Apple Shortcuts
Using Apple Shortcuts and Automations for Bypass Prevention
Recommended Apple Automations to use when trying to prevent a blocking system from being intentionally or accidentally bypassed on an iPhone or iPad.
Apple provides an app called Shortcuts which allows you to set automations on an iPhone or iPad. These automations are useful if you are trying to prevent intentional or accidental bypass of content blocking or device restrictions. The Shortcuts app is pre-installed on all iOS devices.
This guide will cover the most useful Apple Shortcut Automations for these use-cases:
Lock an App to Prevent it from Being Opened
If you want to install an app on your iPhone, but do not want the app to be opened and customized, this automation can provide you with the ability to lock the app by closing it when it is opened.
How to automatically close an app when it is opened:
Ensure a Content Filtering VPN is Always Enabled
Another common use-case it to protect a content filtering VPN on iOS so that it is not intentionally or accidentally turned off. It's possible that the related VPN app crashes or a user intentionally turns it off somehow, so this automation can help you ensure that it's automatically re-enabled.
Automatically Re-Enable On-Demand Mode for a Content Filtering VPN
In addition to ensuring the VPN is enabled when opening an app, you can also automatically re-enable On-Demand mode for the filtered VPN.
On-demand mode isn't required for the filtered VPN to work as expected, but it does ensure your iPhone will automatically attempt to re-enable the VPN if it is disabled.
The only way to disable On-demand mode is through the Settings app on your iPhone, so let's create a new Automation that automatically re-enables On-Demand mode each time the Settings app is closed.
Hiding the Shortcuts App
The Shortcuts app can be hidden to increase the amount of effort needed to make changes later.
Hiding the Shortcuts app will remove it from your iPhone's Home screen and make it more difficult to access.
On your iPhone find the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
Tap on hold on the icon.
Choose Remove App
Choose Remove from Home Screen: