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Windows 10: Block Apps From Reading or Sending Texts

By Mel Hawthorne Leave a Comment

One of the lesser-known features of Windows 10 is that you can send SMS and MMS messages. The Messaging app connects to and sends messages through your phone. This app and others can request permission to access your SMS and MMS history and to send messages. This guide will walk you through how to block apps from having permission to read or send messages.

The settings are located in the privacy section of the Settings app. To open the Settings app to the right page, press the Windows key, type “Messaging privacy settings” and hit enter. There are three sets of settings on the Messaging page.

The three privacy settings for text messages control computer wide access, account access, and app access respectively.

The top setting configures if any app on any user account on the device is able to access text messages. This setting requires administrative privileges to change as it affects all users. If this setting is disabled, all accounts on the device will be blocked from allowing access to text messages, and even changing other options won’t be able to turn this function on. If this option is enabled each user will be able to configure their own text message permissions.

The second setting affects only the current user and does not require administrative permissions to enable or disable. Disabling this setting stops all apps from being able to access text messages. Leaving this setting enabled allows apps to access text messages.

Tip: These settings only affect Windows Store apps. Desktop applications installed from the internet cannot be managed in this way.

The final group of settings allows you to configure permissions to access text messages on an app-by-app basis. Here you can disable access for one app and enable it for another rather than configuring access for the whole user account or computer.

Tip: All three settings must be set to “On” for an app to have permissions to access your text messages.

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Filed Under: Windows

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Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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