> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cometchat-22654f5b-docs-ios-ui-kit-sdk-fixes.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Block Users
> Guide to blocking and unblocking users using the CometChat iOS SDK to control messaging permissions.
**Quick Reference for AI Agents & Developers**
* **Block users:** `CometChat.blockUsers(_:onSuccess:onError:)` — pass array of UIDs
* **Unblock users:** `CometChat.unblockUsers(_:onSuccess:onError:)` — pass array of UIDs
* **Get blocked users:** `BlockedUserRequest.BlockedUserRequestBuilder.set(limit:).build()` → `fetchNext(onSuccess:onError:)`
* **Filter direction:** `.set(direction:)` — `.byMe`, `.me`, `.both`
* **Related:** [Retrieve Users](/sdk/ios/retrieve-users) · [Users Overview](/sdk/ios/users-overview)
## Block Users
*In other words, as a logged-in user, how do I block a user from sending me messages?*
You can block users using the `blockUsers()` method. Once any user is blocked, all the communication to and from the respective user will be completely blocked. You can block multiple users in a single operation. The`blockUsers()` method takes an array of string as a parameter that holds the list of UIDs to be blocked.
```swift theme={null}
let blockUsers = ["UID1", "UID2", "UID3"]
CometChat.blockUsers(blockUsers, onSuccess: {
print("Blocked user successfully.")
}, onError: { (error) in
print("Blocked user failed with error: \\(error?.errorDescription)")
})
```
```objc theme={null}
NSMutableArray *users = [NSMutableArray alloc]init];
[users addObject:@"UID1"];
[users addObject:@"UID2"];
[users addObject:@"UID3"];
[CometChat blockUsers: users onSuccess:^ (NSDictionary *dict) {
NSLog(@"Blocked user successfully.");
}, onError:^ (CometChatException *error){
NSLog(@"Blocked user failed with error: %@", error.errorDescription);
}];
```
In the `onSuccess()` callback, you receive a dictionary which contains UIDs as the keys and "success" or "fail" as the value based on if the block operation for the UID was successful or not.
**Request Parameters:**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --------- | --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| UIDs | \[String] | Array of user UIDs to block. Example: `["cometchat-uid-2"]` |
**Success Response (Dictionary \[String: Any]):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --------- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| {uid} | Bool | Key is the UID, value indicates success (`true`) or failure (`false`). Example: `"cometchat-uid-2": true` |
**Error Response ([CometChatException](#common-error-codes)):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ---------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| errorCode | String | Unique error code identifying the error type. Example: `"ERR_UID_NOT_FOUND"` |
| errorDescription | String | Human-readable description of the error. Example: `"User with the specified UID does not exist"` |
## Unblock Users
You can unblock the already blocked users using the `unblockUsers()` method. You can unblock multiple users in a single operation. The`unblockUsers()` method takes an array of string as a parameter that holds the list of UIDs to be unblocked.
```swift theme={null}
let unblockUsers = ["UID1", "UID2", "UID3"]
CometChat.unblockUsers(unblockUsers, onSuccess: { (users) in
print("Unblocked user successfully.")
}, onError: { (error) in
print("Unblocked user failed with error: \\(error?.errorDescription)")
})
```
```objc theme={null}
NSMutableArray *users = [NSMutableArray alloc]init];
[users addObject:@"UID1"];
[users addObject:@"UID2"];
[users addObject:@"UID3"];
[CometChat unblockUsers: users onSuccess:^ (NSDictionary *dict){
NSLog(@"unblocked user successfully.");
}, onError:^ (CometChatException *error){
NSLog(@"unblocked user failed with error : %@", error.errorDescription);
}];
```
In the `onSuccess()` callback, you receive a HashMap which contains UIDs as the keys and "success" or "fail" as the value based on if the unblock operation for the UID was successful or not.
**Request Parameters:**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| UIDs | \[String] | Array of user UIDs to unblock. Example: `["cometchat-uid-2"]` |
**Success Response (Dictionary \[String: Any]):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --------- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| {uid} | Bool | Key is the UID, value indicates success (`true`) or failure (`false`). Example: `"cometchat-uid-2": true` |
**Error Response ([CometChatException](#common-error-codes)):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ---------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| errorCode | String | Unique error code identifying the error type. Example: `"ERR_UID_NOT_FOUND"` |
| errorDescription | String | Human-readable description of the error. Example: `"User with the specified UID does not exist"` |
## Get list of blocked users
In order to fetch the list of blocked users, you can use the `BlockedUsersRequest` class. To use this class i.e to create an object of the `BlockedUsersRequest class`, you need to use the `BlockedUsersRequestBuilder` class. The `BlockedUsersRequestBuilder` class allows you to set the parameters based on which the blocked users are to be fetched.
### BlockedUserRequestBuilder Methods
| Method | Type | Description |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `set(limit:)` | Int | Number of blocked users to fetch per request (1-100) |
| `set(searchKeyword:)` | String | Search string to filter blocked users |
| `set(direction:)` | [CometChat.Blocked](#direction-values) | Filter direction: `.byMe`, `.me`, `.both` |
**Builder Configuration:**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| limit | Int | Maximum number of blocked users to fetch per request. Range: 1-100. Example: `20` |
| searchKeyword | String | Search string to filter blocked users by UID or name. Example: `"john"` |
| direction | [CometChat.Blocked](#direction-values) | Filter direction for blocked users list. Example: `.byMe` |
**Direction Values:**
| Value | Description |
| ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| .byMe | Returns only users blocked by the logged-in user |
| .me | Returns only users who have blocked the logged-in user |
| .both | Returns both users blocked by me and users who blocked me (default) |
**Common Filter Combinations:**
| Use Case | Builder Configuration |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Fetch users I blocked | `.set(direction: .byMe).set(limit: 20)` |
| Fetch users who blocked me | `.set(direction: .me).set(limit: 20)` |
| Fetch all blocked relationships | `.set(direction: .both).set(limit: 20)` |
| Search blocked users by name | `.set(searchKeyword: "john").set(direction: .byMe).set(limit: 20)` |
The `BlockedUsersRequestBuilder` class allows you to set the below parameters:
1. `set(limit: Int)` - This method sets the limit i.e. the number of blocked users that should be fetched in a single iteration.
```swift theme={null}
let blockedUserRequest = BlockedUserRequest.BlockedUserRequestBuilder.set(limit: 20).build();
```
2. `set(searchKeyword: String)` - This method allows you to set the search string based on which the blocked users are to be fetched.
```swift theme={null}
let blockedUserRequest = BlockedUserRequest.BlockedUserRequestBuilder
.set(searchKeyword: "abc")
.set(limit: 20)
.build();
```
3. `set(direction: CometChat.Blocked)` - This can hold one of the below values: a. CometChat.Blocked.byMe - This will ensure that the list of blocked users only contains the users blocked by the logged-in user. b. CometChat.Blocked.me - setting the direction to this will return only the list of users that have blocked the logged-in user. c. CometChat.Blocked.both - this will make sure the list of users includes both the above cases. This is the default value for the direction variable if it is not set.
### Direction Values
| Value | Description |
| ----- | ----------------------------------------- |
| .byMe | Users blocked by the logged-in user |
| .me | Users who have blocked the logged-in user |
| .both | Both of the above (default) |
```swift theme={null}
let blockedUserRequest = BlockedUserRequest.BlockedUserRequestBuilder
.set(searchKeyword: "abc")
.set(limit: 20)
.set(direction: .both)
.build();
```
Finally, once all the parameters are set to the builder class, you need to call the build() method to get the object of the `BlockedUsersRequest` class.
Once you have the object of the `BlockedUsersRequest` class, you need to call the `fetchNext()` method. Calling this method will return a list of `User` objects containing n number of blocked users where n is the limit set in the builder class.
```swift theme={null}
let blockedUserRequest = BlockedUserRequest.BlockedUserRequestBuilder(limit: 20).build();
blockedUserRequest.fetchNext(onSuccess : { (users) in
print("Blocked users: \\(users)")
}, onError : { (error) in
print("Error while fetching the blocked user request: \\(error?.errorDescription)")
})
```
```objc theme={null}
BlockedUserRequest *blockedUserRequest = [[[BlockedUserRequestBuilder alloc]initWithLimit:2] build];
[blockedUserRequest fetchNextOnSuccess: ^(NSArray * users){
NSLog(@"Blocked user list fetched successfully.")
} onError:^ (CometChatException *error){
NSLog(@"Fetching block user list failed with error: %@", error.errorDescription);
}];
```
**Request Parameters:**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --------- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| limit | Int | Maximum number of blocked users to fetch. Example: `30` |
| direction | [CometChat.Blocked](#direction-values) | Filter direction for blocked users. Example: `.byMe` |
**Success Response - Users Blocked By Me (Array of [User](/sdk/ios/users-overview#user-properties) Objects):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| uid | String? | Unique identifier of the blocked user. Example: `"cometchat-uid-2"` |
| name | String? | Display name of the blocked user. Example: `"George Alan"` |
| avatar | String? | URL to the user's avatar image. Example: `"https://assets.cometchat.io/sampleapp/v2/users/cometchat-uid-2.webp"` |
| link | String? | URL to the user's profile page. Example: `nil` |
| role | String? | Role assigned to the user. Example: `"default"` |
| status | [UserStatus](/sdk/ios/retrieve-users#userstatus-enum) | Current online status of the user. Example: `.offline` |
| statusMessage | String? | Custom status message set by the user. Example: `nil` |
| lastActiveAt | Double | Unix timestamp of the user's last activity. Example: `1771571894.0` |
| hasBlockedMe | Bool | Indicates if this user has blocked the logged-in user. Example: `false` |
| blockedByMe | Bool | Indicates if the logged-in user has blocked this user. Example: `true` |
| deactivatedAt | Double | Unix timestamp when user was deactivated (0 if active). Example: `0.0` |
| tags | \[String] | Array of tags associated with the user. Example: `[]` |
| metadata | \[String: Any]? | Custom metadata dictionary. Example: `[:]` |
**Success Response - Users Who Blocked Me (Array of [User](/sdk/ios/users-overview#user-properties) Objects):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| uid | String? | Unique identifier of the user who blocked me. Example: `"cometchat-uid-5"` |
| name | String? | Display name of the user. Example: `"Mike Johnson"` |
| avatar | String? | URL to the user's avatar image. Example: `"https://assets.cometchat.io/sampleapp/v2/users/cometchat-uid-5.webp"` |
| link | String? | URL to the user's profile page. Example: `nil` |
| role | String? | Role assigned to the user. Example: `"default"` |
| status | [UserStatus](/sdk/ios/retrieve-users#userstatus-enum) | Current online status of the user. Example: `.online` |
| statusMessage | String? | Custom status message set by the user. Example: `nil` |
| lastActiveAt | Double | Unix timestamp of the user's last activity. Example: `1771572000.0` |
| hasBlockedMe | Bool | Indicates if this user has blocked the logged-in user. Example: `true` |
| blockedByMe | Bool | Indicates if the logged-in user has blocked this user. Example: `false` |
| deactivatedAt | Double | Unix timestamp when user was deactivated (0 if active). Example: `0.0` |
| tags | \[String] | Array of tags associated with the user. Example: `[]` |
| metadata | \[String: Any]? | Custom metadata dictionary. Example: `[:]` |
**Error Response ([CometChatException](#common-error-codes)):**
| Parameter | Type | Description |
| ---------------- | ------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| errorCode | String | Unique error code identifying the error type. Example: `"ERR_NOT_LOGGED_IN"` |
| errorDescription | String | Human-readable description of the error. Example: `"User is not logged in"` |
***
## Common Error Codes
| Error Code | Description | Resolution |
| -------------------- | --------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| ERR\_NOT\_LOGGED\_IN | User is not logged in | Login first using `CometChat.login()` |
| ERR\_UID\_NOT\_FOUND | User UID not found | Verify the UID is correct |
| ERR\_INVALID\_LIMIT | Invalid limit value | Use a limit between 1-100 |