Cable
Cable is the most serious way to block apps and sites on your iPhone.
How? It uses the same Apple tool that businesses use to block certain apps on their employees’ phones.
There is no escape hatch like you have with Apple Screen Time and blocking apps.
“I have not had Instagram on my phone the last year because I literally cannot install it anymore.”
— Logan
Free and open source · macOS 14 or later · requires Apple Configurator
Free
A switch. Plug in, pick apps, Apply. Only this Mac can unblock them — so unblocking means the cable.
Why it holds
Apple lets exactly one computer manage a supervised phone: the one that set it up. That's your Mac. The phone's own Settings has no remove button. So unblocking means the walk back to your laptop and the cable.
No account, no server. If we vanish, nothing changes.
Paid free during beta
A lock. Click Lock and nothing can unblock — not even your Mac — until the delay you chose runs out, or the person you chose says yes.
Why it holds
Lock does two things. It re-installs the block with a password you never see, and it moves your Mac's permission to manage the phone onto our server. After that, plugging into your Mac does nothing. The only way to unblock is the password, which iOS demands in Settings — and we hand it over only after the delay, or when your person approves. No Mac needed.
The one door that always works is erasing the phone. That's Apple's rule, and it's why nothing here can brick a phone.