How to Block Websites on Your Child's Phone and Computer

The short version: Start with the filter built into each device, since it is free and follows your child's account. On an iPhone, iPad or Mac with version 27, go to Settings > Family, tap your child, tap Apps & Websites > Restrictions, then tap Filtering under Websites and choose Limit Adult Websites or Approved Websites Only. To block one site, tap the Add button on the Apps & Websites screen and enter it. On Android and Chromebook, open Family Link, select your child, and tap Controls > Google Chrome and Web. On a Windows PC, turn on web filtering in Microsoft Family Safety. For a net across every device on your home Wi-Fi, set a family-safe DNS on your router. No filter is perfect, so pair it with a conversation.

It started with a homework search. Something about frogs for a science project, and then a link, and then another link, and then your nine-year-old walked into the kitchen with a face you had not seen before, holding the laptop out at arm's length.

We have had that kitchen moment too, and the honest truth is that we had not set up a single filter. We thought they were too young to go looking. They were. They did not have to go looking. Here is what we set up afterwards, device by device.

The first decision: filter, allow list, or single blocks

Every system below offers the same three choices under different names, and picking the right one matters more than which device you start on.

Limit adult websites. The device filters sites it detects as adult and lets everything else through. Many families start here once a child browses on their own, and Apple turns it on by default for Child Accounts under 18.

Approved sites only. Your child can open only the sites on a list you build. Right for young children, who mostly visit the same handful of places anyway. It is tight, and an older child doing homework will be sending you requests every ten minutes.

Block specific sites. Everything stays open except the sites you name. Useful on top of either option above, for the one video site or game portal that causes the trouble.

Most families end up with the first and third together.

How to block websites on an iPhone or iPad

Apple's redesigned controls arrived with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 in September 2026. They only work once every device in your Family Sharing group is on version 27, and your child needs a Child Account in your Family Sharing group.

Turn on the filter (iOS 27)

  1. On your iPhone, open Settings, tap Family, and tap your child's name.
  2. Tap Apps & Websites. Enter your Screen Time passcode if asked.
  3. Tap Restrictions, then tap Filtering under Websites.
  4. Choose Limit Adult Websites or Approved Websites Only.

Apple says Limit Adult Websites is on by default for children under 18, so on a new Child Account it may already be on. It is worth checking anyway.

Ask to Browse

Ask to Browse is the website version of Ask to Buy, and it is what Apple's Approved Websites Only setting uses. When your child reaches a site that is not on the list, they tap Ask Permission, and the request arrives on your phone. Approve it and the site joins the allowed list. According to Apple's Ask to Browse guide, it is on by default for children under 13, works in Safari and other supported browsers, and a request with no answer after 24 hours has to be sent again. You can also approve in person on your child's device with the Screen Time passcode.

For a seven-year-old, this is close to ideal. The list grows with them, one request at a time, and every new site starts a small conversation.

Block or allow one website

On the Apps & Websites screen, tap the Add button, type the site's address, and choose whether to allow or block it. The Allowed and Blocked tabs show your lists. These steps follow Apple's guide to blocking apps and websites.

On iOS 26 or earlier

Go to Settings > Screen Time and tap your child's name. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on, then tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games and tap Web Content. Choose Limit Adult Websites or Only Approved Websites. To block a single site, select Limit Adult Websites, tap Add Website below Never Allow, and enter the address. That is the path in Apple's iOS 26 guide.

How to block websites on a Mac

On macOS 27, open System Settings, click Family, select your child, click Apps & Websites, click Restrictions, and click Filtering under Websites. The options match the iPhone.

On macOS 26, open System Settings, click Screen Time, choose your child from the Family Member menu, then click Content & Privacy and App Store, Media, Web, & Games. Under Safari, choose Limit Adult Websites or Allowed Websites Only, per Apple's Mac guide.

The Mac only applies these to your child if they log in with their own user account. A family Mac where everyone shares one login gets one set of rules for everyone.

How to block websites on Android and Chromebook

Google Family Link controls Chrome on your child's supervised account. On Android phones and Chromebooks, the same settings also reach some other Android apps.

  1. Open the Family Link app on your phone and select your child.
  2. Tap Controls, then Google Chrome and Web.
  3. Choose Try to block explicit sites, Only allow approved sites, or Allow all sites.
  4. To add single sites, tap Approved sites or Blocked sites under Manage sites, then Add a website.

Google's Chrome guide for Family Link has two tips worth knowing. Entering a domain name, like example.com, covers every version of that site, while an address starting with www. covers only that exact one. And Incognito mode is turned off while your child is signed in with a supervised account. Google is also candid that "no filter is perfect," which matches our experience.

Google also turns on SafeSearch for supervised accounts and locks it so your child cannot change it, as long as they are signed in to their own account.

How to block websites on a Windows computer

Windows uses Microsoft Family Safety. Your child needs their own Microsoft account in your family group, and they need to sign in to the PC with it.

  1. Go to family.microsoft.com and sign in, or open the Family Safety app.
  2. Select your child and open their content filters.
  3. Turn on Filter inappropriate websites and searches.
  4. Add any sites you want blocked to the blocked list, or turn on Only use allowed websites for a strict allow list.

Microsoft's Family Safety web filter guide says the filter works in Microsoft Edge, and that other common browsers are blocked when filtering is on, so the filter covers the whole computer. If your child needs a different browser for school, you can allow it under app and game filters, knowing the web filter will not follow them there.

How to block websites on every device at home

The filters above follow your child's account. A filter on your router follows your Wi-Fi instead, which catches the games console, the smart TV, the friend's tablet at a sleepover, and the old laptop nobody set up.

The simplest version is a family-safe DNS. You change two numbers in your router's settings, and every device on your network starts looking up websites through a service that refuses adult sites. Cloudflare runs a free one called 1.1.1.1 for Families: its setup page lists 1.1.1.3 and 1.0.0.3 as the addresses that block malware and adult content. Where the setting lives depends on your router, so search your router maker's help pages for "DNS".

A home DNS filter has edges. It only works on your Wi-Fi, so a phone on mobile data is outside it. It blocks whole sites rather than pages, and it cannot tell your child's laptop from yours. Think of it as a safety net under the device filters, which do the detailed work.

Making the filters hold

Keep the passcodes to yourself. On Apple devices, the Screen Time passcode guards every setting above. On Android and Windows, your own Google or Microsoft password does the same job. Type them with your hand over the screen.

Check once a week. Open the browser on your child's device and try a site you blocked. If it loads, something has slipped: a device behind on updates, a child signed in to the wrong account, or a new browser. On iPhone, if your phone says Screen Time for iPhone has not been available for 7 days, our 7-day fix helps.

Tell them what to do when something gets through. It will, eventually. The most useful rule we have found is one sentence: if you see something that upsets you, close it and come and tell us, and you will not be in trouble. A child who expects to lose the device for reporting a bad link stops reporting them. The AAP's 5 Cs of media use puts the same weight on talking with children about what they see online, and our screen time by age guide shows what that looks like at each stage.

Websites are half the picture

A filter keeps the worst of the internet off the screen. It does nothing about the hours spent on sites and apps that are perfectly fine and still eat the evening. That is a time problem, and it needs a time tool.

On iPhone, Time Allowances cover an app and its linked website together. On Android, Family Link app limits work alongside the Chrome filter. Our guide to blocking apps on your child's phone covers both, and our pillar guide on reducing screen time without battles covers the harder part, which is the conversation.

Unglue sits on the time side. It does not filter the web. It blocks the apps your child chooses until they earn minutes with real-life habits like a walk or homework, and on iPhone it uses Apple's Screen Time framework to do it, so it runs happily alongside the web filters above. The parents page explains how families use it together with Screen Time or Family Link.

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Common questions

How do I block websites for my child for free?

Use the filter built into the device. Apple Screen Time on iPhone, iPad and Mac, Google Family Link on Android and Chromebook, and Microsoft Family Safety on Windows are all free. A family-safe DNS like Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 for Families is free too, and covers your home Wi-Fi.

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

Yes. On iPhone, set filters from Settings > Family on your own iPhone. On Android, set them in the Family Link app on your phone. Both need your child to have their own account in your family group.

How do I block one specific website?

On iOS 27, open Settings > Family > your child > Apps & Websites, tap the Add button, enter the site and choose to block it. On iOS 26, add it under Never Allow in Web Content. In Family Link, tap Controls > Google Chrome and Web > Blocked sites > Add a website.

Does blocking websites in Safari also block them in other browsers?

On Apple devices, Ask to Browse works in Safari and other supported browsers on version 27. Family Link's Chrome settings apply in Chrome and some Android apps, but on iPhone, iPad and computers your child could use another browser that lacks them. On Windows, Family Safety blocks other common browsers when filtering is on.

What is the best way to block websites for a young child?

An allow list. Turn on Approved Websites Only on Apple devices, which also turns on Ask to Browse, or Only allow approved sites in Family Link. Add the handful of sites they use, and approve new ones as they ask.

Will a router filter block websites on my child's phone?

Only while the phone is on your home Wi-Fi. On mobile data or at a friend's house, the phone uses a different network, so the device's own filter is the one that counts.

Sources

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