How to Block Apps on iPhone (Without Deleting Them)

You already know which app it is. It is the one you open in the elevator, in the queue, in the four seconds between finishing a sentence and starting the next one. You do not want it gone forever. You just want it to be unavailable at the moments when it costs you the most.

The tools have been on your phone the whole time. Most people who say blocking "does not work" are using a setting that was designed to be dismissed, without ever turning on the toggle that makes it hold. This guide covers five methods, what each one actually stops, and how easy each one is to undo at 11pm.

Menu names shift slightly between iOS versions, so if a path below does not match your phone exactly, search the Settings app for the feature name.

First: set a Screen Time passcode you do not know

This is the step almost everyone skips, and it is the one that decides whether any of the rest works.

Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then Screen Time Passcode, and set a four-digit code that is not your device passcode. If the code is easy for you to recall, you will enter it without thinking the moment you meet a block. That is not a character flaw. It is what a well-practiced habit does when it meets a two-second obstacle, which is exactly why willpower alone rarely holds against an automatic phone habit.

Two options that work better than a memorable code:

• Ask someone else to set it. A partner, a friend, or a housemate types a code you never see. You can still ask for it, but now that request is a conversation instead of a reflex.
• Generate a random code and store it somewhere hard to reach. Write it on paper and put it in a drawer in another room, or seal it in an envelope. You keep full control, but retrieving it takes minutes rather than milliseconds.

Five ways to block apps on iPhone

Each method below solves a different problem. Read the comparison table further down if you are not sure which one fits your situation, then set up one method today rather than all five at once.

Which method should you use?

Match the method to the pattern you are trying to interrupt:

Does Focus mode block apps?

Not by itself, and this trips up a lot of people. A Focus silences notifications from apps and people you have not allowed, and it can switch to a custom Home Screen page, but nothing prevents you from opening a hidden app manually.

Focus is still worth setting up alongside a real block, because it removes the badges and banners that pull you toward the app in the first place. Think of it as turning off the invitations while Screen Time locks the door. If the pull comes from notifications more than from boredom, start there and read our guide on why you keep opening your phone without deciding to.

Three mistakes that make app blocking fail

1. Leaving the one-tap bypass switched on. A limit without Block at End of Limit can be dismissed in a single tap, and that tap becomes automatic within about a week. If you have ever concluded that Screen Time does not work on you, check this toggle before you conclude anything else.

2. Blocking the app but not the website. Blocking Instagram or X while Safari sits one swipe away just reroutes the habit. Under Content & Privacy Restrictions, Content Restrictions, Web Content, choose the limited option and add the specific sites to the Never Allow list.

3. Blocking everything on day one. If your phone fights you all day, you will remove the restrictions yourself, usually on the first stressful evening. Start with the one app and the one time window that account for most of your unplanned use, prove to yourself that it holds for a week, and only then expand. The same logic applies when you want to reduce screen time without deleting social media altogether.

Where Simba fits

Simba is built for the fifth method, on the days when the first four feel like too much admin.

You choose the apps to block, then start a focus session or set a Focus Routine for the hours you want protected. Simba uses Apple's native Screen Time integration, so the block applies at the system level rather than as a reminder you can scroll past.

The difference is what happens at the moment of the reach. Instead of a blank refusal, your thumb meets the Simba mascot and the reason you wrote down for yourself earlier, when you were calm and not mid-urge. Sessions, streaks, and insights then show you which hours are actually costing you, so the next boundary you set is based on your pattern rather than a guess.