How to Block Inappropriate Websites on a Phone
Short answer: you can do this in about five minutes on either phone, for free, using controls the phone already has. On iPhone it lives in Settings under Screen Time, in Content & Privacy Restrictions, then App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then Web Content. On Android it runs through Family Link, under Controls and then Google Chrome and Web. Full steps for both are below.
The part worth knowing before you rely on it: each of these controls has a gap, and in both cases the company that makes it says so itself. Google states that "No filter is perfect" and that a child can sign out of Chrome or use another browser where the Family Link settings do not apply. Apple states that "By default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once reached." Set the filter, and also set the two things below that close those gaps. Verified July 28, 2026.
iPhone, step by step
These are Apple's own steps, using Apple's own names for each setting.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Screen Time.
- If you are setting this up for your child, tap your child's name.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then turn it on.
- Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then tap Web Content.
- Select Limit Adult Websites. Apple then filters automatically, and you can tap Add Website below Never Allow to block specific addresses yourself.
There is also a stricter setting that allows only websites you have approved, which is the right choice for a younger child and far too blunt for a teenager. It turns the open web into a short list you maintain by hand.
⚠️ Do not skip the passcode. If you leave Screen Time without a Screen Time passcode, everything above can be switched back off by anyone holding the phone, which rather defeats the exercise.
Android, step by step
On Android the website filter for a supervised child runs through Family Link and applies to Chrome.
- Open the Family Link app.
- Select your child.
- Tap Controls, then Google Chrome and Web.
- Choose one of Google's three filter settings, described below.
Google's three options are "Allow all sites", where your child can visit everything except the sites you block; "Try to block explicit sites", which Google says is intended to hide sexually explicit and violent sites; and "Only allow approved sites", where your child can visit only sites you have allowed. You can also block or allow individual sites, and approve or deny requests when your child asks for something you have blocked.
⭐ One step you can probably skip: most guides will tell you to go and switch on SafeSearch. Google states that SafeSearch filtering is turned on and locked by default for a supervised child account and can only be managed by parents, so your child cannot turn it off. Google also says that on devices like Android and Chromebooks, Incognito mode is disabled for these accounts. Read that scope carefully: Android and Chromebooks, which is not a statement about private browsing on an iPhone or a laptop.
The gaps, in each company's own words
This is the part that separates a filter that helps from a filter you wrongly trust. We are not editorialising here, we are quoting the two companies that built these tools.
Google's gap is the browser. Its own help pages say "No filter is perfect, but this should help hide sexually explicit sites", and that on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and iPad a child can sign out of Chrome or use another browser where the Family Link settings for Chrome will not apply. The control lives inside Chrome and inside a signed-in managed account. Step outside either and it is not there.
Apple's gap is enforcement. Apple notes that by default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once they are reached. The fix is Apple's own: turn on Block at Downtime, after which restricted apps cannot be opened during downtime and appear dimmed with an hourglass icon, instead of showing a reminder your child can tap past. That needs a Screen Time passcode. We will not tell you this makes every limit unskippable, because Apple does not say that.
Both gaps share a shape worth naming: these are device controls. They travel with the phone you configured, not with your child. A friend's phone, a console, a school laptop and the home Wi-Fi are all outside them.
When filtering stops being the answer
Do the steps above first. They are free, they take five minutes, and for a younger child a good filter plus SafeSearch handles most of what you are actually worried about.
The reason to read further is that filtering and monitoring are different jobs, and parents usually arrive looking for the first because they have not separated them yet. A filter makes a yes or no decision about a website. It cannot tell you that a stranger started messaging your child in a game, that a group chat turned cruel, or that the tone of someone's messages changed. Those things do not happen on websites you can put on a list.
Bark is the tool we track for that second job: rather than showing you a transcript, its AI watches texts, social messages and email across more than 30 apps and surfaces the parts that suggest a problem. It also does content filtering, so it can cover both jobs at once, and our guide to web content filtering is honest about where its filtering is genuinely stronger than the free tools and where it is not.
See how Bark monitors messages
If you would rather stay with what you already own, that is a legitimate answer and we will not pretend otherwise: our guide to each platform's own parental controls covers the free settings inside TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and the rest, and our comparison of parental control apps puts the paid options side by side, including the ones we do not earn anything from.
Frequently asked questions
How do I block inappropriate websites on an iPhone?
Open Settings, tap Screen Time, tap your child’s name if you are setting this up for them, then tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on. Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then tap Web Content. Choosing Limit Adult Websites applies Apple’s automatic filtering, and below it you can tap Add Website under Never Allow to block specific addresses yourself. There is also a stricter mode that allows only websites you have approved. Set a Screen Time passcode while you are there, or the settings can simply be switched back off.
How do I block websites on an Android phone?
Website filtering for a supervised child runs through Family Link and applies to Chrome. Open the Family Link app, select your child, then tap Controls and then Google Chrome and Web. Google gives three options: Allow all sites, where your child can visit everything except sites you block; Try to block explicit sites; and Only allow approved sites. You can also allow or block individual sites, and approve requests when your child asks for a blocked one.
Do I need to turn on SafeSearch as well?
Usually not, and this is the step most guides tell you to do unnecessarily. Google states that SafeSearch filtering is turned on and locked by default for a supervised child account, and that it can only be managed by parents, so your child cannot switch it off. Google also says that on devices like Android and Chromebooks, Incognito mode is disabled for supervised accounts. Note the wording: that applies to Android and Chromebooks, so it is not a promise about private browsing on an iPhone or a computer.
Will blocking websites actually stop my child seeing adult content?
It will stop a lot of it, and both companies are honest that it will not stop all of it. Google says plainly that no filter is perfect and that this should help hide sexually explicit sites. Google also points out that on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and iPad a child can sign out of Chrome or use another browser, where the Family Link settings for Chrome do not apply. So a phone filter is a good first layer rather than a wall, and it does nothing on a friend’s phone, a games console or a school laptop.
My child gets around the limits. What now?
First check one setting, because Apple flags this itself: by default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once they are reached. Turning on Block at Downtime makes restricted apps genuinely unopenable during downtime rather than merely dimmed, and setting a Screen Time passcode stops the whole thing being switched off. If it keeps happening, the honest read is usually not that you need a stricter filter but that you have lost visibility, because a filter only decides yes or no about a website and tells you nothing about what is actually happening in messages and apps.
How we reach these verdicts, and the sources behind them, is on our methodology page. The iPhone steps, the names of each Screen Time setting, the statement that by default Screen Time limits can be ignored once reached, and the behaviour of Block at Downtime were read from Apple's own iPhone support documentation and verified July 28, 2026; that documentation was read in its English Canadian edition, and we make no claim about differences between regions. Only Limit Adult Websites appears here as an exact setting name, because it is the only Web Content option we saw named on Apple's own page; the stricter approved-sites mode is described rather than quoted. Apple's Allowed Apps & Features setting is not recommended here for blocking a third-party app, because Apple describes it as covering built-in apps. The Android steps, the three Chrome filter options, the statement that no filter is perfect, the note that a child can sign out of Chrome or use another browser, the fact that SafeSearch is on and locked by default for supervised accounts, and the point that Incognito mode is disabled on Android and Chromebooks were read from Google's own For Families support documentation and verified July 28, 2026. Apple and Google are named as sources in text and are not linked. We earn a commission if you sign up to Bark through our link; it appears only after the free steps, because for many families the free steps are enough.