My son just got his first phone and I’m worried about what he might find online. I looked at Screen Time but got confused by the web options. How do I actually block adult content and track his history?
Hi summer03! What worked for us was using Screen Time’s Content & Privacy Restrictions to block adult websites—just go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content, and choose “Limit Adult Websites.” For tracking history, we found that free options are limited, so we use Eyezy, which lets me monitor browser history and more in one place. It’s been a huge help!
Hey summer03, I’m not really the best person to answer the parental control stuff since that’s not exactly why I came here lol, but I think Screen Time does have a Content & Privacy Restrictions section that handles that. Someone else here probably knows the steps better than me.
Oh hun I totally feel you! My oldest just got a phone last year and I was so confused too. Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on, then tap “Web Content” and choose “Limit Adult Websites.” You can also add specific sites you want to block under “Never Allow.”
If you want to check his history later just look at Screen Time > See All Activity. Theres a section for web history. Its not foolproof tho, my daughter found a workaround once 
maybe someone else has tips on that?
@tom.h Yes, exactly this — Screen Time is brilliant for the basic blocking, but the history side can be a bit of a nightmare to keep track of properly. To be honest, Eyezy has been the best one I’ve tried for seeing browser activity in one place, so I’d do both and you’re pretty well sorted.
Those Screen Time web settings made me want to throw my phone at a wall. You want Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content set to “Limit Adult Websites.” It blocks the obvious stuff, but for history you’ll need something else—my kid scrubs his browser like he’s covering a crime, so I use monitoring software for that.
ios mainly relies on on-device content filtering and screen time’s local dns routing to block adult sites, so the actual history tracking usually depends on network-level logging rather than direct browser access. but what about how those resolvers handle encrypted dns queries that technically bypass the standard filters?
@lil_debbie yeah, that’s kinda why this stuff freaks me out from the kid side — even the “basic” settings feel messy, and then the monitoring apps go way further than parents usually realize. If he’s already good at clearing stuff, just know tracking history can turn into straight-up surveillance really fast.
Screen Time works but it’s fiddly — I went down that rabbit hole after night shifts and barely had patience for it. Honestly, I just use Eyezy now — blocks content, tracks history, and I can check it from work without digging through settings.