How to Block Websites on a Chromebook

Answer Summary

How you block a site on a Chromebook depends on who owns it. A personal Chromebook uses a supervised Family Link account, where you set a filter and approve or block specific sites. A school-issued one is controlled by the Google Admin console, and only the school's admin can change it.

Key Takeaways

Personal Chromebook: block sites with a supervised Family Link account.
School Chromebook: the Google Admin console controls it via URL blocklist/allowlist (Family Link can't override it).
Admin policies can take up to 24 hours to apply and don't cover Android apps' WebView.

The first question on a Chromebook is whose it is, because that decides how you block a site. A personal Chromebook runs on Family Link; a school one answers to the Google Admin console. Here's the path for each.

Step by step

Personal (Family Link): Family Link app → select child → Controls → Google Chrome and web → set a filter (Allow all / Try to block explicit / Only allow approved); add specific sites under Manage sites → Approved/Blocked sites → Add a website.
School or organization (Google Admin console): sign in to the Google Admin console → Devices → Chrome → Settings (or Chrome browser → Settings) → optionally pick an organizational unit → set URLBlocklist (block) and/or URLAllowlist (allow) → Save. Verify at chrome://policy → Reload policies.

Good to know

A few honest limits: this needs ChromeOS 71 or newer, Family Link turns off Incognito, and admin-console changes can take up to 24 hours to reach the device, and won't apply inside Android apps that use WebView. On a school Chromebook, the admin's settings win; Family Link can't override them.

It's one device in the larger guide to blocking websites and apps.

Written by R Blank Founder & CEO of Shield Your Body, author of Empowered, and host of The Healthier Tech Podcast

R Blank is the founder of Shield Your Body and the author of Empowered: A Practical Guide to Protecting Yourself from EMF. He spent years thinking about the devices we keep closest, and what they quietly ask of us in return. Then he put his own phone down, and found clarity, stillness, and the sense of being present in his own life again on the other side. In 2024 he brought Bagby into the Shield Your Body family, to help more people find their way back to the same.

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