While its still not won mass adoption in the U.S., WhatsApp is the worlds most popular messaging app, and billions use it every day to chat with friends, family, local groups, and even businesses. But such an enormous user base means not every interaction is going to be positive, and thats why WhatsApp has a blocking system to prevent you from seeing messages you dont want to see.

Contents Their WhatsApp profile pic and status arent changingTheir last seen disappearsMessages arent delivered and calls failYou cant add them to a chat group Its entirely possible youve been blocked by a few people yourself but how would you know? Unlike blocking on social media sites like Twitter, WhatsApp doesnt let you know if youve been blocked, leaving you somewhat in the dark. However, there are a few ways to figure out if youve been blocked by a specific user, even if theres no list you can check to find out for sure.

　　Their WhatsApp profile pic and status arent changing

This is a tricky one to confirm, but once youre blocked on WhatsApp, the blockers profile picture and status no longer update for you. This is, of course, only really a good indicator if the person you suspect of blocking you likes to update their status or profile picture a lot. If its outside of their usual behavior, then it could be a sign youre blocked, or it could simply mean they havent updated anything in a while.

Related If you know someone else with the blockers WhatsApp, then you can ask them if their profile picture or status has changed, but thats largely the only way youre going to be able to tell from this method.

　　Their last seen disappears

One of WhatsApps most popular features is the last seen function. Its essentially just a ticker showing when the user was last active, but if it goes missing, it could be a possible indicator that youve been blocked. After all, if you block someone, you dont want them to know when youre online.

This isnt a foolproof system, though, as there is a way to turn off this feature. If disabled, it stops showing even if youre not blocked. So while youll never see someones last online status if youre blocked, it could just mean youre blocked by default.

　　Messages arent delivered and calls fail

This seems like an obvious one, but you cant send messages and make calls to someone whos blocked you. But theres more to it than that every time you send a message to someone on WhatsApp, a series of ticks indicate the delivery status of the message. One tick means a message has been sent, but not received. Two ticks mean the message has been received, but not read. Finally, two blue ticks are your read receipt. If youre blocked, then your message will never move past the first stage, and calls will automatically fail when attempted.

But like the previous options, this isnt a definite giveaway. After all, calls will fail and messages wont deliver if the targets phone isnt connected to the internet or is turned off, so this isnt a strong sign of being blocked unless a message remains undelivered for a significant amount of time.

　　You cant add them to a chat group

Finally, you wont be able to add anyone whos blocked you to a new group chat. While existing group chats will function as normal, attempting to add someone whos blocked you to a new chat will result in a message explaining that you arent permitted to perform this action.

This is probably the most likely indicator of a block, especially if combined with any of the other signs above. While its possible to restrict who can add you to groups, if youre in a persons contacts list, then youre usually going to be able to add them to a chat group unless theyve specifically singled you out as being unable to do so.

But while being the most surefire way of testing if youre blocked, its also the most difficult to explain to that person if youre not blocked after all, youve just added that person to a new group chat for no reason, which may prompt some awkward questions.