4 Ways to Block a Website in All Web Browsers

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Learn how to prevent your browser from accessing specific sites

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: January 16, 2025 Fact Checked

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Mac

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iPhone, iPad & Mac

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Android

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Do you not want your browser going to a site that might be malicious? The website cannot only have bad coding, but it can also negatively affect productivity, offer inappropriate content, or steal data. You'll definitely want to block anything like that from your browsers. Read on to learn more about blocking websites on Mac, Windows, iPad, iPhone, and Android.

Block Websites in All Web Browsers

Block websites from all web browsers by editing the "Hosts" files on Windows and Mac. Editing the "Hosts" file takes a little work, but this wikiHow article guides you through the process so it's easier to block websites in all your web browsers. For iPad, iPhone, and Mac, use Screen Time to block websites.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Windows

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1
Open Notepad as an administrator. Press the Win key and enter Notepad. Right-click on the app and select Run as administrator. This option will open Notepad using your administrator privileges. If you don't open Notepad in administrator mode, you won't be able to edit the "hosts" file.
- On a laptop with a trackpad instead of a traditional mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad instead of right-clicking.
Doing so will confirm your decision and open Notepad.

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You'll find Open in the File drop-down menu.
4
Go to the Hosts file's folder. In the window that opens after clicking Open..., do the following:
- Click the This PC tab on the left side of the window.
- Double-click your computer's hard drive (e.g., OS (C:)).
- Double-click the Windows folder.
- Scroll down and double-click the System32 folder.
- Scroll down and double-click the drivers folder.
- Double-click the etc folder.
Click the "Text Documents" drop-down box near the bottom of the window, then click All Files in the drop-down menu. You should see several files appear in the window.
6
Allow editing for the "hosts" file. Right-click the "hosts" file, then do the following:
- Click Properties
- Click Security
- Click Edit
- Check the "Full Control" box.
- Click OK, then click Yes when prompted.
- Click OK to exit the Properties window.
This will open the "hosts" file in Notepad, allowing you to view and edit its contents.
You'll see two "localhost" lines of text here.
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Click below the last line of text. It will say either "::1 localhost" or "127.0.0.1 localhost" at the bottom of the page. Your cursor must be directly below the last line of text on this page.
- Be careful not to delete anything that is already in the hosts file.
This is the loopback address to your own computer, which is what will return an error page in your web browser when someone tries to visit the blocked site.
11
Type the address of the site you want to block. For example, if you wanted to block Google, you would type www.google.com.
- If you're blocking sites on Google Chrome, you'll need to place a space and then the "www.[site].com" version of the website's address after the "[site].com" version. To block Facebook, for example, you would type in 127.0.0.1 facebook.com www.facebook.com.
12
Press ↵ Enter. This moves your cursor to a new line. The code you entered will tell your computer to redirect the website to your loopback address instead.
- You can add as many sites as you want to block, one per line, using the same number (127.0.0.1) as before.
- If you want to be as thorough as possible, enter different variations of the address (e.g., "google.com" and "https://www.google.com/") as well.
13
Save the Hosts file. Your changes won't be saved if you simply save using File > Save, so do the following to confirm your changes:
- Click File
- Click Save As...
- Click Text Documents, then click All Files in the drop-down menu.
- Click the "hosts" file.
- Click Save
- Click Yes when prompted.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Mac

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Click the magnifying glass icon in the top-right side of your Mac's screen.
This will prompt Terminal to appear at the top of the search results.
Type the following code into Terminal and press ⏎ Return:

sudo nano /etc/hosts
5
Enter your Mac's password when prompted. Type in the password that you use to log into your Mac, then press ⏎ Return.
- Terminal won't display the password characters as you type them.
To do so, press the ↓ key until the cursor is below the last line of text on the page.
Type 127.0.0.1 into the blank line. This is the loopback address to your own computer.^{[1]
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8
Press Tab ↹. The cursor will move to the right.
- Don't press ⏎ Return yet.
9
Type the address of the site you want to block. For example, if you wanted to block Google, you would type www.google.com.
- This line would then read 127.0.0.1 www.google.com.
- If you want to be as thorough as possible, enter different variations of the address (e.g., "google.com" and "https://www.google.com/") as well.
- If you're blocking sites on Google Chrome, you'll need to place a space and then the "www.[site].com" version of the website's address after the "[site].com" version. To block Facebook, for example, you would type in 127.0.0.1 facebook.com www.facebook.com.
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Press ⏎ Return. This will tell your computer to redirect the website to your loopback address instead.
- You can add as many sites as you want to block, one per line, using the same number (127.0.0.1) as before.
This is the command to exit the hosts file in the text editor. It will prompt you if you'd like to save your changes.
It will then ask you what filename you'd like to save it as. You want to overwrite the original hosts file, so don't change the filename.
This will save your changes to the original hosts file. Doing so exits the text editor and returns you to the main Terminal window. The website you added will now be unreachable in any web browser on the computer.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

iPhone, iPad & Mac

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1
Open your device's Settings
. It's a grey app with gears on it. You'll likely find Settings on the Home Screen.
- You can use Screen Time on iPhone, iPad, and Mac to block adult content from your web browsers.
2
Tap Screen Time. This option is usually in the second grouping of menu items next to an icon of an hourglass.
- To access this menu on a Mac, go to System Settings > Screen Time.^{[2]
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- Select Turn on Screen Time if you're prompted and select if the phone is yours or a child's. If your phone belongs to a child, you'll be prompted to enter the passcode.
3
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. This is near the bottom of the screen next to a red icon with a circle that has a line through it.
- If you haven't yet enabled restrictions, first tap Enable Restrictions, then enter your desired passcode twice when prompted.
This is usually the third listing in the menu.
It's the last entry beneath the "Web Content" heading.
You'll see a blue checkmark appear to the right of this option.
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Block a specific website. If you want to block a specific site, like Facebook, tap Add a Website below the "NEVER ALLOW" heading and type in the web address of the website you wish to block. The address must start with "www" and end with a domain tag (e.g., ".com" or ".net"), but you can leave the "https://" section out if applicable.
- For example, if you wanted to block Facebook on your iPhone or iPad, you would type in www.facebook.com.
- This setting also applies to other popular iPhone browsers such as Chrome and Firefox.^{[3]
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Android

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1
Open Freedom. It's a highly rated and popular site and app blocking apps that you can download for free from the Google Play Store.
- If you don't like Freedom, you can use other similar apps.
- You can pay to unlock more features with Freedom, but you can use the free version without a credit card.
2
Tap Sign up. It's at the top of the screen.
- If you already have a Freedom account, tap Log In.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to create an account with your email and password.
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Select how Freedom can help you. Choose any of these reasons to continue.
- Continue making selections through the "Getting started" pages and tap Continue when prompted.
4
Give the app permissions. You'll need to allow blocking permissions for Freedom to be able to block websites and applications. Tap Enable to open "Settings", then go to Installed Apps > Freedom and tap the toggle to enable it.
- Tap Allow and then close the window and return to the app.
It's your tab for "Blocklists" and is centered at the bottom of your screen.
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Tap Create Your First Blocklist and create a blocklist. These are the sites that your Android will block when you're running a Freedom session. Here's what you need to do to create a blocklist:
- Enter a blocklist name.
- Select any apps to block.
- Add domains to block and tap Add Block.
  - If you have a long list of domains to block, you can simply block by category. For example, enabling the toggle next to "Social" will block 41 websites and apps including facebook.com, instagram.com, and swarmapp.com.
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Start a session. Tap the flag icon at the bottom of your screen and tap Start Session. Here's what you need to do to use the blocklist you just created:
- Select your blocklist from the blocklist section.
- Select a duration for the session. For example, you can create a session for 3hrs and 25 minutes that blocks all the apps and websites on your blocklist during that time.
- Unlocking Premium will allow you to schedule sessions ahead of time.
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Tap Start Session. Once you start the session and the app has all the accessibility permissions it requires, you can't access blocked websites or open blocked apps.
- Tap the session in Freedom and select End Session to stop blocking sites and apps.
- You can also use this app on other platforms, including Windows.

Community Q&A

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Question

How can I block a website on the iPad?

Community Answer

Parental controls in the Settings app allows you to block websites with a passcode.

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Question

How do I force the host file to open in a text editor?

Community Answer

It can't be forced to open in a text editor, because it doesn't have the extension. To open, double-click the file and select the proper program to open it.

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Can this be reversible?

Community Answer

Yes, it is a reversible process. Just remove the extra lines you added. Alternatively, you can restore the hosts file from a backup.

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Tips

You should flush your computer's DNS cache after editing the "hosts" file in order to prevent conflicts between the "hosts" file and your browser.

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To unblock a site from the "hosts" file, simply open the file again and delete the lines that you added. Make sure you save your changes after removing the lines you added or the sites will still be blocked.

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Your iPhone's Restrictions settings will apply to both Safari and other browsers as well.

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Warnings

The Hosts file won't always work to block websites. You might want to try blocking a website in different browsers instead of using the Hosts file if the Hosts file isn't working.

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