How to Block Websites on iPhone in iOS 27 (New Screen Time Path)

If you open an older guide for blocking websites on an iPhone, there is a good chance it sends you through Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Web Content. That route describes the previous Screen Time design. In iOS 27, Apple moved the current child website controls into Family → your child → Apps & Websites and added Ask to Browse.

That change is the main reason this task now feels harder than it should. The correct method depends on whether you are managing a child’s iPhone with the updated iOS 27 parental controls or trying to create a restriction on your own phone. The two jobs no longer deserve one recycled set of instructions.

iOS 27 moved child website blocking into Apps & Websites

For a child in your Family Sharing group, the current Apple path starts from the parent or guardian’s iPhone:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Family, then tap your child’s name.
3. Tap Apps & Websites.
4. Tap Restrictions.
5. Under Websites, tap Filtering.
6. Choose Limit Adult Websites or Approved Websites Only.

Apple’s current documentation calls the Approved Websites Only experience Ask to Browse. When it is active, a child who tries to open a new website in Safari or another supported browser can ask a parent or guardian for permission. An approved site is added to the allowed list; a declined request remains unavailable.

This is a more useful mental model than “find the hidden blacklist.” iOS 27 treats website access as a managed state: a site can be allowed, blocked, or waiting for a decision.

Apple says the new parental-control experience requires the Family Sharing group’s devices to be updated to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, or visionOS 27 as applicable, and the family’s parental controls must be upgraded. If the whole group cannot update, Apple says you can continue using the previous Screen Time system or adjust controls directly on the child’s device. See Apple’s current parental-control guide.

Blocking one specific website is now a state change, not a URL-entry ritual

On the updated iOS 27 family controls, a website that has already been approved appears in the child’s Apps & Websites list. To revoke that access:

1. Go to Settings → Family → your child → Apps & Websites.
2. Tap the website in the list.
3. Tap Block Website.
4. Tap Block Website again to confirm, and enter the Screen Time passcode if requested.

If the site has never been approved and you are using Approved Websites Only, you do not need to approve it merely so you can block it. When the child sends an Ask to Browse request, decline it. Apple says a declined website is not available on the child’s device. Requests expire after 24 hours if the parent does not respond, after which the child must request access again.

This is one of the biggest differences between iOS 27 and many search results written for iOS 26 or earlier. Those guides often tell you to type a URL into a “Never Allow” list. Apple’s current iOS 27 child workflow instead centers on Apps & Websites and approval state.

Approved Websites Only and Limit Adult Websites solve different problems

Approved Websites Only is the stricter model. New sites require approval, so it makes sense when the goal is a small, known browsing universe—for example, a younger child who mainly needs school, library, sports-team, and a few entertainment sites.

Limit Adult Websites is less restrictive. Apple applies adult-content filtering while allowing broader browsing. It is a better fit when a teenager needs normal web access and the objective is content filtering rather than an allowlist.

Apple currently says Ask to Browse is on by default for children under 13, while Limit Adult Websites is on by default for children under 18, although age rules and whether settings can be changed vary by state, country, or region. The important point is not to assume every child account starts with the same switches.

For the exact iOS 27 behavior and supported browsers, Apple’s Ask to Browse guide is the primary reference.

A Screen Time passcode protects the rule from casual changes

A website block is much less useful if the person using the phone can simply open Settings and reverse it. Screen Time therefore has its own four-digit passcode, separate from the passcode used to unlock the iPhone.

For a child managed through Family Sharing, Apple’s current instructions are:

1. On the parent or guardian’s iPhone, open Settings → Screen Time.
2. Under Family, tap the child’s name.
3. Tap Manage Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings.
4. Create the four-digit Screen Time passcode.

The Family Sharing organizer or a parent/guardian should set that passcode from their own device. Do not reuse an obvious code the child already knows. Apple also supports Screen Time passcode recovery, which matters because forgetting this code can make later changes unnecessarily difficult. Apple’s current Screen Time passcode instructions were updated for iOS 27 on September 14, 2026.

Ask to Browse is broader than a Safari-only trick

It is tempting to think website blocking means “a Safari setting.” Apple describes Ask to Browse as working in Safari and other supported browser apps after the iOS 27 Screen Time upgrade. That distinction matters because blocking a site only inside one browser is easy to misunderstand if another browser is installed.

It also explains why simply hiding Safari is not an equivalent solution. Removing access to one browser changes which app can browse; it does not create the same website-level approval policy across supported browsers.

There is still an evidence boundary: Apple says “supported browser apps,” not every app with every kind of embedded web view. If a blocked domain still appears inside a particular third-party app, test the same domain in Safari first. That separates a website-filtering problem from app-specific content being delivered through a different mechanism.

Old iOS 26 instructions are not necessarily wrong—they are often the wrong generation

In iOS 26, the familiar route placed web filtering under Screen Time’s content restrictions. That is why many otherwise reputable tutorials still describe Content & Privacy Restrictions → App Store, Media, Web & Games → Web Content and a Never Allow list.

Apple explicitly says families that cannot update every device may continue using the previous Screen Time and parental-control system. So seeing the older menu does not automatically mean your iPhone is broken or that Screen Time failed to update.

Check the software version and family-control state before troubleshooting. If one family member is on the new experience and another is still on the previous one, trying to force both devices through identical menu paths creates confusion rather than fixing anything.

Blocking websites on your own iPhone is a different enforcement problem

Apple still lets you lock your own Screen Time settings with a Screen Time passcode: Settings → Screen Time → Manage Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings. But the new iOS 27 Ask to Browse workflow described above is specifically a child-and-Family-Sharing feature. It should not be presented as a self-control feature for an adult account.

That difference changes what “blocked” means. A parent can hold the child’s Screen Time passcode and make the rule externally enforced. If you are blocking a distracting site on your own iPhone and you control both the Screen Time passcode and its recovery, the barrier is intentionally reversible by you.

For light self-control, that may be enough. For stronger self-restriction, a browser content blocker or network/DNS filtering system can add another layer, but those are separate tools with separate privacy, reliability, and bypass trade-offs. They should not be mixed into the built-in Screen Time instructions as if Apple requires them.

If a blocked site still opens, diagnose the policy before adding more blockers

Adding a second blocking app immediately can hide the real problem. Check the failure in this order:

1. Confirm the child and parent devices are on the same parental-control generation. The iOS 27 Apps & Websites workflow depends on updated family controls.
2. Confirm the correct child account is selected. The restriction belongs to that child’s Screen Time configuration, not merely to the parent’s phone.
3. Check the site’s state in Apps & Websites. If it is Allowed, change it to Blocked. If Approved Websites Only is active and the site is new, decline its request.
4. Test the exact domain in Safari. If Safari blocks it but a third-party app still shows similar content, you may be looking at app-hosted content rather than the same web request.
5. Verify the Screen Time passcode is actually locking settings. A restriction that anyone can edit is a policy problem, not a filtering failure.

Avoid factory-resetting the iPhone for a website-filtering issue. A reset destroys far more state than this problem justifies and does not fix an incorrectly chosen child account, an outdated family-control setup, or an Allowed website entry.

The shortest reliable setup depends on who owns the rule

For a child on the updated iOS 27 family controls, the durable path is Family → child → Apps & Websites: choose the filtering model, block or approve sites there, and protect the configuration with a Screen Time passcode that the parent controls.

For your own iPhone, separate the technical block from the enforcement question. Screen Time can put friction in front of changes, but if you hold every credential needed to reverse the rule, it remains self-imposed by design.

That distinction is what most “how to block websites on iPhone” guides miss. The URL is only half the problem. The other half is deciding who is allowed to change the rule—and iOS 27 now makes that ownership much more explicit.