A new knowledge base document has appeared on Apple’s support site this evening, introducing a new spam reporting tool for iMessage users. The document outlines a way for users to report unwanted messages, or spam, directly to Apple.
The posting comes ahead of the release of iOS 7, which adds a new Contact blocking feature for phone calls and messages. Apple has obviously discovered that spam is a problem for its messaging platform, and it’s doing something about it…
Here’s the text from the support document:
Messages: Reporting unwanted messages sent from iMessage
If you’re seeing unwanted iMessages (spam) in Messages app, you can report those to Apple.
To report unwanted iMessage messages to Apple, please send an email with the following details to: imessage.spam@icloud.com
- Include a screenshot of the message you have received.
- Include the full email address or phone number you received the unwanted message from.
- Include the date and time that you received the message.
While I haven’t seen rampant iMessage spam myself, I do know a lot of people that have been hit with DoS-like attacks that locked up their account for several hours. Here’s what we said in a report on the issue back in March of this year:
“The bigger problem here is that Apple obviously isn’t monitoring its iMessage service for things like spamming, leaving the door open for future attacks. And right now, the only remedy for the issue is to disable the iMessage account that’s affected. “
Apple launched iMessage in the fall of 2011, alongside iOS 5. During the company’s Q3 earnings call last week, Tim Cook said that the iPad-maker has facilitated the sending of more than 900 billion total iMessages as of July of this year.