How to block prediction market apps and sites on your phone

You block these apps the same way you block betting apps: set limits on your phone for the apps and sites, then ask someone you trust to hold the passcode. The steps below are for iPhone and Android. A block can be undone, so the last part adds a pause for the moment you reach for the app.

If you feel unsafe or are thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 now (in Canada, 9-8-8). If you are in danger, call your local emergency number.

First, find what to block (5 minutes)

1. Search your phone. Check your Home Screen, your app list, and your browser history for prediction market apps and sites.
2. Check inside finance apps. Some investing or crypto apps have a prediction tab inside them. If you block the whole app, you block the rest of it too. Decide with your trusted person whether to block the app, or to ask the app for its own break.
3. Write down the site addresses. You will type them into the block list.
4. Take the payment away. Remove saved cards and linked bank accounts from these apps, so a deposit takes real effort.

iPhone

Apple's menu names change between versions of iOS. These steps follow Apple's pages for iOS 18 and iOS 26. Apple's iOS 27 page does not list a way to block websites for yourself, so on iOS 27 the menu may look different. If you cannot find it, use the Apple pages linked below or the Settings search box.

1. Turn on Screen Time. Go to Settings, then Screen Time. Apple: Set up Screen Time for yourself
2. Set a Screen Time passcode. Go to Settings, Screen Time, Passcode & Management, then Lock Screen Time Settings. Enter a four-digit code twice. This is not the code that unlocks your phone. Apple: Create, change, or remove a Screen Time passcode
3. Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions. Go to Settings, Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions, and turn it on. Apple: Block apps, app downloads, websites, and purchases
4. Block new installs. Delete the apps first (touch and hold the icon, then Remove App). Then tap iTunes & App Store Purchases and choose the restrictions for installing and deleting apps, so they cannot come back. Apple: Change settings and restrictions in the App Store
5. Block the sites. Tap App Store, Media, Web & Games, then Web Content. Choose Limit Adult Websites. Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and type each address you wrote down. Apple: Block websites

Deleting an app does not close your account. The account and any saved card can still be there. See why deleting the app alone keeps failing.

Android

Android 17 and later has parental controls built into Settings that you can set on your own phone. Older versions use Digital Wellbeing. Some steps vary by phone. Google: Set up parental controls on an Android device

On Android 17 or later

1. Set a PIN. Open Settings, tap Parental controls, then Set up Parental controls PIN. It must be at least 4 digits.
2. Block each app. Tap Parental controls, then App limits. Choose the app and turn off Allow app. The app is hidden from your app list.
3. Filter new installs. Tap Parental controls, then App store filters, then Google Play Store. This filters by age rating and only affects apps you install later. Check whether the app you are worried about falls under the rating you choose.

On Android 16 or earlier

1. Set an App limits PIN. Open Settings, tap Digital Wellbeing, then App limits, then App limits PIN, and turn it on. Google: Digital Wellbeing
2. Set a zero timer. Google's tip for blocking an app is to set the PIN, then set the app's time limit to zero.

About sites on Android. Google's built-in web filter covers sexually explicit sites, not gambling or prediction market sites. In Chrome you can set a daily timer on a site under Digital Wellbeing, but that limits time and does not block. For a real site block, read how to block betting sites and apps on Android and blocker apps compared.

Hand over the passcode

A passcode you hold yourself is easy to undo in a hard moment. Give the job to someone you trust.

1. Ask them to type the passcode. Ask them to set it while you look away, or to change it right after you set it. Ask them not to tell you.
2. Think about recovery. On iPhone, you can add Screen Time Passcode Recovery with an Apple Account. Apple says it can be a different account from the one on your phone. On Android, Forgot PIN works only if a recovery account is set. If not, the phone has to be reset. You could use your trusted person's account as the recovery account. Ask them first.
3. Agree on a wait. Say: "If I ask for the passcode, wait a day before you give it to me." A day is a long time when the urge is loud.
4. Give them the words. "I'm blocking these apps. Can you hold the passcode, and say no for a day if I ask?"

If there is no one you want to ask yet, see want to stop betting but not ready to tell anyone?

What a block does not cover

A block makes the bet harder to place. It does not cover another phone or a computer, a new app with a new name, or a site you did not add. It also does not close accounts. Self exclusion lists are made for sportsbooks and casinos, and they may not reach these apps.

Read does self exclusion cover prediction market apps and how to self exclude from every sportsbook. To compare blocker apps, see blocker apps compared.

Add a pause for the moment you reach for the app

A wall helps, but a wall can be taken down in a few taps. Put a pause in front of the bet itself. Take a breath, say what the bet is for, and text one person. More in how to pause before a bet on a prediction market app.

Pause before the next bet

Hold The Bet is free with no account. It shows your own number and reason and holds a 30 second pause before you bet. It does not stop an app from working. It puts a pause in front of the button.