How do I block specific apps and websites?

Your Monitored Apps list is the set of apps and websites Detox can block. Every block type (Auto Block, Scheduled Blocks, and Block Now) draws from this one list. Whatever you want blocked, you add it here first.

Where to find it

Open Detox → Settings tab → Monitored Apps section → tap Modify. This opens a sheet with everything you can configure: a summary of what's monitored, a button to open Apple's picker, a Custom Websites section, and an Adult Websites toggle.

The sheet uses a Cancel / Save pattern. Nothing is applied until you tap Save. Cancel discards anything you've changed.

Adding apps, categories, and websites with Apple's picker

In the Monitored Apps sheet, tap the Open picker button. iOS's full-screen Family Activity Picker opens. From there you can select three kinds of things:

• Individual apps like Instagram, TikTok, Safari.
• Categories like Social, Games, Entertainment. Selecting a category blocks every app that Apple classifies in it.
• Websites from Apple's catalog. Tap the search bar at the top to find a specific app or website quickly; it's the fastest way to pick something when you know what you want.

When you confirm in the picker, the selection comes back to the Monitored Apps sheet. Tap Save there to commit.

Adding Custom Websites

If a website isn't in Apple's picker (or you'd rather add it directly), use the Custom Websites section of the Monitored Apps sheet. Type the domain (youtube.com, tiktok.com, etc.) and add it to your list. The Custom Websites editor commits its own changes when you tap Done; remember to also tap Save on the Monitored Apps sheet to apply everything together.

Custom Websites get blocked across all browsers when any of your blocks is active.

Adult Website Blocking

The Adult Websites toggle on the Monitored Apps sheet enables iOS Screen Time's built-in adult-content filter. With it on, Detox tells iOS to block adult sites whenever any of your other blocks is currently active.

You don't curate a list yourself; Apple decides what counts as adult content.

Primary vs secondary blocks

Not every monitored thing behaves the same way during Auto Block:

• Primary: apps, categories, and websites picked in Apple's picker. Apple's Screen Time API tracks how long you spend on these, so they can trigger Auto Block when continuous use passes your threshold.
• Secondary: Custom Websites and Adult Websites. iOS doesn't track screen time on these the same way, so they can't drive Auto Block on their own. Instead, they get blocked whenever any other block is currently active. If Auto Block fires from continuous use on a primary app, your secondary websites are blocked too for the duration of that block.

Practical consequence: if you want Auto Block to fire when you spend too long on reddit.com and Reddit isn't in your monitored apps (only your Custom Websites), Auto Block won't catch it. Add the Reddit app from the Apple picker, or add reddit.com from the picker's website list when available.

What Detox can see (and can't)

Apple's privacy model gives Detox opaque tokens for your selection, not names. So:

• The Monitored Apps sheet shows you counts like 5 apps, 2 categories, 3 websites, never which specific apps or sites.
• Only you can see the full list, by opening the Apple picker.
• Detox can't read your selection from outside the picker, and we can't share or export it.

This is why support can't tell you "you have Instagram blocked" or fix your list remotely. Only you can see and edit it.

Strict Mode locks editing

When a Strict Mode block is currently active, the Monitored Apps sheet becomes read-only and the Modify button on the Settings page shows as Locked. Editing resumes when the block ends. See What is Strict Mode? for the full set of locks that activate.

Related

• What is Auto Block?
• What are Scheduled Blocks?
• What is Strict Mode?

Updated on: 22/05/2026