Step 1 — A Screen Time passcode that isn't your unlock code
Settings → Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings. Choose four digits you don't use anywhere else. Without this, every restriction below is a suggestion.
Step 2 — Block at End of Limit (kills "Ignore Limit")
App Limits show an Ignore Limit button when time runs out, which is how most limits die. In each limit, or under Settings → Screen Time → App Limits, turn on Block at End of Limit. The button is replaced by a passcode prompt.
Step 3 — Limit Adult Websites, and take away Private Browsing
Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content → Limit Adult Websites. Safari's Private Browsing disappears while this is on. Add anything Apple's list misses under Never Allow. Full detail: blocking porn in Safari.
Step 4 — No new browsers, no deleting the blocker
Under Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases, set Installing Apps and Deleting Apps to Don't Allow. This is what stops "download Chrome" and "delete the filter app". It also stops you installing anything else until you enter the passcode, which is the price.
Step 5 — No account changes, no time-zone games
Under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allow Changes, set Account Changes to Don't Allow: signing out of the Apple ID and back in is one of the classic resets. Set Passcode Changes to Don't Allow too. Downtime schedules are tied to the device clock; restricting location and account changes limits the usual clock tricks.
Step 6 — Siri, Spotlight and hidden browsers
Content Restrictions → Siri → Web Search Content → Don't Allow. Under Allowed Apps, review what's on. Remember that apps with a built-in browser (mail, social, notes) are a browser: Limit Adult Websites reaches those that use Apple's web view, but not everything.
Step 7 — Have someone else set the passcode
The standard forum advice, and it does help: a friend or partner types the four digits, you never see them. Now you can't undo the settings on impulse. Two costs: you've involved someone in the most private fight you have, and, as the next section explains, the passcode is still recoverable by you.
The hole no setting closes
On the passcode screen, Apple offers Forgot Passcode? It resets the Screen Time passcode using the Apple ID signed in on the device. That Apple ID is yours. Whoever typed the four digits, you hold the account that overrides them. This isn't a bug; it's how Apple protects people locked out of their own phones. It also means that Screen Time, fully configured, with a passcode set by someone else, is still a lock whose key is in your pocket. The five ways it gets undone are laid out in is Screen Time enough.
What closes it: supervision
Apple has a second mechanism, built for organisations that hand out iPhones and need restrictions to stick: supervision. A supervised device can carry a configuration profile that cannot be removed from the phone, that sets a filtering DNS resolver for every app, and that forbids adding a VPN. There's no passcode to recover, because there is no passcode: the only way off is a deliberate request from an account, after a delay. How it works and what it does to your phone: supervised iPhone explained.
That's what SELFCNTRL does on iPhone and iPad. Keep Screen Time on underneath; it costs nothing. But the thing that holds at 2am is the profile you can't remove. Setup takes ten minutes, once: the iPhone guide.
Checklist
| Bypass | Setting that closes it | Closed for good? |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore Limit | Block at End of Limit | Until you enter the passcode |
| Private Browsing | Limit Adult Websites | Until you enter the passcode |
| Install another browser | Installing Apps: Don't Allow | Until you enter the passcode |
| Delete the blocker app | Deleting Apps: Don't Allow | Until you enter the passcode |
| Sign out of Apple ID | Account Changes: Don't Allow | Until you enter the passcode |
| Forgot Passcode? → Apple ID reset | None | No — only supervision removes the passcode from the equation |
Questions
How do I stop myself from bypassing Screen Time?
Turn on Block at End of Limit, Limit Adult Websites, Installing Apps and Account Changes: Don't Allow, and use a separate passcode. Then accept that the Forgot Passcode option resets it with your Apple ID. To take yourself out of the equation entirely, the device has to be supervised.
Can I lock Screen Time without a passcode someone else knows?
You can set one you don't memorise (type it without looking, or let a random generator pick it), but the Apple ID reset is still available to you. A supervised profile is the only Screen Time-style restriction that has no passcode to recover.
Does Block at End of Limit work for websites?
App Limits can include specific websites, and Block at End of Limit applies to them. For adult content as a category, Limit Adult Websites is the setting, and it isn't time-based.
Is supervising my own iPhone allowed?
Yes. Supervision is an Apple feature of iOS; it needs a Mac or a Windows PC once, and it can involve resetting the device, so you back up first and restore after. SELFCNTRL's supervisor walks you through it in about ten minutes.