The block didn't take. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab, which lists every blocked address, and confirm theirs is there. If it isn't, block it again from one of their emails.

How to get fewer emails you'd want to block

Blocking is cleanup. A few habits mean you need it less often:

• Use a throwaway address or alias for one-off sign-ups. An alias that starts drawing junk can simply be switched off; this rundown of throwaway email addresses compares the kinds you can set up.
• Unsubscribe the first time a list annoys you. It's quicker than blocking later, and it works at the source.
• Sort the mail you do want with labels and filters. A filter can label or archive receipts and newsletters as they arrive, so they stay findable without crowding your inbox. Our Gmail labels guide shows how to set them up.
• Mute threads, not people. When the problem is one noisy reply-all chain from people you otherwise want to hear from, muting the conversation is the gentler fix.
• Glance at Spam now and then. Blocks and filters are blunt, and the occasional real email ends up there.