How to Block Apps on Your Child's Phone: iPhone and Android

The short version: Yes, you can block apps on your child's phone, and you can do it from your own phone for free. On an iPhone with iOS 27, open Settings > Family, tap your child's name, tap Apps & Websites, pick the app, and tap Block App. On Android, open the Family Link app, select your child, go to Screen time > Time limits > App limits, pick the app, and switch it from Allowed to Blocked. Both need your child to have their own account in your family group. To stop new apps arriving, turn on Ask to Buy (iPhone) or download approvals (Android), and keep the passcode to yourself.

The phone is face down on the kitchen table, buzzing every eleven seconds. You do not need to turn it over to know which app it is. You have asked about it twice already tonight, and the second time came out louder than you meant.

We know that table. The urge to grab the phone and delete the app is strong, and we have given in to it, and the app was back by Thursday. What lasts longer is a block set from your own phone, on an account your child cannot quietly change. Here is how to do that on either kind of phone.

Can I block apps on my child's phone?

Yes, on both iPhone and Android, and you do not need to buy anything. Apple and Google each ship parental controls that block an app, limit it by time, or stop it being installed in the first place. Both are run from the parent's phone.

There is one catch, and it trips up a lot of families. The controls follow your child's account, not the phone. If your child's phone is signed in with your Apple Account or your Google account, the phone thinks it belongs to you, and any limits you set land on you. So before anything else:

  • iPhone: your child needs a Child Account in your Family Sharing group. Apple requires one for children under 13 and allows it up to 18, with the age varying by country.
  • Android: your child needs a Google Account supervised through Family Link. Google's controls for blocking apps work on phones running Android 6.0 or later and on Chromebooks.

If the account is already set up, skip to your phone's section.

How to block apps on an iPhone

Apple redesigned its parental controls in iOS 27, released in September 2026. They only switch on once every device in your Family Sharing group runs version 27, so check that first under Settings > Family > View Family Devices.

Block one app (iOS 27)

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings and tap Family.
  2. Tap your child's name, then tap Apps & Websites. Enter your Screen Time passcode if asked.
  3. On the Allowed tab, find the app and tap it.
  4. Tap Block App and confirm.

The app stays on your child's phone and will not open until you unblock it from the Blocked tab. Game progress is safe. These steps follow Apple's guide to blocking apps and websites.

Stop new apps from being installed

Ask to Buy sends you a request whenever your child tries to download an app, free ones included. In the US it is on by default for children under 13. Check it under Settings > Family > your child > Ask to Buy.

Age ratings keep apps above a certain rating off the phone entirely. Go to Settings > Family > your child > Apps & Websites > Restrictions and set the app age rating. On the same screen you can stop your child deleting apps, which keeps your setup where you put it.

On iOS 26 or earlier

The tools live under Settings > Screen Time. Tap your child's name, then:

  • Hide a built-in app like Safari or Camera: tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, turn it on, tap Allowed Apps & Features, and switch the app off.
  • Block apps by age: in Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games and set the app rating.
  • Limit an app by time: tap App Limits, then Add Limit.

Apple's iOS 26 guide has the full list. Our iPhone guide goes deeper on both versions, and if your child mostly uses a tablet, the iPad guide covers shared family iPads.

How to block apps on an Android phone

Android phones from Samsung, Google Pixel, Motorola, Xiaomi and the rest all use Google Family Link for parental controls. You install Family Link on your own phone, link your child's supervised account, and manage everything from there.

Block one app with Family Link

  1. Open the Family Link app on your phone and select your child.
  2. Tap Screen time, then Time limits, then App limits.
  3. Select the app and tap the toggle so it changes from Allowed to Blocked.
  4. Tap Done.

Older versions of Family Link put App limits under Controls instead, so look there if your screen differs. Google says the block takes effect in about five minutes, or once the phone is back online, and a child using the app at that moment gets a one-minute warning to finish up. Some system apps cannot be blocked because the phone needs them to run.

Require approval for downloads

  1. In Family Link, select your child and tap Controls, then Google Play.
  2. Under Purchases & download approvals, tap Require approval for.
  3. Choose All content to approve every download, or Paid content only if you only mind spending.

That is Google's own purchase approvals guide. All content is the setting that matches Ask to Buy on iPhone.

Block apps by content rating

In Family Link, tap Controls > Google Play and, under Apps & games, choose the highest maturity rating you want to allow for downloads. Apps above it will not install from Google Play.

How to lock an app for a child without blocking it

Most parents we talk to do not want YouTube gone forever. They want it to stop at half past seven. That is a time lock, and both systems have one.

On iPhone (iOS 27): use Time Allowances. Go to Settings > Family > your child > Time Allowances and set a daily budget for Entertainment, Games and Social Media, or add a limit for one app. Screen Time Schedules then decide which apps work at which times of day, like a bedtime window where only calls and messages work. Our guide to limiting screen time on a kid's iPhone or iPad walks through both.

On Android: in Family Link, go to App limits, select the app, tap Set limit, and pick the daily time. Google applies app limits across all of your child's Android and ChromeOS devices. For the whole phone, the Daily limit under Screen time > Time limits sets a total for each day of the week, and you can lock the phone outright from your own.

Locking a young child into one app

For a four-year-old with a borrowed phone on a long car ride, a different tool helps: one that keeps the phone inside a single app until you unlock it.

  • iPhone: turn on Guided Access under Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access, set its passcode, open the app, and triple-click the side button. Apple's Guided Access guide has the details.
  • Android: turn on App pinning in your phone's security settings (the menu name varies by brand), then pin the app from the Overview screen. Unpinning asks for your PIN, pattern or password, per Google's app pinning guide.

Both are made for handing over a phone for a while. Neither suits an older child's own phone.

Keeping the block from slipping

Setting a block takes five minutes. Keeping it there is the part that needs a plan, and most of it is unglamorous.

Guard the passcode. On iPhone, the Screen Time passcode is separate from the unlock code, and it protects every setting above. Choose one that is not a birthday, and cover the screen when you type it. Kids watch closely. Set up recovery with your Apple Account when Apple offers, so a forgotten code does not become a crisis. On Android, the Family Link settings sit behind your own Google account, so the same rule applies to that password.

Check that it holds. Once a week, pick up your child's phone and try to open the blocked app. It takes thirty seconds. On iPhone, if your phone says Screen Time for iPhone has not been available for 7 days, the reports have stopped syncing; our 7-day fix explains the repairs.

Talk before you block. A block that appears without warning reads as a punishment, and children treat punishments as puzzles to solve. A block with a reason, and a date when you will look at it again, gets tested less. Our pillar guide on reducing screen time without battles covers that conversation, and the screen time by age guide has what the AAP suggests for each stage.

What to block, and what to leave alone

Fewer apps than you think. In our experience the fights come from one or two apps, usually a short-form video feed or a single game. Blocking those and putting time limits on the rest keeps the list short enough to explain at dinner, in one breath, without anyone rolling their eyes before you finish.

Keep the apps that keep your child safe and connected open: calls, messages, maps, and anything the school needs. On iPhone, add those to Always Allowed so no schedule or allowance ever shuts them.

If your worry is websites rather than apps, that is a separate setting on both systems. Our guide to blocking websites for your child covers Safari, Chrome, home Wi-Fi and the family computer.

Where the built-in tools stop

Screen Time and Family Link are free, already on the phone, and for many families they are enough. They are also blunt. When an app goes dark, nothing takes its place, and the hole in the evening fills with negotiation.

That gap is why we built Unglue. It blocks the apps your child picks, and they open again when your child earns minutes with real-life habits: a walk, a made bed, twenty minutes of reading. On iPhone it runs on Apple's Screen Time framework, so the block is the same one Apple uses. For teenagers, Selection Lock means nothing comes off the list without a Buddy Code that you hold, which works best as an agreement you both signed. Yes, it is an app for getting kids off apps. We are aware. Our comparison of app blockers for kids sets it beside Screen Time and Family Link honestly, and the parents page shows how families set it up.

Not sure which apps to block, and which to limit?

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Common questions

Is there a way to block apps on my child's phone for free?

Yes. Apple Screen Time on iPhone and iPad and Google Family Link on Android are both free and both let you block apps from your own phone. You need a Child Account in Family Sharing on iPhone, or a supervised Google Account on Android.

How do I block apps on my child's phone from my phone?

On iPhone with iOS 27, go to Settings > Family, tap your child, tap Apps & Websites, choose the app, and tap Block App. On Android, open Family Link, select your child, tap Screen time > Time limits > App limits, choose the app, and switch it to Blocked.

Can I block apps for kids on a phone that uses my account?

Not with child controls. Screen Time and Family Link apply to the account signed in on the phone, so limits set on a phone signed in as you are limits on you. Give your child their own account, or for short stretches, use Guided Access on iPhone or app pinning on Android to keep the phone in one app.

How do I lock apps for kids instead of blocking them completely?

Set a time limit. On iPhone, use Time Allowances on iOS 27 or App Limits on iOS 26. On Android, use Set limit under App limits in Family Link. The app opens for the time you choose each day and then stops.

Does blocking an app delete it?

No. On iOS 27 a blocked app stays on the phone and will not open. On Android, Family Link blocks the app without uninstalling it. In both cases your child's data stays put for when you unblock it.

Why can my child still open an app I blocked?

On iPhone, check that every family device is on version 27, that your child is signed in with their own Child Account, and that they do not know the Screen Time passcode. On Android, give it five minutes and make sure the phone is online, since Family Link applies blocks when the phone connects. If it still opens, check the app is not one Google marks as required for the phone to work.

Sources

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— The Unglue team