WhatsApp - does someone know if you block them?

[moniquesue]

My ex (based abroad) keeps messaging me on WhatsApp. some of the messages are quite abusive. He has no other way of contacting me.
I'd like to block him, but would he know if I block him? Would WhatsApp alert him to the fact if I block his number?
Or would the messages still show as sent as normal from his end?
How does blocking work?
Never blocked anyone before and feel rude about blocking him but it's a last resort, just to get him off my back!

Yes - when he looks at the message he sent it will just show up as one grey tick.

Is there any reason you don’t want him to know you’ve blocked him?

They don't get alerted but your profile pic will disappear and be replaced with a blank shape of a person if you know what I mean !

It is not rude to block someone who sends you abusive messages, he is rude, not you

I don’t think you need to be worrying about being ‘rude’ to someone who’s sending you abusive messages!

He's your ex. He's being abusive. He lives abroad. You want to get him off your back and you're worried about you being rude and hurting his feelings? Just block him.

@GammyLeg

Yes - when he looks at the message he sent it will just show up as one grey tick.

Is there any reason you don’t want him to know you’ve blocked him?

He's really aggressive and volatile (the whole reason he was removed from the UK and sent back to his homeland in the first place). I fled the relationship. Trying not to anger him or escalate the abuse, just prefer to fade away if you know what I mean. If I let him know I'm blocking him, he'll just start pestering my family members as he has their numbers.

What about muting him and just ignoring?

Block him, if he messages your family members they can just do the same. Simple really

How about just muting his messages he won't know then and you could ask someone to delete them all in one go for you if you don't want to see them?

Mute the chat and archive it. Just ignore it long enough and he will get bored.

For the love of God, just get all your family to block him!

It will show as sent...one grey tick but not received with two grey ticks. So he wont know if you've blocked him or changed your number or just unibstalled Whatsapp.

Block, block, BLOCK!

Get all your family to block him as well.

Honestly OP you don’t owe this man anything - any explanation, any time, any space - ANYTHING.

If you really can’t face blocking him then you can mute him and archive the chat so you don’t have to see it.

Or change your number. New sim.

Or delete WhatsApp.

Best to block on all apps, text, WhatsApp, calls, social etc.

Of course I think you should block him but if you’re not ready yet the muting function is brilliant. You’ll only see you have messages from him when you open the app & you could just bulk delete without reading if you’d prefer x

As a PP said your profile picture will disappear and he won't be able to see 'last seen' if you have that turned on. Messages he sends will never deliver, just hang as a single grey tick even if you then unblock him. If he rings you, it will ring for him as normal but will never go through to your phone.

Really weird that your ex has your families numbers? And an abusive one at that! Why haven’t they blocked him? You can block and change your number, he isn’t even in the same country, and yes he will know if you block him because it’s obvious get someone to block you and you will see, your picture and details (status last seen etc) will disappear and messages won’t go through

Send a group WhatsApp to all of your family and tell them we need to end this contact now
Tell them all block block block

Mute him if you don't want to block

@moniquesue

You will never 'fade away' from his mind as long as he can contact you, so I'd forget about being able to manage a 'quiet' exit.

The only way he will ever stop, is if he cannot contact you.
That way, he will have a massive bloody 'meltdown', sure, but eventually something or someone else will pull his focus to them, and then he will gradually think about you less and less.

So block him on everything, and tell everyone else who he contact to do the same.

I would mute him and periodically (without reading or responding) open his message so it's marked as read but no response. That way you can record everything for evidence should you ever need it (hopefully not)

What Gilda said - you then have a log of the abuse should authorities need it.

Oh ignore the above comments and just block him! He’s not even in the country!

Even the police would advise you to block him.

You think it's rude to block him? Ffs he's being abusive to you - that's way worse and he doesn't care how you feel. Block him now and tell your family members to block him too.

@LoopTheLoops I disagree. As you say he's not even in the country so not really an immediate threat though abusive he may be. But evidence of abuse can come in handy years later in some cases and so it's always good to have a record. If he wasn't abusive and was just trying to keep in touch I'd say definitely just block and forget but he's giving you evidence with every message - and the police would always advise you to keep a record of abuse (well they did in my experience anyway)