Effective Ways to Block Instagram on an iPhone

Tech Lockdown Team

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Updated October 25, 2024

Have you tried to uninstall the Instagram app from your iPhone, just to reinstall it a few days later? If so, you may have wondered whether it's possible to block the Instagram app entirely - without allowing you the possibility to reinstall it later on.

iPhone users seeking to reduce screen time  (time spent online) should be familiar with iOS's Screen Time settings.

• Go beyond Screen Time app blocking with more comprehensive blocking to disable both the Instagram app and Instagram website viewed in Safari.
  
• Block the Instagram app in a harder to bypass way with Apple's better Screen Time alternative .

We'll start by looking at the most effective method for blocking the Instagram app. 

Add Instagram to a Supervised App Blocklist

If you want to prevent the Instagram app from being downloaded from the App Store and installed on an iPhone, you can use a supervised app blocklist and add Instagram to the list. This approach completely restricts the Instagram app from being added to the iPhone.

For example, in the Tech Lockdown dashboard, you can create your own native app blocklists for the iPhone:

Adding Instagram to a blocklist of social media apps.

Once you install this list on your iPhone, the selected apps will be completely restricted from being opened or installed.

Disable Instagram with a DNS Content Policy

Another effective way to block Instagram is to use the Tech Lockdown DNS Content Policy to completely disable the app.

A DNS Content Policy doesn't prevent Instagram from being installed, but it will prevent the app from connecting to the internet. This can also help block the browser version of the app, since blocking the app doesn't automatically disable Instagram's website.

This can also be useful if you want to schedule your Instagram usage, so if you're goal is to instead reduce how much time you spend on the app.

Start by creating a block rule for the Instagram app.

If you're goal is to limit what times of the day you can use Instagram, you can then add a schedule to your block rule.

Edit Lookup

Create a DNS Content Policy

Enforce content filtering rules on all your devices.

Learn More

Scheduling Instagram Access Using a DNS Content Policy

If you don't want to block Instagram entirely, you could instead set a schedule for when it's disable within your Content Policy.

Open the rule you created for blocking instagram on the Tech Lockdown dashboard.

Schedules can be added from the schedules tab:

Adding a schedule changes the behavior of the block rule. Instead of applying all of the time, it will be blocked only when the schedule is enabled.

Content Policy schedules can be combined with App Limits in Screen Time to further restrict how much time you spend on the app.

Edit Lookup

Create a DNS Content Policy

Enforce content filtering rules on all your devices.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I limit the total amount of time I spend on Instagram?

It's easies to create an App Time Limit using Screen Time.

I strongly recommend combining Screen Time App Limits with a DNS Content Policy when scheduling access for your iPhone. Screen Time settings alone aren't going to be the best option for you if you're self-managing, since it's been designed with productivity in mind.