How to block gambling on your iPhone

What a block is actually for

No setting makes betting impossible. What a good block does is put time between the urge and the bet. Urges climb and break, usually inside twenty minutes; if getting to a sportsbook takes longer than the urge lasts, most urges lose.

So judge each option by one question: how long does it take me to undo it at 11 p.m. on a Sunday?

Option 1: Screen Time, free and built in

Every iPhone has the tools to do a decent job.

Block gambling websites

1. Open Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on.
2. Tap App Store, Media, Web & Games → Web Content and choose Limit Adult Websites.
3. Under Never Allow, add each site: draftkings.com, fanduel.com, kalshi.com, polymarket.com, and every other one you've used.

Stop new apps arriving

1. In Content & Privacy Restrictions, open iTunes & App Store Purchases.
2. Set Installing Apps to Don't Allow. (You'll have to switch it back to install anything at all. That friction is useful.)

Hide the ones already installed

Delete them. If you can't bring yourself to yet, put a time limit of one minute on them under App Limits, with "Block at End of Limit" on.

The weakness: everything here is undone by the Screen Time passcode. If you know it, the urge knows it.

Option 2: Give the passcode away

The single biggest upgrade to Option 1 costs nothing: let someone you trust set the Screen Time passcode and not tell you. A partner, a sibling, a friend. Now undoing the block means asking a person, out loud. Most urges die in that conversation.

If you don't have someone you want to ask, that's okay. Option 3 is built for that.

Option 3: A blocker that locks

Apps built on Apple's Screen Time framework can block apps and sites the same way Screen Time does, with less setup and with rules of their own.

Back to Even's Shield works like this:

• You pick the betting apps on your phone (and any app categories you want gone) from Apple's own picker.
• A built-in blocklist covers 37 sportsbook, prediction-market, sweepstakes and crypto-casino sites in Safari, including Kalshi, Polymarket, DraftKings, FanDuel, Chumba and Stake.
• You lock it for a week, 30 days, 90 days or a year. Ending the lock early starts a 72-hour cool-down, far longer than almost any urge.
• Apple keeps your app list private. We get anonymous tokens, never the names of your apps.

The free parts of the app (the SOS, the day count and the helpline) work without the Shield. See everything it does.

What blocks can't do

• Other devices. A laptop or tablet needs its own block. On a Mac, Screen Time has the same Content & Privacy settings.
• Accounts. Blocking a site doesn't close your account there. Pair the block with self-exclusion on each platform.
• Money. If cards are saved in betting accounts, close those accounts and ask your bank about blocking gambling transactions.

Making the block stick

A few small choices decide whether a block survives its first bad night:

• Block everything at once. Every site and app you've used in the last year, plus the ones friends mention. A partial block teaches you where the gap is.
• Set it up when you're calm. The best time is the morning after a loss, not the evening before a game.
• Remove the workarounds you already know. If you've used a second browser, a work laptop or a friend's account before, deal with those too, or tell someone they exist.
• Expect the urge to argue. The first time the block works, the urge will say it's unfair or unnecessary. That's the block doing its job. Open the SOS, ride it out, and check how you feel in twenty minutes.

A block is a floor, not a plan

The block buys you time. What you do with the time is the rest of quitting: a plan for game days, someone to text, a way to ride out the urge. Start with how to stop sports betting and what to do when the urge hits.

If it already feels out of control, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER (US). It's free, confidential and open any time.