An iPhone is a great way to keep in touch with your kids and let them explore the internet. However, with this freedom comes great responsibility for all parents.  Kids can use their iOS devices in the wrong way and access inappropriate websites behind your back.

If you have children with iPhones or iPads, or who frequently use yours, you might feel the need to control the type of content they can access online. Apple offers built-in parental control features that let you protect kids from seeing any inappropriate content. They also have support for third-party tools as well.

Settings and Restrictions have options to help automatically limit all adult content and to even prevent a child from accidentally hitting a link they shouldn’t. You just have to blacklist specific websites or shut off all sites except for the ones you specifically whitelist according to your preference.

Here’s how to block websites and manage the parental controls (restrictions) for web content in Safari.

Block Adult Content on Safari iOS

Safari has some ways to automatically blacklist most if not all the sites that have adult and all inappropriate content.

Steps to Block the Adult Content Sites:

1. Open your iPhone Settings icon on your phone to go to settings.
2. Tap Screen Time and then click on the Content & Privacy Restrictions option.
3. Tap the toggle bar next to Content & Privacy Restriction to enable available options.
   (It will turn from gray to green to shows that this feature is active).
4. Go to Content Restrictions, and tap on the Web Content.
5. Tap Limit Adult Websites to activate the automatic blocking of adult sites.

Block a Website on Safari iOS

Limiting adult content might not be enough, as some URLs can slip through the cracks. If you want to protect your kids from specific sites, like social media sites, then you have to know the specific URLs of those websites.

First, collect all the URLs of the websites that you want to block. Copy the URLs from the Safari address bar and add them to the blocking site list.

Steps to block the websites:

1. Launch your Settings app, go to Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions.
   
2. Then again, on the next page, click on Content Restrictions.
   
3. In the next page, click on Web Content.
   
4. On the Web Content page, click on the Limit Adult Website.
   
5. Now under the NEVER ALLOW section, tap on the Add Website option.
   
6. Type in the website addresses or paste the website URLs that you want to block.
7. Click on Done, when you are finished, to block those specific websites.

Repeat this process for each site you’d like to block.

How to Allow Specific Websites on Safari iOS?

There are sites that are not considered inappropriate yet are unsuitable for you and your family. Those are the sites you don’t want to make sure your children never land on.

For very young children, or if you simply want to make sure nothing is accessible except what you specifically allow, you can disable everything and then only turn back on the sites you consider absolutely appropriate.

This method will block each and every website on Safari, and only grant you access to a few that you have whitelisted.

Follow the steps below to block all the websites and enable only specific websites on Safari

1. Launch your Settings app, go to Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions.
2. Then again, on the next page, click on Content Restrictions.
3. In the next page, click on Web Content.
4. Now click on the option Allowed Websites Only.
   
5. Click on Add Website to add the websites that you want to allow.
6. Copy and paste your URL or type the web address, and tap on the Done button when finished.

Now, you will only be able to access the websites only on that whitelisted list.

To access any other websites in the future, remember to manually add the website address into the Allowed Website section.

Restrict explicit content (Movies, apps, Music, Podcasts)

Those content might include music, movies, and TV shows with explicit content or special ratings.

1. Open the Settings on your iPhone and go to Screen Time.
   
2. Tap on Content Privacy & Restrictions.
   
3. And then tap on Content Restrictions. This screen will display multiple options for restricting content.
   
4. Tap Music, Podcasts, News & Workouts, and choose Clean. This means you exclude explicit content.
   
5. Tap Movies to select the ratings you want to allow for movies. Also, do the same for TV Shows.
   
6. Tap Books and then Clean to exclude books with explicit language.
   
7. Tap Apps and select the age category for the apps you want to allow.
   

How to use parental controls with Safari

Apple’s parental control features let you restrict inappropriate content, games, and apps, and even prevent unsuitable App Store purchases. 

First, set up a Screen Time Passcode to prevent your kids from changing your restriction settings.

1. Go to Settings and tap on Screen Time.
2. Input your child’s name.
3. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode. When prompted to authenticate, make sure your Screen Time Passcode is different from your device passcode.

To use parental control tools to prevent your kids from using social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Use the Don’t allow Apps option on iOS to prevent the apps’ to be downloaded and browser access. If the App is already on the device, delete it first before you proceed.

After you’ve deleted the Apps: 

1. Go to Content Restrictions and tap on the Apps section.
2. Choose Don’t Allow Apps. This will prevent your child from downloading any unwanted apps.

Block websites from router/network settings

This is among the last resorts after all the methods have failed. This method has a few downsides. The restriction only works when the device is connected to the said network. Kids can still access blocked websites by using mobile data. Also, all the restricted websites get blocked on all the devices that are connected to that network.

Simply visit the router setting by using your credentials, then provide the website URLs and the keywords that you wish to block.

To disable website restrictions in Safari iOS

If you no longer need the restrictions, you’ve previously set up on your mobile device, you can switch them off all at once.

• Navigate to your Content Restrictions settings, then Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
• Toggle the slider next to Content & Privacy Restrictions at the top.

Restrictions will be turned off as long as the slider has turned gray. You can now access all websites and apps on your device.

Conclusion

The internet can be fun and educational, but it can also be dangerous and a source of inappropriate content. Unfortunately, inappropriate content isn’t the only threat to your kids’ online safety. Recurrent pop-up ads that can easily be tapped on by mistake can also be malicious. 

Those pop-up ads could potentially download a virus to your device or put you at risk of cyberattacks. The ads could contain explicit content, and none of Apple’s parental control features can block it. With the right settings and an adblocker, everyone can stay safe and still enjoy browsing.

After following these solutions, you can now certainly be able to block websites on your iPhone or iPad without any hassle.