Ask Jerry: How can I filter incoming messages?

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How can I filter incoming messages?

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.

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.