How to block betting sites on your iPhone in 60 seconds

You do not need a blocker app. Your iPhone already has one, it is free, and it works in both Safari and Chrome. It is called Screen Time, and most people never find the setting.

The steps

1. Open Settings, tap Screen Time.
2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and switch it on.
3. Tap Content Restrictions, then Web Content.
4. Choose Limit Adult Websites.
5. Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and type the site you need to stay off tonight. One site is enough to start. Add the rest later.
6. Go back and tap Lock Screen Time Settings. Set a passcode.

That last step is the whole trick. Without a passcode, the block page has an Allow Website link that lifts the block in one tap, and you will tap it. With a passcode it holds.

Give the passcode away

Hand the phone to the person you trust most and let them set the passcode without telling you. Now lifting the block means a phone call to them, which is the conversation you have been avoiding and the one that helps.

One thing to know: Limit Adult Websites also switches off Private Browsing in Safari. That is a feature, not a bug, but you should know before you do it.

Guided version with screenshots

If you want every tap shown on a screenshot, the guided setup is at holdthebet.com/setup. It takes about a minute, and the same page shows you how to make your own card appear before a betting app opens.