How to block betting apps on iPhone

6 min read · Updated 2026-07-30

Deleting the app takes ten seconds. So does reinstalling it. This is the setup that puts a real barrier in the way — including the part most people miss.

Start here: delete, then block

Deleting alone is worth doing but it isn't a barrier — reinstalling is a thirty second job, and a craving will happily spend thirty seconds. Delete first, then add the block so reinstalling doesn't help.

Step 1 — Turn on Screen Time

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Screen Time
3. Turn it on if it isn't already

Step 2 — Set a passcode you don't memorise

This is the step that decides whether any of this works, and it's the one people skip.

Go to Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings and set a four-digit code. Then make it genuinely unavailable to you:

• Have someone you trust enter it without telling you, or
• Generate a random code, write it on paper, and give the paper to someone, or seal it somewhere inconvenient

A block you can lift in five seconds is not a block. It's a speed bump you'll drive over at 1am. The whole point is that the barrier outlasts the craving.

Use a different code from your phone unlock code, and don't use the recovery Apple ID option if you want this to hold.

Step 3 — Block betting websites

Blocking apps without blocking the browser leaves the front door open. Every sportsbook has a mobile site.

1. Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → turn on
2. Content Restrictions → Web Content
3. Choose Limit Adult Websites — this alone blocks a lot of gambling sites
4. Under Never Allow, add each betting site you use, one by one. Include every one you've ever had an account with, not just the current favourite.

For a stricter setup, choose Allowed Websites Only and add just the handful of sites you actually need. Restrictive, but very effective.

Step 4 — Stop reinstalls

1. Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases
2. Set Installing Apps to Don't Allow

Now the app is gone, the website is blocked, and reinstalling isn't available without the passcode you don't have. That's a real barrier.

Step 5 — Add friction to the money

Access is one path. Funding is the other.

• Remove saved cards from any betting account you can still reach
• Delete card details stored in your browser and password manager
• Ask your bank about gambling blocks — many banks offer a toggle that declines gambling transactions, often with a cooling-off delay before it can be switched back off
• Keep the balance in your everyday account low; move savings somewhere with a transfer delay

Step 6 — Self-exclusion

Most US states with legal sports betting run a self-exclusion programme. You add yourself to a list and operators are required to close your accounts and stop marketing to you for the period you choose.

It's free, and it's the only barrier on this page that operates from the sportsbook's side rather than your phone's. Search for self-exclusion plus your state's gaming commission.

What blocking can and can't do

None of this makes betting impossible. Another device exists. A friend's phone exists. That isn't the point.

The point is time. Cravings are intense and short. Any barrier that costs you twenty minutes wins most of them, because in twenty minutes the urge has usually passed and the person deciding is you again rather than the craving.