How to Block Apps on Your Kid's iPhone (and Keep Them Blocked)

The short version: On iOS 27, open Settings on your own iPhone, tap Family, tap your child's name, then tap Apps & Websites. Find the app in the Allowed list, tap it, and tap Block App. The app stays on their phone but will not open until you allow it again. To make the block stick, set a Screen Time passcode your child does not know, keep Ask to Buy on so new apps need your approval, and use Time Allowances for the apps you want to limit rather than ban. Every device in your Family Sharing group needs to be on version 27 for these controls; on iOS 26 and earlier the tools live under Settings > Screen Time and work a little differently, covered below.

It is 9:40 on a school night. The light under your kid's door is the particular blue of a phone held too close to a face, and the app on it is the one you were sure you blocked on Sunday.

We have stood outside that door. More than once, with the same app. The settings below are the ones that held for us, and the habits after them are the reason they kept holding.

Before you start: two things to check

Your child needs their own Apple Account in your Family Sharing group. Apple calls it a Child Account. It is required for children under 13 and available up to 18 (ages vary by country). Everything in this guide is managed from your phone through Family Sharing, so if your child's iPhone is signed in with your Apple Account, or with no account, none of it will reach them.

Everyone needs to be on version 27. Apple's redesigned parental controls, launched with iOS 27 in September 2026, only switch on once every device in your Family Sharing group is updated to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, or visionOS 27. To see which devices are behind, open Settings > Family > View Family Devices on your iPhone. Once they are all updated, open Settings > Family and tap Get Started to move your old settings across or start fresh.

If an old iPad or Apple Watch in the family cannot update, Apple lets you keep using the iOS 26 version of Screen Time. The steps for that are further down.

How to block an app on your child's iPhone (iOS 27)

This is the direct answer to "how do I block an app for my child on iPhone", and it is done from your phone, without touching theirs.

1. On your iPhone, open Settings and tap Family.
2. Tap your child's name.
3. Tap Apps & Websites. Enter your Screen Time passcode if asked.
4. Tap the Allowed tab, find the app, and tap it. You can also use the search field or tap the Add button and type the app's name.
5. Tap Block App, then confirm.

The app is not deleted. Apple keeps it on the device and stops it opening until you unblock it, which you do from the same screen under the Blocked tab. That matters for games: your child's progress is still there if the app comes back for the summer holidays.

These steps come from Apple's guides to parental controls and blocking apps and websites. Apple's newer screens move around a little between point releases, so if a label differs on your phone, the path through Settings > Family > your child > Apps & Websites is the part to hold on to.

Block apps they have not downloaded yet

Blocking one app is the easy part. The next one is already in the App Store. Two settings handle what comes later.

Ask to Buy sends you a request in Messages whenever your child tries to download an app, including free ones. In the US it is on by default for children under 13. To check it, go to Settings > Family > your child and tap Ask to Buy. When a request arrives you can approve or decline it from your phone, or approve in person on their device with your Apple Account password, as Apple's guide to approving requests explains.

Age ratings stop apps above a certain rating from being installed at all. Go to Settings > Family > your child > Apps & Websites, tap Restrictions, and set the app age rating. The same Restrictions screen controls whether your child can install or delete apps, make in-app purchases, or use App Clips. Turning off app deletion is worth doing, so the apps you have set up stay where you set them.

Locking apps by time instead of blocking them

Most parents of eight to fourteen year olds do not actually want YouTube gone. They want it to stop at a sensible point. That is a lock on time, and iOS 27 splits it into two tools.

Time Allowances

Time Allowances replaced App Limits for children. Apple sorts apps into three categories, Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, and you set a shared daily budget across all three plus a budget for each one. Apple suggests an age-based starting point that you can change.

1. Open Settings > Family and tap your child's name.
2. Tap Time Allowances, tap Add, and follow the steps on screen.
3. Drag the sliders to change the time for each category or the total.
4. If an app sits in the wrong category, change it, or set a limit for it under Additional Time Allowances.

When the allowance runs out, the apps in that category stop. Your child can send you a request for more time, which you can approve for 15 minutes, an hour, or all day, or decline with Not Now.

Screen Time Schedules

Schedules decide which kinds of apps are available at which times of day. Apple ships them with windows called Before School, School, and After School, and you can add your own, like a bedtime window where only Always Allowed apps work. Find it at Settings > Family > your child > Screen Time Schedule, turn on Schedule, and tap Add Schedule.

Always Allowed

Some apps should never be blocked. By default, Apple keeps FaceTime, Maps, Phone, and Messages available so your child can reach you. You can add others, like a school app or a meditation app that helps them sleep, under Settings > Family > your child > Always Allowed, as described in Apple's Always Allowed guide.

Pause everything for a moment

At the top of your child's Screen Time settings, Apple added a pause control in iOS 27. It blocks most apps and notifications until you turn it back off. It is useful at dinner, and it is useful when you have called their name four times and are about to try a fifth.

How to block apps on iOS 26 and earlier

If your family is still on iOS 26, or you have a device that cannot update, the tools are in a different place and have different names. Apple's iOS 26 guide to blocking apps and downloads has the full list.

To hide a built-in Apple app, like Safari or Camera: open Settings > Screen Time, tap your child's name, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on, then tap Allowed Apps & Features and switch off the app. Apple hides it from the Home Screen without deleting it. This list only covers Apple's own apps.

To block App Store apps by age: in the same Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games and set the age rating for apps. Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases to restrict purchases and downloads.

To limit a specific app by time: open Settings > Screen Time, tap your child's name, tap App Limits, then Add Limit. Tap a category to see its apps, pick the one you want, tap Next, and set the time.

To block apps at night: tap Downtime under your child's name, set the hours, and turn on Block at Downtime. Apple's own note on Screen Time schedules in iOS 26 is blunt about why that matters: by default, limits can be ignored once reached. With Block at Downtime on and a Screen Time passcode set, apps cannot be opened during Downtime. Use Always Allowed on the same screen for the apps that should stay open.

Keeping the block in place

Every parent who has blocked an app has also watched it come back. Here is where the gaps usually are, and how to close them without turning the house into a checkpoint.

Set a Screen Time passcode your child has never seen

The Screen Time passcode is separate from the code your child uses to unlock their phone, and it guards every setting above. On iOS 27, go to Settings > Family > your child > Manage Screen Time and tap Lock Screen Time Settings. Apple will offer to set up recovery with your Apple Account so you can reset the code if you forget it. Do that.

Pick something that is not a birthday, a year, or 1234. Then type it with your hand cupped over the screen. Kids learn codes by watching, and they watch closely.

If you suspect the code has leaked, Apple's passcode guide shows how to change it, and the same Manage Screen Time screen tells you when it was last used. A "last used" time from Tuesday afternoon, when you were at work, tells you most of what you need to know.

Check that the block actually holds

Screen Time on your phone and Screen Time on your kid's phone talk through iCloud, and sometimes they stop talking. If your phone shows Screen Time for iPhone has not been available for 7 days, our 7-day fix walks through the repairs. Once a week, pick up your child's phone and try to open a blocked app. Thirty seconds, and you know.

Talk about the block before you set it

This is the part no setting covers. A block that arrives without warning reads as a punishment, and children treat punishments as puzzles. A block you talked through, with a reason and a date when you will look at it again, tends to get tested less. The AAP's 2026 guidance puts a lot of weight on families making these rules together; our screen time by age guide has the details by age, and our pillar guide on reducing screen time without battles covers the conversation itself.

Where Apple's blocking stops

Screen Time is free, it is already on the phone, and for many families it is all they need. It is still worth knowing its edges.

It blocks and limits, and that is all it does. When an app goes dark, nothing else steps in, so the evening has a hole in it that the child fills with negotiation. The passcode is one secret standing between a determined kid and every setting, and family devices that fall out of sync can leave the reports blank for days.

Unglue is what we built for the gap. It runs on your child's iPhone using Apple's Screen Time framework, so it blocks the same way, but the blocked apps open again when your kid earns minutes with real-life habits: a walk, a made bed, twenty minutes of homework. For a teenager, the kid picks the apps, and Selection Lock means nothing comes off the list without a Buddy Code that you hold. It works best as an agreement you both signed. Our comparison of app blockers for kids puts it next to Screen Time and the others honestly, losses included, and the parents page explains how families set it up.

If your child mostly uses an iPad, the steps are almost the same, with a few twists for shared tablets. Our guide to blocking apps on a child's iPad covers those.

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Common questions

Can I block apps on my child's iPhone from my own phone?

Yes. With Family Sharing and a Child Account, everything in this guide is done from your iPhone under Settings > Family on iOS 27, or Settings > Screen Time on iOS 26 and earlier. You do not need to pick up your child's phone, though you can approve requests on it in person.

Does blocking an app delete it?

No. On iOS 27, a blocked app stays on the device and will not open until you unblock it. On iOS 26, hiding a built-in app through Allowed Apps & Features removes it from the Home Screen without deleting it.

How do I lock apps for kids on iPhone without banning them completely?

Use Time Allowances on iOS 27 or App Limits on iOS 26. Both let the app open for a set amount of time each day, and stop it after that. Your child can ask for more time, and you decide.

Can Apple block apps for kids by age?

Yes. Set an app age rating under Apps & Websites > Restrictions on iOS 27, or under Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Store, Media, Web, & Games on iOS 26. Apps above the rating cannot be downloaded. Ask to Buy adds a second check, since every new download comes to you as a request.

Why can my child still open an app I blocked?

The usual causes are a family device that is not on version 27, a child signed in with the wrong Apple Account, a Screen Time passcode they know, or, on iOS 26, Block at Downtime switched off so limits can be ignored. Check those in that order. If your phone has stopped receiving their reports, start with our 7-day fix.

What should I block on a child's iPhone?

Fewer apps than you think. Most families do well blocking the one or two apps that cause the fights, usually short-form video or a single game, and putting time limits on the rest. Our comparison of app blockers for kids has a section on which apps are worth blocking at each age.