How to block apps on iPhone
iOS has app blocking built in, and it's free. Here is how to set it up, where it leaks, and when an app blocker does the job better.
1. Set an App Limit
App Limits give an app, or a whole category, a daily allowance. When it runs out, the app is covered by a "Time Limit" screen.
- Open Settings → Screen Time. Turn on App & Website Activity if it's off.
- Tap App Limits → Add Limit.
- Pick a category such as Social, or open the category and tick single apps.
- Set the time. The shortest limit is 1 minute, which is close to a block. Tap Add.
Where it leaks: the Time Limit screen has an Ignore Limit button. One tap gives you another minute, 15 minutes, or the rest of the day. If you are blocking apps for yourself, that button is the whole problem.
2. Use Downtime to block everything except a few apps
Downtime flips the logic: everything is blocked except phone calls and the apps you allow.
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → Downtime.
- Turn it on until tomorrow, or set a schedule, for example 22:00 to 07:00.
- Go back and open Always Allowed to choose what stays available, such as Messages, Maps and your banking app.
Downtime suits evenings and sleep. It is clumsy for "two hours of work starting now", and it has the same Ignore Limit button.
3. Lock it with a Screen Time passcode
The Ignore Limit button goes away if you add a passcode.
- In Settings → Screen Time, tap Lock Screen Time Settings and set a 4-digit passcode that differs from your phone passcode.
- Open your App Limit and turn on Block at End of Limit.
Now a blocked app offers "Ask For More Time": one extra minute, then the passcode. The catch is obvious. You know the passcode. The usual workaround is to have someone you trust set it and keep it, which works well until you need an app and they're asleep.
4. Use an app blocker
Apple lets third-party apps use the same Screen Time system. A blocker built on it can do what the Settings app doesn't: start a block right now, for a set length, with no Ignore Limit button and no passcode to remember.
That is what Clam does. You choose your apps once. After that a session is one tap: pick 25, 50 or 90 minutes (or anything from 5 minutes to 4 hours) and lock your phone. The countdown stays on your Lock Screen. Open a blocked app and you get a block screen with one button that says "OK, I'll wait". If you truly need out, a 10-second hold ends the session and resets your streak.
Which one should you use?
- You want a nightly cut-off: Downtime on a schedule. Free and already on your phone.
- You want a daily cap on one app: an App Limit, with a passcode someone else holds if you keep tapping Ignore Limit.
- You want to block apps now, for a fixed time, without a settings tour: a blocker app such as Clam.
One honest limit
Nothing on an iPhone you own is unbreakable. You can delete a blocker app, and a Screen Time passcode can be reset with your Apple Account. The point of any of these tools is friction at the moment your thumb goes to the icon. A few seconds is usually enough to notice what you're doing and put the phone down.
For specific apps, see how to block TikTok and Instagram on iPhone. If you were planning to use a Focus for this, read Focus mode vs an app blocker first.