Need a way to Block Spam Texts in macOS Messages

Update: I found out that macOS DOES let the user block junk text messages manually, one phone number at a time (go to Conversations / Block person); unfortunately, this is a useless, outdated method, because the senders use software that changes the phone number each day, to avoid being blocked… And Apple’s “Focus” feature only blocks phone CALLS; not phone numbers used for text messages. I receive about 9 to 15 junk political text messages every day, from area codes 202 (Washington DC), 718 (New York), and 771 (Washington DC). The only effective way to block junk texts nowadays, is to block by KEYWORD; not by phone number. As I mentioned previously, there is a free third party app called “Sifter” that does this perfectly for iOS and iPad… I downloaded it, entered the keywords, “Biden," “Trump,” and "Stop2End" (which most of these messages contain), and I have not received a single junk text on my iPhone since. The problem is that there is nothing like that available for macOS, so even though they are blocked on my iPhone, I am forced to manually delete these same junk texts one-at-a-time on my Mac every day, or be faced with having to scroll through hundreds of junk texts in order to find a text that I need. Everyone I know with a Mac has this same problem, so I hope Apple will add the ability to block text messages by keyword on all platforms as soon as possible; or at least give macOS the same capability as iOS and iPadOS, to filter out text messages from "unknown senders." (Someone wrote in another post, that starting with macOS Ventura, you can filter out text messages from "unknown senders," like in iOS and iPadOS, but that will not help me, because my 2016 MacBook Pro can only run the latest version of macOS 12.7.6 Monterey.) I've spent the last few days searching the Web for a third party macOS app that can block junk text messages by keyword, and there is not a single one. So frustrating...

Temporary Solution:

I found a temporary solution for blocking political spam texts in macOS Messages.

As I mentioned previously, the ‘Sifter’ app for iOS/iPadOS works perfectly to filter out political spam text by using keywords; unfortunately, the app is device-specific, so it does not stop the spam from coming through to macOS Messages. (I am now getting over 20 political spam texts per day.) I finally found a temporary solution to the problem, thanks to the critical thinking of an excellent AppleCare support person…

Most people with multiple Apple devices sync Messages via iCloud. iMessage protocol can be used between Apple devices to take advantage of special iMessage features, like animations, etc. Non-Apple products (Android, etc.) use other protocols, such as SMS, MMS, or RCS. Political spam texts are usually sent using SMS, MMS, or RCS protocols, to reach the largest amount of people, including both Apple and Android users. On an iPhone, turning off ‘Text Message Forwarding’ stops SMS, MMS, and RCS text messages from forwarding from your iPhone to your Mac computer, but still allows iMessage texts from Apple users to forward to your Mac computer. The political spam texts will no longer appear on the Mac (but texts from non-Apple users or businesses will also no longer appear on the Mac)… However, it is much easier to periodically check your phone for non-iMessage texts, than it is to have to manually delete tons of spam texts on your computer, one-at-a-time on a daily basis.

To turn off Text Message Forwarding on the iPhone, do the following: Settings / Apps / Messages / Text Message Forwarding / (computer name): OFF

Using Apple’s ‘Block’ feature on a Mac, to block spam texts is useless, now that computers change the transmitting phone number for spam messages each day, to prevent being blocked. In the future, perhaps Apple will add better spam-blocking tools (such as filtering by keyword) to the Messages app on all platforms, or perhaps cellular providers will come up with a system that can see when one company sending texts is changing their phone number each day, flag the company as fraudulent, and block them. But until that happens, this is currently the best solution to prevent spam text on the Mac.

Addendum... Looks like turning off 'Text Message Forwarding' in the iOS Messages app not only stops SMS, MMS, and RCS text messages from being RECEIVED in the macOS Messages app, but you will also not be able to SEND text messages from the macOS Messages app to non-Apple users (who use SMS, MMS, or RCS). macOS Messages will still receive and send iMessage text messages from/to Apple device users. For now, I will be using only my iPhone for texting, until Apple adds the ability to block text messages by keyword, to the Messages app on all platforms (or at least in macOS).

On last step…

Even after turning off 'Text Message Forwarding' in the iOS Messages app, iOS still forwards some junk texts to the Mac, for some reason, but now codes them as “Maybe Junk.” (NOTE: This occurs in macOS Monterey, but later versions might just move the junk texts into a ‘Junk’ folder, like on the iPhone.) The simplest way to get rid of them, is to periodically (probably daily) delete the junk texts from the iPhone, which will then finally delete them from the Mac:

On the iPhone, open the Messages app / Tap ‘Filters’ in the upper left corner / ‘Junk’ / Tap the icon with 3 dots at the top of the screen / ‘Select Messages’ / ‘Select All’ / ‘Delete’ / ‘Delete and Report Junk’

The junk texts will now be removed from the Messages app on the Mac.