What happens when you block someone on LinkedIn (and will they know?)

What happens when you block someone on LinkedIn

Blocking cuts every link between two accounts, in both directions. According to LinkedIn Help, once you block a member:

• You can't see each other's profiles on LinkedIn, and you disappear from each other's search results.
• You can't message each other.
• You can't see each other's posts or anything else either of you shares.
• Your connection is removed, if you were connected.
• You drop out of each other's Who's viewed your profile list.
• Their endorsements and recommendations disappear from your profile.
• LinkedIn stops suggesting you to each other in People You May Know and People also viewed.
• They stop getting your newsletter if they were subscribed, and you stop hearing about their LinkedIn Events.

Only you can undo it: the other person has no way to lift the block.

Will they know you blocked them?

No. LinkedIn sends no notification, email or alert when you block someone. LinkedIn makes one exception: if you share a LinkedIn Recruiter account with that person, or used to, LinkedIn may tell them or the Recruiter admin so the account can still be managed.

They can still work it out. Your profile stops opening for them, you vanish from their search results, you're gone from their connections, and they can no longer message you. Someone who looks for you on purpose will notice. Someone who wasn't paying attention usually won't.

If you block someone, will they see you viewed their profile?

No, they won't see your name. The catch is that to block someone, you usually have to open their profile first, which counts as a profile view. LinkedIn handles it this way: if you viewed their profile before blocking, you still count in their viewer total, but your details don't show in their viewer list. After the block, you can't view their profile at all.

So they might see that one more person viewed them, but not that it was you.

If you'd rather not appear at all, switch to private mode before you open their profile: Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Profile viewing options > Private mode. Your view then shows as an anonymous LinkedIn Member. One trade-off on a free account: while private mode is on, you can't see who viewed your own profile. More on how those settings work in our guide to who viewed your LinkedIn profile.

What can a blocked person still see?

Anything you've made public outside the signed-in LinkedIn experience. LinkedIn lists:

• Your public profile, the version shown in Google and to people who aren't signed in.
• Content you posted publicly, including posts in open group discussions.
• Your comments on Top Voices posts.

To close that gap, edit your public profile: Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Edit your public profile, then turn off its visibility or hide your photo. Nothing stops a screenshot someone already took, or a post that was shared outside LinkedIn.

It works the other way too. You may still see their content if a mutual connection reshares it into your feed (you can hide those updates), or cached data in the mobile app until you sign out and back in.

Does blocking someone on LinkedIn delete messages?

LinkedIn only says you won't be able to message each other once one of you blocks the other. It doesn't document whether your old conversation is deleted, hidden, or comes back if you unblock, and the guides that claim to know contradict each other.

So treat the thread as gone: if it holds anything you need, like an agreement, contact details or evidence of harassment, screenshot it or copy it somewhere before you block. The same goes for their posts. If one contains something you want to keep, save it first; our LinkedIn video downloader and image downloader grab the media from any public post.

How to block someone on LinkedIn

On desktop:

1. Go to the profile of the person you want to block.
2. Click More below their profile picture and select Report/Block.
3. Select Block [name].
4. Click Block to confirm.

On iPhone or Android:

1. Open their profile.
2. Tap the More icon (three dots) at the top right.
3. Tap Report or block, then Block [name].
4. Confirm with Block.

No block option? LinkedIn hides it in two cases. If the person is an admin or owner of a group you're in, leave the group first. If they organize an event you're attending, leave the event first. You also can't block someone who only viewed you in private mode, since LinkedIn never tells you who they are.

How to unblock someone on LinkedIn

1. Click Me at the top of LinkedIn, then Settings & Privacy.
2. Open Visibility, then Blocking under Visibility of your profile & network.
3. Find the person in your blocked list and click Unblock.

In the app, tap your profile picture, Settings, Visibility, then Blocking.

Unblocking is only a partial undo. You aren't connected again, so you'd have to send a new invitation. Recommendations they wrote for you stay deleted. And if you change your mind again, LinkedIn makes you wait 48 hours before you can re-block the same person. There's no limit on how many people you can block, but past 2,000 blocked members you may need support to unblock anyone.

How to know if someone blocked you on LinkedIn

LinkedIn will never confirm it. When you can't find a member, LinkedIn Help gives four possible reasons: they hibernated their profile, their account was removed for breaking the rules, they closed their account, or they blocked you.

To narrow it down:

• Search for their name while signed in. A blocked member doesn't show up, and a profile link you saved won't open for you.
• Check your connections and messages. If you were connected, they're gone from your list, and you can't send them a message.
• Search for them signed out, or in Google. If their public profile is still there but they're invisible from your account, a block is the likely explanation. If the profile is gone everywhere, they probably closed or hibernated their account.

Even then it's a strong hint, not proof.

Block, remove a connection or unfollow?

	Unfollow	Remove connection	Block
They're notified	No	No	No (except shared Recruiter accounts)
You stay connected	Yes	No	No
They can message you	Yes	Only through InMail or an Open Profile	No
They can see your profile	Yes	Yes	Only the public version
Easy to undo	Yes	New invitation needed	Unblock, then a new invitation

Block for harassment, a stalker, a scammer or someone you need out of your LinkedIn life. For a noisy feed, unfollowing is enough and nobody finds out: see does unfollowing someone on LinkedIn notify them. And if the worry is your employer rather than one person, read what your employer can see on LinkedIn.

When the real problem is your feed

Most people who reach for the block button are fed up with what LinkedIn shows them, not with one person. Blocking, unfollowing and "I don't want to see this" all work one account at a time.

MyFeedIn's creator feeds turn that around: you pick the people you want to read, group them into feeds, and read those instead of the algorithm's mix. Nobody gets blocked, nobody gets notified, and the people who annoy you just stop showing up.