People who don’t know you need to send an invitation to send messages. To protect you, classic Hangouts filters spam invitations from your regular view. If a spam invitation isn't filtered or if you don't feel comfortable in a Hangout with someone, you can block them. When you block someone, they can tell if you’re online but can't send you classic Hangouts messages.
Tip: If strangers or spammers contact you, you can choose who can contact you directly.
Block & report someone
When you block someone, they can tell if you’re online but can't send you classic Hangouts messages.
When you block or ignore someone, you can also report abuse.
- Go to classic Hangouts at hangouts.google.com or in Gmail.
- To open the conversation, select the person from the Hangouts list.
- At the top of the conversation, click Settings
Block & report
.
- To report abuse: Select the “Also report” checkbox.
- To only block the person: Unselect the “Also report” checkbox.
- Click Confirm.
When you report someone for abuse, a copy of the last 50 messages of your conversation is sent to Google for review.
Important: This feature is only available on the web version.
Things to keep in mind
Individual conversations:
- You can’t send or receive classic Hangouts messages from someone you blocked. Your Hangout with the blocked person is archived. Learn how to archive a Hangout.
- Calls sent directly to your phone aren't blocked.
Group Hangouts conversations:
- The person you blocked stays in the conversation.
- You get a notification that someone you blocked is also in the Hangout. If you choose to open the Hangout, you can access the blocked person's messages.
- Others in the group won't be notified that you blocked the person.
- You aren't notified when the person sends new messages, but they’re notified when you send new messages.
- Everyone in the group can get all sent and received messages.
- The person you blocked can still join other group conversations you're in.
Video calls:
- To join a video call with someone you blocked, you must first unblock the person.
- If someone you blocked tries to join a video call you're in, they’re notified that someone in the Hangout has blocked them and they can’t join.
Hide someone from your conversations list
If you want to remove someone from your list but don’t want to block them:
- Click Contacts
.
- Find the person you want to hide.
- Next to their name, click More options
Hide [contact name].
Unblock someone
- Go to classic Hangouts at hangouts.google.com or in Gmail.
- Open settings:
- On hangouts.google.com: Click Menu
Settings.
- On Gmail: At the top right of your Hangouts list, click the Down arrow
.
- On hangouts.google.com: Click Menu
- Select Blocked people.
- Next to the person’s name, click Unblock.