How to block porn on an iPhone
Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions. Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then Web Content, and choose Limit Adult Websites. iOS filters adult sites from that point on. Then set a Screen Time passcode, or the whole thing comes off in seconds.
Six steps, no app required, current as of this year. Most guides for this were written for an older Settings menu and still send you to a screen that isn’t there any more.
Block adult websites with Screen Time
Open Screen Time
Open Settings and tap Screen Time. If you have never used it, turn it on when it asks.
Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and switch it on. Nothing is filtered yet. This only unlocks the controls underneath.
Open Web Content
Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then tap Web Content.
Apple now labels this App Store, Media, Web, & Games. Older guides call it Content Restrictions, which is why they send you somewhere that no longer exists.
Choose Limit Adult Websites
The options are Unrestricted, Limit Adult Websites and Only Approved Websites. Choose Limit Adult Websites. This is a system-level web content filter applied by iOS itself, not a per-browser extension.
Add anything the filter misses
Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and type in any site the filter lets through. It is a list you keep adding to rather than something you set once.
Lock it with a Screen Time passcode
Go back to Screen Time, scroll down, tap Lock Screen Time Settings, and set a 4-digit code. Set up Screen Time Passcode Recovery while you are there. Apple asks, and you should not skip it.
Menu labels above are Apple’s own, from the iPhone User Guide and Apple’s page on the Screen Time passcode. Apple writes those steps for a parent restricting a child’s device. The same path works on your own phone, for yourself, and you can skip the part about picking a name.
Make the passcode a real one
“A Screen Time passcode isn’t the same as the passcode you use to unlock your device.”
It’s a separate 4-digit code, and the point of it is that you don’t know it. A code you can recall at 1am is not a lock, it’s a speed bump you built yourself. Have someone you trust set it, or write it down somewhere genuinely inconvenient and walk away.
What the filter stops, and what it doesn’t
What it stops
Known adult sites, filtered by iOS itself rather than by an extension you install. It keeps working with no app open, and the Never Allow list catches whatever the filter misses once you add it.
What it doesn't
It is a filter, not a guarantee, and no filter has ever been exhaustive. It says nothing about apps unless you restrict those separately in the same Screen Time menu. And it does nothing at all about the urge itself.
Who can undo it
Anyone holding the Screen Time passcode, in under a minute. That is true of every content filter on iOS, including ours. Any app telling you its block cannot be removed is telling you something iOS does not let it do.
Where Monke Reset fits
Everything above is already on your phone, and if the setup holds, you don’t need us. Monke Reset sets the same Apple filter from inside the app, adds the apps you pick, and covers the part Screen Time was never built for: the ninety seconds after an urge lands, when a filter has already done all it can.
Same honest limit either way. Whoever holds the Screen Time passcode can switch it off. Read why porn blockers stop working for the longer version, or what it costs and what it stores before you decide.
The bits guides skip
Can you block adult websites on an iPhone without an app?
Yes. Screen Time is already on the phone and the six steps above are the whole job. You do not need to install anything to filter adult content. What you do need is a Screen Time passcode you cannot recall, because without one the setting comes off as easily as it went on.
Does Limit Adult Websites block everything?
No, and treat any guide that says otherwise as out of date. It is a filter against known adult sites, so inappropriate websites do get through. That is what the Never Allow list is for: when something slips past, add it there rather than assuming the setting failed.
Does it still work in a different browser?
Apple applies this at the system level rather than as a per-browser extension, so it is not tied to one app. Apple's documentation does not spell out how every third-party browser behaves, so we are not going to claim it for them. Check it on your own phone before you trust it.
Does Screen Time block apps as well as websites?
Yes, through separate controls in the same Screen Time menu. Web Content covers websites only. If an app is the problem rather than a browser, you restrict it on its own, and it is worth doing both rather than assuming the web filter caught it.
Who should hold the Screen Time passcode?
Someone other than you, if you have anyone you would tell about this. That is the whole accountability argument in one sentence. Failing that, set a code you never memorise and store it somewhere that takes real effort to reach at one in the morning.
Day oneis tonight.
Set the filter before bed and wake up on day 1.
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