The short version

Quick answer

For a familiar group, use Leave if your messaging app offers it, or mute the conversation if you only want fewer interruptions. For a suspicious group, save anything you need before using the app’s spam controls. Apple Messages and Google Messages have different controls; reporting can also share message content with the provider.

First decide: an unwanted conversation or suspected spam?

A busy family thread and an unexpected group promoting a prize call for different choices. For the familiar thread, consider muting it or asking a known organizer privately to start future conversations without you. Do not label ordinary chatter as fraud just to silence it.

For a suspicious group, avoid replying or opening its links. The FTC advises against clicking links in unexpected texts requesting personal or financial information. Verify an apparent company message through a website you already know, not the contact details supplied in the text.

Source basis: FTC Consumer Advice

On iPhone: check whether the group can be left

Apple’s documented leave option requires an iMessage conversation with at least three other participants. Open the thread, tap the group icons at the top, scroll to Leave this Conversation, and confirm.

If that option is unavailable, Apple recommends muting: open the group details and enable Hide Alerts. This silences that conversation’s notifications; it is not a departure from the group. Apple’s instructions do not establish a universal leave procedure for every RCS or SMS/MMS group.

Source basis: Apple Messages support

In Google Messages: use the group controls

Open the conversation, then More → Group details (or Details). For quiet, select Notifications → Silent. For an unwanted group, Google documents Block & report spam → OK, with reporting available as an optional choice. Read the confirmation before proceeding.

Google also describes leaving RCS groups, including groups with iPhone users, but notes that RCS availability varies by region and carrier. Check the controls available in your conversation rather than assuming every Android group has the same Leave button. These instructions are for Google Messages, not every Android messaging app; Google warns that custom Android versions may differ.

Source basis: Additional controls for notifications, blocking & group messages · Understand how Google Messages works

Before reporting a group, understand what is shared

Google says a spam report shares the last ten incoming messages from the spammer; in a group, these may include messages from other participants. Reported information includes sender identifiers, timestamps and group information. Google says employees and contractors may review reports, and reported conversations are used to train spam- and abuse-protection AI models.

Google also describes a possible separate carrier report containing the latest message and sender identifier. Review the app’s current explanation, especially in a mixed personal conversation. Google permits blocking without reporting. Do not assume these reporting details apply to Apple Messages or another app.

Source basis: Spam-report contents and handling

Keep the record you need, then choose the narrowest action

  • Before changing the thread, consider saving screenshots with dates and sender details if you need a record of repeated unwanted messages. Keep that record private rather than posting other participants’ details publicly.
  • For interruptions from people you know, try the conversation-specific notification setting before silencing your entire messaging app.
  • For suspected spam, use the app’s reporting controls. The FTC also identifies forwarding an unwanted message to 7726 and reporting to ReportFraud.ftc.gov as reporting paths.
  • If another group appears, inspect its participants and content before deciding what to do. Do not treat a quieter inbox as proof that a sender has removed you from every list.
Keep in mind

Product guidance checked September 17, 2026. This is a documentation-based guide, not a hands-on test of every device or carrier. It does not determine whether a message violated the law or guarantee that future groups will stop.

Source basis: Additional controls for notifications, blocking & group messages · FTC Consumer Advice