How to block porn on an iPhone
On iOS 27, open Settings, tap Screen Time, then Apps & Websites, then Restrictions, and set the website filter to Limit Adult Websites. On iOS 26, the path is Content & Privacy Restrictions, then App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then Web Content. Then set a Screen Time passcode, or it comes off in seconds.
Six steps for iOS 27, with the iOS 26 labels under each one. iOS 27 moved these settings, so most guides for this now send you to a screen that is not there.
Block adult websites with Screen Time
Each step is for iOS 27. The grey box under it is the same step on iOS 26 or earlier. To check your version, open Settings, then General, then About.
Open Screen Time
Open Settings and tap Screen Time. If it is off, tap Manage Screen Time, then Turn On App & Website Activity.
On iOS 26 or earlier
Open Settings and tap Screen Time. If you have never used it, turn it on when it asks.
Open Restrictions
Tap Apps & Websites, then tap Restrictions.
On iOS 26 or earlier
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and switch it on. Nothing is filtered yet. This only unlocks the controls underneath.
Find the website filter
Scroll to the Websites section and tap Filtering. Apple documents this path for a child’s iPhone and hasn’t yet published it for your own, so if your screen words it differently, look for the website setting in this list.
On iOS 26 or earlier
Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then tap Web Content. Older guides call this Content Restrictions, a screen that no longer exists.
Choose Limit Adult Websites
The options are Unrestricted, Limit Adult Websites and Approved Websites Only. Choose Limit Adult Websites. iOS applies this filter at the system level, not as a per-browser extension.
On iOS 26 or earlier
The options are Unrestricted, Limit Adult Websites and Only Approved Websites. Choose Limit Adult Websites.
Add anything the filter misses
Apps & Websites keeps an Allowed list and a Blocked list. Apple’s iOS 27 steps for a child’s iPhone add a site with the Add button. When a site gets through, add it to Blocked. You keep adding to it rather than setting it once.
On iOS 26 or earlier
Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and type in any site the filter lets through.
Lock it with a Screen Time passcode
Go back to Screen Time, tap Manage Screen Time, then Lock Screen Time Settings, and set a 4-digit code. Apple then offers Screen Time Passcode Recovery, which lets the Apple Account you enter reset the code.
On iOS 26 or earlier
Go back to Screen Time, scroll down, tap Lock Screen Time Settings, and set a 4-digit code.
Checked against Apple’s iOS 27 documentation on . Menu labels are Apple’s own, from:
- Set up Screen Time for yourself
- If you can’t delete an app on your iPhone
- Block or allow access to apps and websites on your child’s device
- Create, change, or remove a Screen Time passcode
- How to set a Screen Time passcode
- iPhone User Guide for iOS 26
Apple writes the iOS 27 website filter steps for a parent setting up a child’s device. Apps & Websites and Restrictions are documented for your own phone too, so you can follow along for yourself.
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. More in how to make Screen Time hard to turn off.
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 your own blocklist 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
The steps above stop the sites. They have nothing for the urge that arrives anyway on day two, or for the morning after the night it wins. Monke Reset puts something there, turns the filter on in one screen instead of six, adds the apps you name, and marks a bad night as one day rather than the end of it.
Read why porn blockers stop working for the longer version, or what it stores and what it never sees.
What other guides leave out
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. The filter itself is free. What it costs you 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 your own blocklist in step 5 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. The website filter 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.
Write your reasons down now, while it’s quiet. Help keeps them for when it isn’t.
- Blocks adult sites and apps
- Counts the urges you beat
- Stays on your phone