Effective Ways to Block YouTube on an iPhone

Tech Lockdown Team

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Updated October 25, 2024

If you've decided to quit YouTube or limit your time watching videos, you've probably uninstalled the YouTube app as a deterrent. However, it's easy to quickly re-activate the app from the App Store and start using it again. Furthermore, traditional blocking techniques may not go far enough. In this article, we'll go over the best strategies to use when you want to block YouTube on the iPhone.

In this guide, we'll take a look at a few different ways that you can block and disable to YouTube app. Depending on how strict of an approach you need, you could consider:

1. Fully blocking or disabling YouTube.
2. Setting an access schedule for YouTube at night or during work hours.
3. Filter videos within the YouTube platform.

Add YouTube to a Supervised App Blocklist

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

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

Disable YouTube Using a DNS Content Policy

You can use the Tech Lockdown DNS Content Policy to disable both the YouTube app and website accessed with Safari on your iPhone.

A DNS Content Policy doesn't prevent you from installing the YouTube app, but it will prevent both the app and website from working correctly.

If you would prefer to to limit the amount of time you spend on YouTube per day or restrict videos within the app, consider setting a schedule or enforcing Strict mode.

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Create a DNS Content Policy

Enforce content filtering rules on all your devices.

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Schedule YouTube Access on an iPhone

Instead of blocking the YouTube app on an iPhone completely, consider scheduling when you can watch YouTube videos.

You can schedule access to YouTube using the same DNS Content Policy we talked about earlier. Open the rule you created for blocking YouTube 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

Force Strict Mode Across YouTube With a DNS Content Policy

YouTube has a restricted mode feature. If you don't want to completely disable or block the YouTube app, you could consider ensuring restricted mode is forced on.

Using a DNS Content Policy like the one mentioned earlier, you can force both the website and app version of YouTube to use strict mode instead of the default option. Videos that are generally recognized to not be appropriate for families will blocked, plus features like the comment section will be disabled.

Videos not generally appropriate are blocked if YouTube strict mode is enabled.

Tech Lockdown provides a YouTube Strict mode preset that can added through the dashboard.

If you're combining a schedule rule to block YouTube with a strict mode rule, we recommend adding your scheduled block rule first. Afterwards, add the YouTube Strict mode below the block rule, that way the schedule is applied first.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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.

How can I remove distracting features on YouTube?

If you're trying to reduce time being wasted, you could try blocking the image thumbnails on the YouTube home page.

Tech Lockdown also provides a rule that blocks YouTube thumbnails. 

How do I block search keywords or channels on YouTube?

It's tricky to block specific search keywords while using the YouTube, so we usually recommend enabling Strict mode on YouTube if you need to filter out videos with adult content. If you need to block specific search keywords, consider accessing YouTube with a web browser. Safari should work.

You will then be able to use a browser extension that looks for specific keywords.

If you decide to use Safari, Screen Time can also be used to block specific YouTube channels or videos, although reliably blocking search keywords will require a browser extension.