How to block YouTube on your child's iPhone

You can block YouTube on your child's iPhone three ways: hide the app with an age ceiling (YouTube is rated 17+), block youtube.com and m.youtube.com in the web filter, and keep Safari from reaching it through a search by setting the web to "Only sites I approve."

Shorts cannot be blocked on their own; they are part of the YouTube app and the website, so blocking YouTube blocks Shorts. YouTube Kids is a separate app with its own rating, so decide about it separately. An age ceiling hides every app rated above it, not only YouTube, and there is no per-app timer; that is the honest trade.

One price, unlimited children and devices. 7-day free trial, billed by Apple.

Apple's way, our way, and the doors children use to get it back

With Apple's Screen Time

Settings, Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions, Content Restrictions. Set Apps to 12+ and the YouTube app, rated 17+, leaves the Home Screen. Under Web Content choose Limit Adult Websites and add youtube.com and m.youtube.com under Never Allow, or choose Allowed Websites Only and list what you permit. Turn Allow Changes off so the child cannot flip it back. Do both halves: hiding the app does not block the website, and blocking the website does not hide the app.

With SimpleSentinel

In the Apps zone set the App age ceiling to 16+ and YouTube is hidden on every device that child uses. In the Web zone add youtube.com, m.youtube.com and youtu.be to Sites to always block, or choose Only sites I approve; under that mode Siri is switched off on the child's phone, so a voice search cannot reach it either. Want YouTube in the afternoon and gone at night? Put it in a downtime window instead and leave it off the always-accessible list.

The ways children get YouTube back, and the switch that closes each

Another browser: the web filter is Apple's on-device filter, so a block on youtube.com holds in Chrome and Firefox too. A delete and reinstall: set Installing apps to With my permission and a reinstall needs your yes. Siri: switched off under a restricted web mode. The clock: locked from the moment the phone is linked, so a bedtime block stays a bedtime block. A link in Messages opens in Safari, where the filter applies.

YouTube Kids and a shared iPad

YouTube Kids is a separate app with its own age rating, so decide about it on its own: a 16+ ceiling leaves it visible, and the Apps zone can close it if you choose. On a shared iPad each child signs in with their own four-digit code and gets their own rules, so one child's YouTube block does not have to be a sibling's. SimpleSentinel never reads what your child watches; it only decides where YouTube can open.

Pricing

Founding Family (First 1,000 Families)

7-day free trial. Unlimited children and devices.

$9.99/mo

or $99.99/yr

  • About 28 cents/day for every device & child.

  • Your price never goes up as long as you stay subscribed.

Regular Price

7-day free trial. Unlimited children and devices.

$16.99/mo

or $149.99/yr

  • About 41 cents/day for every device & child.

  • Compare to A locked-down phone @ $1,000/yr per child.

© 2026 Jubilee Industries LLC. SimpleSentinel™ is a trademark of Jubilee Industries LLC. Patent pending.