Block Apps
How to Turn Off and Block the App store on iPhone
Prevent new apps from being downloaded to an iPhone by turning off or blocking the App Store.
If you are trying to restrict access to downloading new apps from the App Store, you might have considered disabling the App Store entirely. There are a few ways to completely turn off the App Store on iPhone, but the techniques depend on whether you are setting up your own iPhone or configuring a child's device. We'll walk you through the most effective ways to turn off the App Store depending on who you are setting up the device for. These techniques will also work on iPad as well.
Check out our YouTube video version of this guide to disabling the App Store on iOS:
This guide will provide you with several effective approaches for turning off or blocking the App Store on iPhone using methods that work for adults as well as kids. If you decide to block the App Store, then the app can't be opened, so no new apps can be installed.
Turning off the App Store on a Child's iPhone or iPad
There are a few ways to reliably turn off the App Store so that a child can't install new apps.
Before turning off the App Store completely, consider turning on Ask to Buy . This way, a parent will get a notification to approve or deny new app store download requests (even if a child is trying to download a free app).
This prevents a child from installing new apps without parental approval first.
If this approach isn't a good fit for you, the next recommended approach is to turn off the Screen Time option Installing Apps.
We highly recommend that you use managed Screen Time with Apple Family so that you can make changes to your child's screen time settings remotely from your own Apple device. Check out our guide to putting parental controls on an iPhone for the full setup process.
Here's how to use Screen Time to disable the App Store on a child's iOS device:
The main issue with disabling the App Store with Screen Time is that apps might eventually stop working because app updates can't be accessed. Consider using the Supervised iPhone app blocking approach we mention later on in this guide.
Monitoring the App Store on a child's iPhone
One of the reasons that parent's choose to turn off the App Store is that they aren't able to catch problematic app usage. Instead of disabling the App Store, consider monitoring it instead.
You can use a parental monitoring app for iPhone like LivingRoom , which captures screenshots of your child's app activity. It works no matter what app is used on the device, so you can see exactly what your child sees.
This helps mitigate most of the risk surrounding app usage on a kid's iPhone or iPad.
Turn off the App Store on an Adult's iPhone
The recommended approach for turning off the App Store on an adult's iOS device is to use Supervised Mode to create an App Allowlist.
Once Supervised Mode has been enabled, you can add all of the apps you currently have on your device to it (including the App Store) to an App Allowlist, which will block any new app from being added to the device (even if the App Store can be accessed).
Watch our demo video on YouTube walking through restricting yourself from the App Store:
Any app that isn't on your App Allowlist will be blocked, including new apps that you try to download from the App Store. You can use Profile Locking to prevent yourself from unblocking apps.
This approach essentially disables the App Store since new apps can't be downloaded, but you can still access the App Store and update apps as needed.
Instead of an App Allowlist that can be very restrictive, you could instead individually block iPhone apps with an App Blocklist. A blocklists only blocks apps you've specifically selected. You can then hide and disable the App Store by adding it to this list.
If you are using the supervised app restriction approach, you might find that disabling the App Store is no longer necessary since you can fine-tune which apps are allowed to be added to the iPhone. See our dedicated guide for Supervised App Blocking for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Enabling Supervised mode on an iPhone
To get access to the most reliable methods for blocking apps on iPhone , you'll need to enable supervised mode. In order to enable supervised mode, you'll need to reset your iPhone and enable the mode during setup.
View our resources page for more information about enabling supervised mode .
Block the App Store while still being able to update apps
The downside of the standard Screen Time approach to disabling the App Store is that app updates will be disabled, and adults can easily bypass Screen Time. You'll have to unlock screen time and re-enable the App Store temporarily to run important app updates.
However, Supervised Mode can block the App Store without this drawback. You can completely restrict apps while still updating existing apps, and adults can't bypass this restriction.
How to Lock Screen Time Settings
Screen Time lets you set a simple passcode to make it a little trickier to bypass. For parents and accountability partners, we strongly recommend choosing a passcode that can't be easily guessed and using a separate Apple ID to lock restrictions.
There are two option you can try. You can either set up a personal passcode, or set up the device like a Child's device. We recommend setting up you iPhone like a Child's device, and use a secondary Apple ID to lock down your main account.
Unfortunately, that's it. There isn't much more that you can do with Screen Time, and it doesn't look like Apple is planning on changing this in the near future.
Require approval to download new apps from the App Store
Instead of completely turning off the App Store, parents might consider turning on Ask to Buy .
With this approach, parent's will receive a notification to approve or deny new app download requests from the app store.
Contrary to what the name implies, approval is also required to download a free app.
This approach only works on a child's iPhone or iPad that is signed in with an Apple account with an age less than 18 and is part of an Apple Family.