How to block Instagram on iPhone
Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then App Limits, and give Instagram a one-minute daily limit. Set a Screen Time passcode so the limit can’t be waved away, and block instagram.com in Safari so the website isn’t a back door.
Updated . Steps for iOS 18 and iOS 26, checked against Apple Support.
This page is about blocking the Instagram app on your own phone. Want to block a person instead? That’s done inside Instagram: see Block or unblock someone on Instagram.
1. Limit the app to one minute a day
Screen Time can hide Apple’s own apps, but not ones you downloaded. For Instagram, a one-minute App Limit is the closest thing to a block.
- Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
- If it’s off, tap App & Website Activity, then Turn On App & Website Activity.
- Tap App Limits, then Add Limit.
- Tap the Social category name to see its apps, then select Instagram on its own.
- Tap Next and set the time to one minute.
- Tap Add (on iOS 26, Done).
Source: Apple, Set schedules with Screen Time on iPhone (iOS 18, iOS 26).
2. Block instagram.com too
An App Limit is set on the app. To make sure Safari can’t open Instagram instead, block the website as well.
- In Settings, then Screen Time, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on.
- Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then Web Content.
- Choose Limit Adult Websites.
- Under Never Allow, tap Add Website and enter instagram.com.
Source: Apple, Block apps, app downloads, websites, and purchases on iPhone (iOS 18).
3. Lock it with a passcode
By default, a Screen Time limit can be ignored once it’s reached. Apple says so on its Screen Time page. A passcode is what makes the minute final.
- In Settings, then Screen Time, scroll down and tap Lock Screen Time Settings.
- Hand the phone to someone else and let them type a four-digit passcode, twice.
- If you’re offered Screen Time Passcode Recovery, think twice. It lets you reset the code with your Apple Account, which is the way back in you were trying to close.
Source: Apple, Create, manage, and keep track of a Screen Time passcode (iOS 18).
Why Instagram is hard to stay off
Most of it isn’t from people you know anymore. In 2023, Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, wrote that in Reels, as in Explore, “the majority of what you see is from accounts you don’t follow.” So you never reach the end of your friends’ posts and stop. There’s always more.
If your friends message you there, deleting the app cuts off the chats too. That’s why blocking it while you work is easier to live with than quitting outright.
Instagram has a daily limit of its own (Set a daily time limit on Instagram). When Meta launched it in 2018, it described it as an alert “when you’ve reached the amount of time you want to spend.” It’s worth turning on. But you can tap straight past an alert.
How a Stint session blocks Instagram
Same Screen Time framework underneath. A different reason to leave the block on.
- You choose it. Pick Instagram in Apple’s own app picker. Nothing else is blocked unless you pick it, and only while a session runs.
- Opening it shows a block screen. Leave takes you back to work. Unlock anyway lifts the block and ends that day’s session.
- No emergency exception. You can keep two emergency apps for a few minutes a day, but social apps can’t be one of them.
- A group is counting on the same goal. Everyone in your pool pays the same entry fee into a prize pool, and everyone who qualifies splits it. You’re never charged more than your entry fee.
How it all fits together is on how Stint works.
Instagram’s limit, Screen Time or Stint?
When it applies
- Instagram’s daily limit
- After the time you set each day
- Screen Time and a passcode
- After the time you set each day
- Stint session
- While a focus session runs
At the limit
- Instagram’s daily limit
- An alert, which you can close
- Screen Time and a passcode
- Blocked for the rest of the day. With no passcode, you can ignore it
- Stint session
- A block screen. Unlock anyway ends that day’s session
Who notices
- Instagram’s daily limit
- No one
- Screen Time and a passcode
- No one
- Stint session
- Your pool sees who has qualified today
Cost
- Instagram’s daily limit
- Free
- Screen Time and a passcode
- Free and built in
- Stint session
- Free to download. A pool has an entry fee, and that’s the most you can lose
If a one-minute limit with a passcode you don’t know keeps you off Instagram, you don’t need anything else. Stint is for when it doesn’t. For other apps, see the full guide to blocking apps on iPhone.
Questions
How do I block Instagram on iPhone without deleting it?
Give it a one-minute App Limit in Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, then set a Screen Time passcode. The app stays installed, with your account and messages, but it’s blocked once the minute is used.
Does blocking the Instagram app block the website?
Block the site separately to be sure. In Content & Privacy Restrictions, under Web Content, add instagram.com to Never Allow. On iOS 27, Apple says a Time Allowance also covers a website the app declares.
Can I block Reels but keep the rest of Instagram?
Not with Screen Time. App Limits work on whole apps or categories, not on parts of an app. A Stint session blocks whole apps too.
How do I block a person on Instagram?
That’s a setting inside Instagram, not Screen Time. Instagram’s Help Center has the steps in its article Block or unblock someone on Instagram.
Is Stint free?
Stint is free to download for iPhone on iOS 18 or later. A pool has an entry fee, shown before you join, and Stint Pro (US$5.99 a month) is optional.
Keep Instagram closed while you work
Stint is free to download for iPhone on iOS 18 or later. You pay a pool’s entry fee only when you join one.
