How to Block or Filter Tags on Tumblr

Inarguably, Tumblr ranks right up among the craziest places on the internet. You get all sorts of insane stuff on your endlessly scrolling dashboard that can range anywhere from clever political satire to the latest movie spoilers. And needless to say, some of them can keep you glued for hours or be downright irritating. Yes, Tumblr’s appeal lies in the fact that you never know what to expect, but can you do anything about those posts that you really dislike?

Thankfully, yes you can. Tumblr uses tags to categorize posts, and most of the stuff is based on followed blogs and searches. But rather than unfollowing them, you can use the tags to filter certain types of posts from ruining your day. So without further ado, let’s see how you should go about doing that. But first, let’s figure out how Tag Filtering works.

How Tag Filtering Works

Just like with any other tagging system, Tumblr keeps things pretty simple. Those who post content can add relevant tags or create ones from scratch to match what people search. But regardless, any blogs that you actively follow can prompt Tumblr to pump out posts related to tags that you never want to see anywhere within your dashboard feed in the first place.

To stop this from becoming a problem, Tumblr implemented a filtering system a while ago. Filter a tag, and you automatically block all posts that contain the same tag, even if they’ve got other tags added to them.

Blocked posts, however, aren’t necessarily hidden — you can still see placeholders on your dashboard. If you want, you can simply click or tap the View Post button to open the post within the dashboard sidebar. Very useful if the posts are from a blog that you know and love. Quite intuitive, right?

When it comes down to the process of filtering out tags, Tumblr lets you do that on a desktop, as well as on the Android and iOS mobile apps. But don’t worry. Your changes sync over, so you don’t have to repeat your actions across platforms.

Filter a tag, and you automatically block all posts that contain the same tag, even if they’ve got other tags added to them

If you are unsure as to what tags to filter, check the bottom of a bothersome post for the complete list of associated tags. Use your intuition to determine the tag that you need to block. For example, if you see both the #starwars and #starwars spoilers tags in one post, choose the latter to stop missing out on Star Wars posts that actually don’t have any spoilers in them.

Blocking Tags on Desktop

On a desktop, filtering tags require a brief visit to the Settings panel. Any changes to the dashboard feed are reflected immediately.

Step 1: On the Tumblr dashboard, click the Account icon, and then click Settings.

Step 2: Click the pencil-shaped Edit icon under the Filtering section, and then add the tag that you want to block. When done, click the Add button.

Step 3. Insert any other tags that you want to block, and then head back to the dashboard. All posts related to the filtered tags should now be hidden.

Filtering Tags on Mobile

Your filtered tags on the desktop should sync right over to mobile. However, you can still add tags to the list from Tumblr’s Android or iOS apps quite easily.

Step 1: On the Tumblr mobile app, tap the Account icon. On the subsequent screen, tap the cog-shaped Settings icon.

Step 2: Tap the option labeled General Settings, and then tap Filtering.

Step 3: Tap the +New option, and then enter the tag that you want to filter into the pop-up box. Repeat for any other tags that you want to block, and then head back over to the dashboard.

Unfollow Annoying Blogs

At times, you may receive tons of annoying posts just because you followed the wrong blog. And obviously, you can’t just rely on tag filtering to stop seeing them. So, why not consider unfollowing the blog? It’s either that or losing out on better posts that carry similar tags from other blogs.

If you are brave enough to take that decision, then simply click the username of the blog from within a post. You should then see the blog loading to the side of the dashboard. Simply click Unfollow, and you should be good.

Groom Your Dashboard Well

The ability to filter or block tags is one of the best, yet relatively unknown, features on Tumblr. Once you’ve added some of the worst tags out there, you no longer have to worry about seeing stupid posts or surprises on your dashboard. So what are you waiting for? Start blocking them tags!