How to block websites on iPhone Safari (and Android)

Updated November 6, 2026 · 7 min read · Blocking apps

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On iOS 27, Apple's website block steps sit under Family, for a child's device. Its iOS 27 guide for your own iPhone doesn't show website steps, but that doesn't prove the setting is gone, so check Screen Time on your phone for Web Content. If it isn't there, the closest options are a Time Allowance or a blocker app. On iOS 26 and iOS 18, you block a website in Safari with Screen Time: turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions, open Web Content, and add the address under Never Allow. Android has a daily timer for sites in Chrome, plus a block list through Family Link for a child's account.

1. Block a specific website on your own phone

iPhone on iOS 27: check for Web Content

Apple’s iOS 27 page on blocking features and content with Screen Time for yourself has no website steps. The examples it names under Content Restrictions are Books, Movies, TV Shows and Music. The website settings Apple documents for iPhone on iOS 27 are parental controls under Family, covered in section 3.

That doesn’t prove the setting is gone, and this guide wasn’t tested on an iOS 27 iPhone, so look on yours:

1. Open the Settings app, tap Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions.
2. Look for Web Content. On iOS 26 it’s inside App Store, Media, Web, & Games.
3. If you find it, try the Never Allow steps below. If you don’t, go to section 2 for a time limit or section 6 for a scheduled block.

iPhone on iOS 26 and iOS 18: Never Allow

1. Open the Settings app and tap Screen Time.
2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions.
3. Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then Web Content.
4. Select Limit Adult Websites.
5. Tap Add Website below Never Allow, then enter the URL of the site you want to block.

Now lock it, or you can take the site off the list whenever you like. In Screen Time, scroll down and tap Lock Screen Time Settings, then enter a four-digit passcode twice. It has to be entered before those settings can change. If you set up Screen Time Passcode Recovery, you can reset a forgotten code with your Apple Account, which also means you can get past your own. If you’d just type it in, have someone else pick it.

Apple’s steps have no schedule, so this suits a site you never want to open. They also don’t say whether the list reaches browsers other than Safari. On iOS 17, don’t expect the same menus: Apple’s guide for that version uses different labels and has no website steps.

Android: a timer instead of a list

Google’s Android and Family Link help pages show a site block list only for a supervised child’s account. On your own phone, the tool they describe is the site timer in the next section.

2. Limit the time you spend on a site

iPhone on iOS 27: Time Allowances

This works for a site that belongs to an app. Apple says that if an app declares an associated website, its Time Allowance applies to both. It also says all your Apple devices need version 27 or later (iOS 27, macOS 27 and so on) to use Time Allowances.

1. Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then Time Allowances. If Screen Time is off, tap Turn On App & Website Activity first.
2. To add a category, tap Manage Categories, tap the add button, then select one.
3. Under Time Allowances, tap the category and drag the slider to set its daily time.

Allowances work by category, and Apple’s guide doesn’t show a way to enter a website address. Lock the settings at Screen Time → Passcode & Management → Lock Screen Time Settings. There’s more on the other limits in how to block apps on iPhone.

Android: Set site timer

1. Open your phone’s Settings app and tap Digital Wellbeing.
2. Tap the chart, then Chrome. If you don’t see it, tap Show all apps.
3. Next to the website, tap Set site timer.
4. Choose a time limit and tap OK.

To see the sites you’ve visited, tap Show sites, then Show. These steps are for Chrome, and Google says some steps vary by device. Its page doesn’t say what happens when a site’s time runs out. It also describes the App limits PIN for app limits and doesn’t mention site timers, so don’t count on a PIN to protect one.

3. Block a website on a child’s phone

iPhone on iOS 27: Apps & Websites

You need Family Sharing, a Child Account for your child, and the new parental controls. Those require every device used in the last 90 days by a parent, guardian or managed child in the group to be on version 27. Then, from your own iPhone:

1. Open Settings, tap Family, then your child’s name.
2. Tap Apps & Websites. Enter your Screen Time passcode if asked.
3. Tap the add button, then enter the name of the website to block it.
4. To block a site already on the list, tap it, tap Block Website, then tap Block Website again to confirm.

To allow only sites you’ve approved, tap Restrictions, tap Filtering under Websites, then choose Approved Websites Only. Your child then sends a request for each new site through Ask to Browse, which works in Safari and other supported browser apps. Ask to Browse is on by default for children under 13 and Limit Adult Websites for children under 18, though the ages vary by region.

Devices that can’t update can still use Screen Time and Family Sharing settings from iOS 26 or earlier, and Apple says parents can manage them locally with their Screen Time passcode. It doesn’t give website steps for that case.

If you’re still on iOS 26, Apple’s website steps for a child start by tapping your child’s name under Screen Time. From there, they match the Never Allow steps in section 1.

Android: Family Link

1. Open the Family Link app and select your child.
2. Tap Controls, then Google Chrome and Web.
3. Under Manage sites, tap Blocked sites.
4. Tap Add a website, then enter a website or a domain.

A website entry needs the www, like www.google.com, and it won’t cover sites that begin or end differently, like photos.google.com. A domain entry, like google, covers them. Your child can still ask to visit a blocked site, and you approve or deny the request.

On Android 17 or later, you can also filter explicit sites on the device itself: Settings → Parental controls, set a PIN, then Web content filters → Block explicit sites. It takes no list of your own, and Google warns that explicit content may still show on other apps, devices or browsers.

Family Link can also manage Chrome on a child’s iPhone, but there your child can sign out of Chrome, and the settings won’t apply after that.

4. Lock or turn off the whole browser

Sometimes one site isn’t the problem. These work on the browser, so every site goes with it.

iPhone

Lock it with Face ID. This stops other people, not you.

1. On the Home Screen, touch and hold the app until the Quick Actions menu opens.
2. Tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode), then tap it again to lock the app.

The app locks again after you quit it. Apps that came with the iPhone can’t be hidden, and neither can the browser you’ve set as your default.

Turn it off on iOS 26 and iOS 18. Go to Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps & Features and turn off the app. It isn’t deleted, just hidden from your Home Screen until you turn it back on. Apple’s iPhone steps don’t name Safari here, but its Mac guide lists Safari among the iOS items that can be switched off. On iOS 27, the matching menu is Other Features, and the examples Apple gives there are AirDrop and Camera.

Android

Open Settings, tap Digital Wellbeing, then Focus mode, and choose your browser as an app to pause. You can’t use it while Focus mode is on, though Take a break unpauses it for a while.

5. Hide part of a page in Safari

If the site is fine and one piece of it isn’t, Safari’s Distraction Control can hide that piece. It needs iOS 18 or later.

1. On the website, tap the Page Menu button, then Hide Distracting Items.
2. Tap the item, then tap Hide. You can hide as many as you want.
3. Tap the button in the Smart Search field to confirm.

The site itself still opens. Apple says this doesn’t permanently hide ads or other items that update often, and Show Hidden Items brings everything back. It’s a Safari feature, so it won’t help on Android.

6. Block websites on a schedule with OpLoop

OpLoop is an app blocker for iPhone and Android, free to start. You choose which apps to block and when. On iPhone it uses Apple’s Screen Time API.

• Routines: pick the days and times once, like study hours or a wind-down at night, and blocking switches on and off by itself. On iPhone, websites can go on the list too. On Android, you’re choosing apps.
• Passes: a few short passes a day for when you really do need the app. When they’re gone, the block holds.
• Challenges: in the Circles tab, everyone blocks the same apps for 1 to 7 days.
• Lockdown (Pro): a Sprint you can’t end early. It holds until the timer runs out.

Open a blocked app and you get a card instead of a gray wall: a calm line, a gentle poke, sometimes a joke.

Which one should you use?

Questions

Can I use iPhone app limits on Safari?

Apple’s iOS 26 steps let you pick individual apps from a category under App Limits, but they don’t name Safari or mention a limit for one website. To stop one site on iOS 26, the Never Allow list in section 1 is the tool Apple documents for that. On iOS 27, Time Allowances work by category, as section 2 explains.

How do I lock apps on iPhone?

Touch and hold the app on the Home Screen, then tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode) and tap it again. To also hide a downloaded app, choose Hide and Require Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode), then Hide App. Children under 13 in a Family Sharing group can’t lock or hide apps.

How do you block a site on your phone?

It depends on the phone and whose account it is. On iOS 27, use Apps & Websites under Family for a child’s device. For your own, look for Web Content as in section 1, and if it isn’t there, use section 2 or 6. On iOS 26 or iOS 18, add the site under Never Allow. On Android, Family Link blocks sites for a child’s account, and Set site timer limits them on your own.