How to block porn on iPhone: the complete 2026 guide

iOS can block adult websites without any third-party app, for free, in about four minutes. Do that part first. Then read the second half of this guide, because the built-in block is the easy problem. The hard problem is that you also know the passcode.

> Step 1: turn on Screen Time

Open Settings, tap Screen Time, and turn it on if it is off. If you are setting this up for yourself rather than a child, choose the option that says this is your own iPhone. Everything below lives under this one menu.

> Step 2: lock Content Restrictions with a passcode you do not choose

In Screen Time, tap Lock Screen Time Settings and set a four-digit passcode. This is the single most important step in the whole guide, and the one almost everyone gets wrong. If you pick the code yourself, you have not blocked anything — you have added a four-digit speed bump to a habit that already survives shame, exhaustion and a locked bedroom door. Have someone else type the code with the phone turned away from you, or generate four random digits and let a friend hold them.

Important: when iOS asks for an Apple ID to recover a forgotten Screen Time passcode, tap Cancel. If your own Apple ID can reset the code, the code is decorative.

> Step 3: switch on Limit Adult Websites

Go to Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, and turn the top switch on. Tap Content Restrictions, then Web Content, then choose Limit Adult Websites. Apple maintains the blocklist and it is updated continuously, which is more than most paid filters manage.

Under the same screen you get two boxes: Never Allow and Always Allow. Add any site the filter misses to Never Allow. Adding sites here is worth five minutes of your time — the Apple list catches the top thousand domains, not the long tail.

> Step 4: close the three side doors

• ▪Set Apps to 12+ or 9+ under Content Restrictions so adult-rated apps cannot be installed at all.
• ▪Under Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content, set Web Search Content to Limit and Explicit Language to Don't Allow.
• ▪Under Allowed Apps, turn off any browser you do not need. The filter covers all browsers on iOS, but fewer browsers means fewer places to fight.

> Step 5: block at the network level too

Change your Wi-Fi DNS to a filtering resolver so the block follows every device on the network, not just this phone. Settings, Wi-Fi, tap the (i) next to your network, Configure DNS, Manual, and enter a family-filtering resolver. Do the same on the router if you can reach it. This catches the case where the phone's filter is off but the site is still one tap away.

> Why this stops working around week three

Screen Time is not defeated by hackers. It is defeated by you, at 1 a.m., in about nine seconds, because you set the passcode and your thumb knows it. The other standard bypasses are just as boring: delete the profile, reset the phone, sign into a different Apple ID, borrow a tablet.

A block you can undo in ten seconds is not a block. It is a note to yourself, written by someone you have already learned to overrule.

This is why people cycle through five apps and end up back where they started. The filter was never the weak part. The reversibility was.

> The fix: make the reversal impossible, not just annoying

NoPhone is built around a single idea: you choose what gets blocked and for how long, and then you cannot shorten the timer from your phone. The key goes to someone you trust. Twelve hours, three days, two weeks — whatever you pick, the version of you at 1 a.m. does not get a vote. Pair it with the Screen Time steps above and the filter handles the websites while the timer handles you.

Set the built-in restrictions today, hand the Screen Time passcode to a friend, then add a locked timer on top. That combination holds when nothing else does.