By Yes, you can unblock someone on LinkedIn. Anyone you've blocked can be unblocked at any time, by you and only you, and the whole thing takes about a minute. The catch is that the option isn't on the other person's profile. It lives in your account settings, in a blocked list most people have never opened.
This guide walks through exactly where that list is on desktop and in the mobile app, what actually gets restored when you unblock someone (less than you might expect), and the two rules that trip people up: a 48-hour wait before you can re-block, and an unblocking limit that kicks in past 2,000 blocked members.
Can you unblock someone on LinkedIn? The short answer
Quick answer: Yes. Go to Settings & Privacy โ Visibility โ Blocking, find the person in your blocked list, and click Unblock. You don't need to visit their profile, and LinkedIn doesn't notify them. Per LinkedIn's official help documentation, you'll then need to wait 48 hours before you can block that same person again.
How to unblock someone on LinkedIn on desktop
- Click the Me icon (your profile photo) at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Select Settings & Privacy.
- Click Visibility in the left-hand menu.
- Under "Visibility of your profile & network," select Blocking.
- Find the person in your blocked list and click Unblock next to their name. LinkedIn may ask you to confirm the change with your password.
That's it. The unblock takes effect immediately, so you can both see each other's full profiles again.
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How to unblock someone on LinkedIn on mobile (iPhone and Android)
The path is nearly identical in the app on both iOS and Android:
- Tap your profile photo, then tap the Settings gear icon.
- Tap Visibility (shown as "Visibility of your LinkedIn activity" on some versions).
- Tap Blocking to open your blocked list.
- Tap Unblock next to the person's name and confirm.
Menu labels shift slightly between app versions, but the route is always the same: profile photo, settings, visibility, blocking. If you can't find it, the mobile browser version of LinkedIn follows the desktop steps above.
What happens when you unblock someone on LinkedIn
Unblocking restores visibility, not the relationship. Here's the breakdown:
| After you unblock | Restored? |
|---|---|
| They can view your full profile (and you theirs) | Yes |
| You can message each other and send invitations | Yes |
| Your old connection | No โ blocking removed it, so you'll need to send a new connection request |
| Recommendations they wrote for you | No โ LinkedIn states these cannot be reinstated after unblocking |
| Your ability to re-block them | Only after a 48-hour wait |
One detail worth knowing before you block or unblock anyone: blocking was never total. According to LinkedIn's blocking overview, blocked members can still see your public profile, your public group posts, and your public shares. Blocking cuts the direct channels (profile views, messages, the connection itself), not your public footprint.
Why can't I unblock someone on LinkedIn?
If the Unblock button is missing or failing, it's usually one of these:
- You've blocked more than 2,000 members. LinkedIn's help documentation says that past this point you may not be able to unblock people yourself, and you'll need to contact LinkedIn support to do it. (There's no limit on how many people you can block โ the ceiling only affects unblocking.)
- The account is gone or hidden. If the person closed their account, hibernated their profile, or was removed from LinkedIn, their entry may not behave normally in your list.
- Stale app data. The mobile app can show cached states. Sign out and back in, or try the desktop site, before assuming something is broken.
The 48-hour re-block rule
LinkedIn enforces a cooling-off period: once you unblock a member, you cannot block them again for 48 hours. So if you're unblocking someone just to check their profile, know that you'll be visible to each other for at least two days before you can re-block. There's no workaround, and support won't override it. If you only want to stop seeing someone's posts, unfollowing or muting them is the lighter tool, and it doesn't touch the block system at all.
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Frequently asked questions
Can someone see if you unblock them on LinkedIn?
No. LinkedIn doesn't send a notification when you block someone (with one narrow exception for shared LinkedIn Recruiter accounts), and there's no unblock notification either. That said, unblocking makes your activity visible again: if you view their profile afterward without private mode on, they can see the visit in "Who's Viewed Your Profile," and a new connection request obviously announces itself.
Can you tell if someone has blocked you on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn won't tell you. The usual sign is that their profile stops loading for you, including from search and old message threads. But LinkedIn's own help pages note that an unreachable profile can also mean the person hibernated their account, closed it, or was removed from the platform, so a missing profile is a hint, not proof.
Can I block someone who already blocked me?
In practice there's rarely a way to, because blocking is done from the other person's profile page and their block prevents you from opening it. There's also little reason to: a block already works in both directions. Neither of you can view the other's full profile or send messages, regardless of who initiated it.
Can I unblock someone without visiting their profile?
Unblocking never happens on their profile. It's done entirely from your own Settings & Privacy โ Visibility โ Blocking list, so you'll never need to find or open their page.
How long after I unblock someone can I block them again?
48 hours. The timer starts the moment you unblock.
Blocks are a signal, not just a setting
If you're in sales or recruiting and you're reading this because a prospect blocked you (or you blocked a persistent spammer and now need them back), the block list is telling you something about outreach quality. People block senders whose messages feel irrelevant or relentless. That's fixable. Linkdify helps B2B teams run LinkedIn outreach that stays targeted and paced, with per-lead personalization and daily sending limits, so your messages land as relevant instead of report-worthy.
And if you're cleaning up your blocked list today: settings, visibility, blocking, unblock. One minute, done.