How to Block Websites on iPhone and iPad

What keeps you up at night as a digital parent may be things like cyberbullying, identity theft, and exposure to foul language or mature content.

New iOS 16 updates offer relief for this battle, suggesting you comply with demands for more screen time through iMessage. However, tech-savvy kids can still beat you at your own well-intentioned game.

This is where dedicated parental control apps can be training wheels to enforce proper tech habits for kids. There are also free parental controls built into iPhones and iPads that enable you to block websites or limit screen time. There are also, however, (more general) tools that you can use to implement age-gated content.

Using Apple’s Screen Time

At the September event, Apple announced many Screen Time updates, including more intuitive parental controls and on-website blocking features inside iOS 16 and iPad OS 16.

• Age-based default settings: Earlier versions of Screen Time forced you to wander through at least 30 steps in order to put age-based restrictions on various iOS apps, TV shows, movies, music, and books. The filters are now automatically selected when parents add children to Family Sharing.
• Quick start setup: A quick start menu also appears the first time you bring any new iOS device near another one connected to your network. The new iPad or iPhone will automatically mirror the parental controls set up on the authorizing device.
• Screen Time requests: If their devices have reached screen limits, children can send parents iMessages asking for more time. In this way, parents can quickly approve or deny these requests within iMessage without having to take their child’s iPhone and manually readjust settings.
• Family Checklist: Practical tips Family Checklist provides some practical tips for parental controls, location sharing, subscriptions and other family-sharing elements. Once scattered around the far corners of like Settings, Content & Privacy Restrictions and Medical ID, parental controls now have their own home.

To turn on your iPhone content restrictions for you:

• Open Settings from your main screen.
• Scroll down and find Screen Time.
• Go to Content, then Privacy Restrictions, and pick Content Restrictions.

Tap on Web Content and choose from these options:

• Unrestricted: This lets you freely browse any website.
• Limit Adult Websites: Stops you from seeing inappropriate content.
• Allowed Websites: Only allows access to specific kid-friendly sites, like Disney or PBS Kids.

These rules apply to all browsers on all devices, not just Safari. However, remember, they will not control apps like Facebook and YouTube. If you want limits on those, go to Screen Time in Settings.

2. Using Free Website-blocking Apps

Being able to block websites is not something only parents know how to do; your children can change these settings, too. Besides your Screen Time passcode, precocious children may still find a way in.

Like BlockSite, plenty of free websites-blocking apps are available in the App Store that can strengthen restrictions. Whether you want to shield a young child from adult sites that contain objectionable content and vulgar language or prevent your teenager from wasting time on the Internet instead of studying for his exams, a blocker is an effective tool.

Free browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox can be downloaded from BlockSite.com, along with iOS and Android apps.

With apps like BlockSite, you can:

• Limit adult content and limit social media or gaming apps. Categorize websites to block.
• Manually select individual websites and block a list.
• Restrictions on syncing across mobiles, desktops and tablets.
• Based on usage reports, see how your family actually uses devices.

Installing BlockSite on your iOS device

However, once you install the mobile app or browser plug-in, the set up process for website blocking apps is basically the same all around.

On the browser extension:

• Select the BlockSite toolbar icon.
• Select the settings/gear icon.
• In the left-hand menu, click on the Block Sitesspace.
• On the right-hand bar, type in the sites you want to block.
• Select Enter to Confirm your blocklist.

On the mobile app:

• Click the bottom left shield icon identified as Block List.
• A green circle appears in the bottom right. Tap it.
• To add websites to your block list, just enter the website address, keyword, or category.
• Select Done on the top right-hand corner of your blocklist.

Important Links

How to update AirPods firmware

How to gameshare on Xbox

How to change your Netflix password

How to buy books on Kindle

How to clear the cache on Xbox Series X and S

People May Also Ask

How do I block websites on iPhone and iPad?

• Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
• Go to Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and type in your Screen Time passcode.
• Tap Content Restrictions.
• Tap Web Content.
• You can select Unrestricted Access, Limit Adult Websites or Allowed Websites.

How can I permanently block websites on my iPhone?

• Select the settings/gear icon.
• Select the Block Sites tab in the menu on the left-hand side.
• On the right-hand bar, enter the websites you wish to block.
• Press Enter to confirm your blocklist.

Is it possible to permanently block websites on your phone?

If you want to permanently block websites on your phone, you can install a web-blocking app or extension. If your website blocker’s user interface is simple, then you should be able to find a button that allows direct blocking of the site. Some other apps let you set the time limit of app use to zero.

Can I temporarily block a website?

You can temporarily filter a website from your computer by various means. One way is to edit the “hosts” file on your computer, re-directing the website’s domain to another IP address such as 127.0. 0.1 (the loopback address), the script effectively prevents your browser from connecting to the site.

Is not a router-level block done at the app level?

The thing is, website-blocking apps can get the job done, but they only apply to each device. If you have several children, you may find yourself balancing apps and usage caps between several smartphones, iPads and game consoles.

The biggest benefit of setting up router-level blocks is that the restrictions will apply to everything on your network. If the IPhone even knows how to block (or unblock) websites, it cannot run over your router-level controls.

When a router blocks certain websites in this way, the websites will remain blocked even if your child is using another browser or operating system on his own personal device.