How to block apps on iPhone: 4 methods compared

The iPhone has four ways to limit an app, and each one closes a different gap: Screen Time limits minutes, Focus cuts interruptions, Shortcuts reacts to the app opening, and a blocking app puts a pause or a barrier at the door. If you only do one thing today, turn off content notifications on your social apps, then set a Screen Time passcode that differs from your device passcode.

What each method closes and what it leaves open

1. Screen Time

Where: Settings → Screen Time → App Limits.

You set a daily limit per app or category. When you hit it, a block screen appears with an Ignore Limit option.

It fails in two places: the button is one tap away, and the limit is daily, so it doesn't stop you spending it all by 9am. The setting that changes this most is under Use Screen Time Passcode: a code different from your iPhone passcode, so ignoring the limit stops being automatic.

2. Focus

Where: Settings → Focus.

It silences notifications and lets you hide Home Screen pages by context, like work or sleep. It helps against interruption. It doesn't block: if you open search and type the app's name, it opens.

3. Shortcuts

Where: Shortcuts app → Automation, with an app-opened trigger.

You can build an automation that reacts when an app opens, for example showing a reminder or turning on a Focus. It suits people who like configuring specific rules. The limitation is that the automation acts after the app opens, so the app can show up for a moment before it does anything.

4. A blocking app

Third-party apps use Apple's Screen Time API to restrict apps. The practical difference is what happens at the moment you open one.

Offimo puts a pause of a few seconds in when you try to open an app you've protected, and the screen offers to close the app or ask for access. With the simple pause, if you still want in, you go in. For the days you've already decided you don't want to negotiate, Commitment Mode makes the block firmer for the period you choose, and there's a 30-minute Emergency Unlock for what is truly necessary. Offimo works on iPhone only.

No app gives an absolute block on iOS. Apple defines what a third-party app can restrict, so be wary of anyone who promises one.

The order to set them up in

1. Content notifications. In Settings → Notifications, turn off likes, suggestions and "see what you missed" on social apps. Keep messages from people.
2. Screen Time passcode. Set a code different from your device passcode.
3. A work Focus, if the problem is interruption during the day.
4. A blocking app, if you get around the methods above every day. At that point the problem has stopped being information and become the gesture of opening.

Do step 1 today, with the app where you lose the most time without meaning to.