How to Block Websites on iPhone (Any Site, Every Browser)

An iPhone can block any website you want, and the tools are already in Settings. Which tool depends on the job: blocking one specific site, blocking a whole category, or locking the phone down to a short allowed list. This guide covers all of them, and then the flaw they share when the person you're blocking is yourself.

1. Block specific websites with Never Allow

The direct answer to "how do I block a website on my iPhone":

1. Open Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions and switch restrictions on.
2. Tap Content Restrictions → Web Content → Limit Adult Websites.
3. Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and enter the address.

Sites on the list stop loading in Safari and most other browsers. Add both the www and bare versions of a domain to be thorough.

Good: built in, precise, takes a minute. Bad: it's a manual list. Every mirror, subdomain, and new site you discover needs adding by hand, and whoever knows the Screen Time passcode can remove entries just as fast.

2. Lock down to Allowed Websites Only

Same screen, one level stricter: choose Allowed Websites Only and the phone blocks everything except the sites you whitelist. This is the tool for a young child's device, and far too blunt for an adult's daily phone. Most people who try it for self-control abandon it within a week and take the filter down entirely.

3. Block a whole category at once

If what you're really blocking is adult content, don't build the list by hand. The Limit Adult Websites setting itself filters the category automatically, with the caveats covered in how to block porn on iPhone: coverage is patchy on newer sites, and "Limit Adult Websites not working" is a search phrase for a reason. A dedicated Screen Time-based blocker app covers the category properly, in Safari and every other app.

4. DNS filtering

Point your network at a filtering DNS provider (Settings → Wi-Fi → your network → Configure DNS → Manual, or a DNS profile to cover cellular). Blocked domains stop resolving in every app and browser.

Good: system-wide, works outside Safari. Bad: it's a settings field, undone in ten seconds, and one new Wi-Fi network punches a hole in it.

Blocking a child's phone vs. blocking your own

For a parent, the tools above are the whole answer: set them up, keep the Screen Time passcode to yourself, done. The lock holds because the person who wants past it doesn't hold the key.

Blocking your own phone is a different problem. You know the passcode. Every method above can be undone by the person who set it up, in under a minute, at exactly the moment (usually late at night) when you least want it undone. Blocking is a solved problem. Unblocking without consequence is the unsolved one.

When the website you're blocking is porn

That's the case Pledgely is built for. It blocks adult content system-wide using Apple's Screen Time technology, and then closes the off-switch loophole: you set a daily pledge from $1 to $100, held on your card and released back every day the blocker stays on. Turn the blocker off mid-cycle and the pledge is charged. Nothing you browse is logged; blocked sites simply don't load. The 2am decision stops being "toggle a setting" and becomes "pay real money," which is a different conversation with yourself.

For distracting-but-harmless sites (news, social feeds), Screen Time's Never Allow list plus a passcode held by someone you trust is the honest recommendation. For adult content, use the blocker with real stakes behind it.

Next: How to block porn on iPhone (so it actually stays blocked)