How To Block Inappropriate Websites On Phone (Browsers & Apps)

If you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Details

Are you looking for a way to block inappropriate websites and content on your or your kid’s cell phone?

If yes, then this article will be very helpful to you. In this article, I have shared step by step process for restricting sexual, sensitive, offensive, and adult content on Android as well as iPhone. Not only this but I have also shared how to block 18+ websites and content on different platforms like Google Chrome, YouTube, Instagram, Play Store, App Store, etc. And at the end of this article, I also have a fool-proof option for you in case you want to put content restrictions on your child’s cell phone.

So keep reading!

Quick Navigation

How To Block Inappropriate Content On Phone?

There are actually many ways to do this. The ways differ according to the platforms i.e. Google Chrome, YouTube, Instagram, Play Store, etc. And they also differ according to the type of mobile phone i.e. iPhone or Android. So let us look at them one by one, and you can choose the one that you need.

Let’s first look at the ways that will be the same for both Android and iOS devices. And then we will look at the process of blocking 18+ content on Android and iPhone separately.

How To Block Inappropriate Websites On Google Chrome Browser?

Google Chrome is one of the most used browsers around the world. So if you want to block adult websites on your kid’s cell phone or on your cell phone then restricting them on Chrome will help a lot.

But sadly Chrome does not provide an option to block sexual websites. Therefore you will not be able to prevent your teenager from directly accessing the adult websites. But do not worry, you will find a method to do it in the latter part of this article.

However, you can filter out the search results if your kid uses Chrome to search things on the Internet.

To filter out the search results on Google Chrome browser, follow the steps mentioned below:

Step 1: Open the Google Chrome browser.

How To Block Inappropriate Websites On Phone's Google Chrome

Step 2: Now go to this URL: google.com/preferences.

Google Chrome Step 2

Step 3: On the next screen, look for the SafeSearch Filters option and select Hide Explicit Results.

Google Chrome Step 3

Step 4: Click on the Save button.

Google Chrome Step 4

Now if your kids search for something on the Internet using the Google Chrome browser then it will hide all the websites that have inappropriate content from appearing on the search result.

Restrict Adult Websites On Google App

If your teenagers use the Google app rather than chrome to search for things then you might want to upgrade your Google app settings as well.

The following steps will help you do that:

Step 1: Open the Google app on your smartphone.

Restricting Adult Websites On Google App

Step 2: Tap on the profile icon present in the top right corner.

Google Step 2

Step 3: Open Settings.

Google Step 3

Step 4: Tap on the Hide Explicit Results option.

Google Step 4

Step 5: Turn on the Explicit Results Filter.

Google Step 5

Now this will turn on the SafeSearch on the Google app. And whenever your child searches for something, the results will not include the inappropriate content.

How To Prevent Inappropriate Content On YouTube?

After Google, YouTube has become the most used search engine around the world. Unlike Google Chrome, YouTube gives an option to restrict adult, sensitive, or sexual content.

Follow the below-mentioned steps to do it:

Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your Android phone or iPhone.

How To Prevent Inappropriate Content On YouTube

Step 2: Go to Settings.

YouTube Step 2

Step 3: Tap on the General option.

YouTube Step 3

Step 4: Turn on the Restricted Mode.

YouTube Step 4

That’s it, now YouTube will hide videos that contain 18+ or offensive content.

How To Block 18+ Content On Instagram?

Instagram’s user base is increasing day by day. And the majority of these users are teens around the world. But like other platforms, Instagram is also not free from adult content. So if your children use Instagram too then you must want to make sure that they do not see any inappropriate content that they are not supposed to see.

But do not worry! Instagram provides you an option to put restrictions on the content that is displayed in your feed. And since Instagram is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones, so it does not matter which type of cell phone you or your kids use, this will work for both.

Below mentioned steps will show you how to do that:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.

How To Block 18+ Content On Instagram

Step 2: Tap on the hamburger icon at the top right corner.

Instagram Step 2

Step 3: Open Settings.

Instagram Step 3

Step 4: Tap on Account.

Instagram Step 4

Step 5: Open Sensitive Content Control.

Instagram Step 5

Step 6: Select the Limit Even More option.

Instagram Step 6

Now Instagram will limit the content that is oriented toward nudity, adultery, and sexuality.

How To Restrict Adult Content On Android Phone Without An App?

This section will be particularly helpful to you in case you or your children own Android phones. If you use an iPhone then you can skip this part of the article.

Android Phones actually have some inbuilt options that can let you block the adult websites and content. Let us look at them one by one.

Google Play Store

If you do not want your children to download any 18+ app or movie from Google Play Store then the Play Store itself can help you do that. You can turn the parental control in Play Store and can control what your kid can see and download over it.

To turn on the parental control, follow the below steps:

Step 1: Open the Play Store app on your Android phone.

Play Store Step 1

Step 2: Click on the profile icon at the top right corner.

Play Store Step 2

Step 3: Open Settings.

Play Store Step 3

Step 4: Tap on the Family option.

Play Store Step 4

Step 5: Open the Parental Controls option.

Play Store Step 5

Step 6: Turn on the Parental Controls.

Play Store Step 6

Step 7: Create a Content Pin. This pin will be used if you want to change the settings in the future.

Play Store Step 7

Step 8: Once done, you can then choose the age rating up to which you want to show the apps or movies. Select the one that you think will be most suitable.

Play Store Step 8

Step 9: Click on the Save button.

Play Store Step 9

Now your children will only be able to see the set rated apps, games, and movies on the Play Store.

Digital Wellbeing And Parental Controls

Every Android smartphone these days comes with an inbuilt Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls settings. You can use this to block access of your kids to sexual websites and content. Not only this, but you will be able to monitor their cell phone remotely using Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls. And once you set up the Parental Control, you will be able to filter out the content that your children see among all the apps owned by Google like Chrome, Play Store, YouTube, etc. Therefore you do not have to configure them separately.

To set up Parental Control on Android phones, follow the below steps:

Step 1: Take your kid’s cell phone and open Settings.

Step 2: Open Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls.

Parental Control Step 2

Step 3: Select Parental Controls.

Parental Control Step 3

Step 4: Tap on the Get Started button.

Parental Control Step 4

Step 5: Select Child or Teenager.

Parental Control Step 5

Step 6: Tap on Next.

Parental Control Step 6

Step 7: Select your child’s Google account.

Step 8: Tap on Continue. Other accounts will be signed off from the cell phone.

Step 9: Enter your Google account that you will use to supervise your child’s cell phone and tap on Next.

Step 10: Enter your Google account password and tap on Next.

Step 11: Read what you can do, what you can’t do, how to turn off parental controls, etc. with your teenager.

Parental Control Step 11

Parental Control Step 11.2

Step 12: Then ask them to enter their Google account password. Next, tap on Agree.

Parental Control Step 11.3

Step 13: Now your accounts are linked. Tap on Next.

Parental Control Step 12

Step 14: Among all the installed apps, select the ones that you do not want your child to use. These will stay hidden from your kid’s cell phone. After selecting the apps, tap on Next.

Parental Control Step 13

Step 15: Open different Google-owned apps and set the filter according to your need. For example, if you want to block 18+ websites on Google Chrome then select the Filters On Google Chrome option.

Parental Control Step 14

Step 16: Choose Help Block Mature Sites. Once done tap on Next.

Parental Control Step 15

Now, your kid will not be able to access the adult content or websites on any app that is owned by Google. If you want to make any changes to these settings or want to control your child’s cell phone remotely then you will be able to do it from the Google Family Link app. You can install the Google Family Link app from the Play Store on your Android smartphone.

So this is how you can use the Digital Wellbeing and Family Control app to make sure your kids don’t access inappropriate content. However, this method will only track Google-owned apps and what your teenager does on other social media apps will still remain out of your reach. And also your children will know that they are getting monitored, so they might not do anything inappropriate using their cell phones and make use of their friend’s smartphones.

But do not worry, as promised at the beginning of this article, I have a fool-proof solution for you. So keep reading.

How To Block Adult Content On iPhone?

This section of the article is for all the parents out there who either own an iPhone themselves or their kids own one. All the Android users can skip this part of the article.

Step 1: Take your iPhone and open Settings.

Step 2: Open the Screen Time option.

How To Put Content Restrictions On iPhone

Step 3: Go to Content & Privacy Restrictions.

iPhone Step 2

Step 4: Turn on the Content & Privacy Restrictions.

iPhone Step 3

Step 5: Tap on Content Restrictions.

iPhone Step 4

Step 6: On the next screen, you will be able to set the content restrictions for a number of things. Tap on the option that you like to set restrictions for. For eg., if you do not want your kid to access adult websites then tap on Web Content.

iPhone Step 5

Then on the next screen select Limit Adult Websites.

iPhone Step 6

Now your child will not be able to access adult websites on Safari on their iPhone. You can also read this article by Apple to know what all other things you can set restrictions on.

Using this you will be able to prevent your kid’s from accessing inappropriate and adult content either on their iPhone or on your iPhone. However, the drawback of using restrictions on the iPhone is that it hides all the third-party apps from your iPhone and your child will not be able to see them in the app drawer.

When I turned on the restrictions on my iPhone then I was not able to access Google Chrome from the app drawer. It was installed on my iPhone but was not visible in the app drawer. I could find it by searching it but was not able to open it as my iPhone showed that restrictions are currently turned on.

Chrome On iPhone

I am sure you do not want your teenagers to not at all access apps like Google Chrome. Therefore I would not recommend you to turn on the restrictions on your or your kid’s iPhone. Instead of this, I have a better option for you. Just keep reading.

Best Way To Restrict Offensive And Sexual Content On Child’s Phone?

All the methods that we have looked at so far to prevent kids or teenagers from accessing sexual or 18+ content have one or the other drawbacks. And with those methods, you will not quite achieve what you want to.

But as promised at the beginning of this article, I have a better way for you as well. The best and most effective way to restrict access to adult, sensitive, or offensive websites or content is by using a parental control app.

With the parental control app, you will be able to block whatever you do not want your kids to access on their cell phones. But the question that arises is which is the best parental control app?

I have tried and tested many parental control apps for months and I have selected the best one suited for this job. The name of that app is FamiSafe.

To use FamiSafe, you will first have to create an account on their website and buy their plan. After this, you will have to install the FamiSafe app from the Play Store or the App Store. Yes, it is compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones. So it does not matter whether your child uses an Android Phone or an iPhone.

Once the Famisafe is installed on your teenager’s cell phone, you are good to go. FamiSafe offers a number of features that let you restrict the access of your kids to inappropriate and adult content. Let us look at these features one by one.

YouTube App Control

The YouTube App Control feature of FamiSafe lets you monitor and control your child’s YouTube activities. It lets you see the YouTube history of your teenager, and also alerts you in case your kid is seeing some inappropriate videos.

When I was testing FamiSafe, it showed me every video that I watched on the target cell phone within seconds. The thing that I liked about FamiSafe is that it even gives you an option to see the video yourself. All I had to do to see the video was click on the globe icon present on the right side of every video. Therefore you can see every video that your kid watches on YouTube and decide for yourself whether it is suitable for them to watch or not.

FamiSafe - YouTube App Control

Another thing I liked about FamiSafe’s YouTube App Control features is that it gave me an option to block a particular video or the whole channel to which the video belonged. I just had to click on the lock icon present besides the globe icon.

Browser History

Brower History as the name suggests, lets you see all the websites that your kids visit.

During my usage, FamiSafe was able to track all the websites that I visited. The thing that I liked about its Browser History feature is that it gave me clickable URLs of all the websites that I visited on the target phone. So to visit a particular website all I had to do was click on the URL. Therefore you will be able to see what websites your teenagers visit, that too with a time stamp.

FamiSafe - Browser History

If you think a certain website is not suitable for them, then you can block that website just by clicking on the Block button.

Web Filter

Browser History of FamiSafe lets you see what all websites your children have already visited. But if you want to block your kids’ access to websites that are not appropriate for them beforehand, then Web Filter is the feature for you.

It lets you block the websites on your kid’s cell phone remotely. And the thing that I liked the most about this feature is that it gives you categories of different websites to block. And once you block a certain category then all the websites belonging to that category will get blocked. Therefore, I did not have to enter each and every website that I did not want my kids to visit.

FamiSafe - Web Filter

But in case I wanted to block a certain website that did not fall in these categories, then I was also able to manually add websites.

Safe Search

Like Google’s safe search, FamiSafe’s Safe Search detects inappropriate keywords and blocks them automatically.

When I was using FamiSafe, I was able to see all the keywords that my kids searched on their cell phones. And I could easily block the adult or inappropriate keywords by simply clicking on the lock button present on the right of every keyword.

FamiSafe - Safe Search

I was also able to manually add some keywords that I did not want my kids to search online. And once the keyword was blocked then my children were not able to search it on their browser.

Explicit Content Detection

Unlike any other method that we discussed earlier in this article, FamiSafe lets you detect explicit and inappropriate content on different instant messaging apps.

But to do that, I first had to connect my kid’s different social media accounts to FamiSafe. Once connected, I had to add suspicious words to it. There are already many words in the database of FamiSafe, so I could choose among them or I could also add new words.

FamiSafe - Explicit Content Detected

Once the suspicious words were added, FamiSafe then detected those words among all the connected social media apps and also notified me of the same.

Inappropriate Pictures

Another very good feature that FamiSafe offers is Inappropriate Pictures. This feature detects adult or inappropriate pictures on your teenager’s cell phone.

I tested this feature by storing many appropriate pictures like adult pics, and pictures of guns and drugs on the target phone. However, it was not able to detect all of them. But even a few detected pictures are more than enough to know on what track your kids are walking.

FamiSafe - Inappropriate Pictures

So this is how you will be able to not only track but also block all the adult and inappropriate content and websites on your child’s phone with the help of FamiSafe. You can read my FamiSafe app review to know more about it and its features.

Is A Parental Control App Worth Using?

Yes, if you want a fool-proof method that ensures your kids do not access adult websites and inappropriate content on the Internet then using a parental control app like FamiSafe is definitely worth using. No other method gives you so much control over your kid’s cell phone. And needless to say, with a parental control app, you will be able to control your kid’s phone remotely.

Not only this, but with parental control apps like FamiSafe, you will also be able to monitor your teen’s driving, track their locations remotely, and much more.

Recommended: Signs A Man Is A Child Predator

FAQs

How Do I Put Parental Controls On Android?

You can either use Android’s Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls or you can use a parental control app like FamiSafe.

How Do I Restrict Google Search On Android?

By using the inbuilt Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls on an Android phone, you will be able to restrict Google search.

Can I Set Parental Controls On Google Chrome?

Yes, you can set parental controls on Google Chrome.

Leave a Comment