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How to Block Websites and Apps on Any Device

Answer Summary

You can block websites and apps on any device with tools that are already built in: Screen Time on iPhone, Digital Wellbeing on Android, and a Chrome extension or supervised profile on a computer or Chromebook. Each takes a few minutes and costs nothing extra.

The hard part isn't blocking one site; it's making the boundary hold. That's as much about habit as software; which is why, for the bedroom at least, the simplest block is leaving the phone in another room.

Key Takeaways

  • Every major platform has a free, built-in way to block sites and apps; no paid app or subscription needed.
  • iPhone uses Screen Time; Android uses Digital Wellbeing or Family Link; computers and Chromebooks use a Chrome extension or a supervised Google profile.
  • Blocks are per-device and easy to switch off, so they work best paired with a schedule or a physical boundary.
  • Four built-in methods cover nearly every device, and none of them cost anything.
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Blocking a website or an app is one of those things that sounds technical and turns out to take about two minutes. Every device you own already has a tool for it. The real question isn't how; it's how to make the block actually last. This guide covers both: the exact method for each device, and the habits that keep a boundary from quietly dissolving by Tuesday.

Why block websites and apps at all?

Usually it comes down to one of three things: getting work done without the pull of an open tab, helping a household keep healthier screen habits, or protecting sleep from the late-night scroll. The method is the same; only the motivation differs. Blocking isn't about punishing yourself; it's about removing a decision from the moment you're least able to make it well.

The quick version, by device

Here's where to go on each device. Each links to a step-by-step walkthrough.

One block for every device: the router

If you want a site gone from every phone, laptop, and tablet at once, the most durable place to block it is the router, the box your internet runs through. Most modern routers, and family-safe DNS services, let you blocklist a domain or pause the internet on a schedule. It's a little more setup than a phone toggle, but no one can lift it without getting into the router itself.

Why a block rarely sticks on its own

Here's the part most guides skip: a block you can lift in two taps is a block you'll lift. Software puts a small speed bump between you and the habit, but it asks the same tired, distracted version of you to hold the line. That's why blocking works best paired with something that isn't a setting: a fixed schedule, an accountability partner, or plain physical distance.

When software isn't enough: distance

For one room in particular, the simplest block isn't software at all. The phone is in the bedroom for one real reason: the alarm. Take that job away from the phone and it has no reason to spend the night within arm's reach. A silent clock on the nightstand lets the phone charge in another room, so the most distracting device you own simply isn't there to unblock at 1 a.m.

It's the same idea as Screen Time, made physical: remove the decision in advance, while you're clear-headed, so the late version of you never gets a vote.

A few honest misconceptions

  • "A block on my phone covers my laptop too." It doesn't; blocks are per-device unless you use a router or a linked family account.
  • "Blocking apps will fix my focus." It helps, but the lasting change is the habit underneath; treat the block as a support, not a cure.
  • "I need a paid app for this." You almost never do; the built-in tools handle most of what people want.
R Blank
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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