AppBlock on iOS

If your schedules aren’t starting when they should, first check your schedule settings and the times of the blockings to ensure everything is set correctly. If everything looks good, try refreshing your blocking settings within the AppBlock app. Here’s how:

For AppBlock version 3.7.0 and older:

1. Open AppBlock: Launch the AppBlock app on your device.
2. Navigate to the Blocking Tab: Tap on the “Blocking” tab within the app interface.
3. Pull to Refresh: Swipe down on the screen to initiate the refresh process.
4. Notification: Once completed, a notification stating “Blocking refreshed” will appear at the bottom of your screen.

For AppBlock version 3.8.0 and newer:

1. Open AppBlock: Launch the AppBlock app on your device.
2. Navigate to the Blocking Tab: Tap on the “Blocking” tab within the app interface.
3. Tap the Refresh Icon: Tap the icon in the top right corner to refresh the blockings.

If refreshing the blockings doesn’t resolve the issue, please contact our support team for further assistance.

We understand how confusing and frustrating it can be when AppBlock says your usage limits are reached, even though you haven’t used the app much or even at all. Let’s walk through what’s happening and what you can do.

❗ What’s happening?

There are currently known issues with how iOS reports app usage.

Starting with iOS 26 (and also affecting iOS 18 due to shared developer tools), the system may incorrectly report screen time. This means even minimal or no usage can sometimes be counted as reaching your limit.

AppBlock doesn’t have access to your actual usage data due to Apple’s privacy restrictions. Instead, we rely on system-provided information, and right now, that data may not always be accurate.

🔄 First, try refreshing your blocking

Before anything else, we recommend refreshing your blocking settings. This can sometimes resolve small timing mismatches in how usage is reported.

For AppBlock version 3.8.0 and newer:

1. Open AppBlock
2. Go to the Blocking tab
3. Tap the refresh icon in the top-right corner

For AppBlock version 3.7.0 and older:

1. Open AppBlock
2. Go to the Blocking tab
3. Pull down to refresh (you’ll see “Blocking refreshed”)

🛠 What else can you try?

If the issue continues, here are a few things that can help:

• Update the app
  Make sure you’re using the latest version (4.6.6 or newer), where we’ve already implemented improvements.
• Use only one usage limit at a time
  Multiple overlapping limits can increase the chance of incorrect triggering.
• Try the “Open Limit” feature
  This feature doesn’t rely on system-reported usage and is often more reliable in this situation.

⏳ What’s next?

We’re actively monitoring this issue, testing possible workarounds, and following updates from Apple. However, since this behavior comes from the system itself, a permanent fix will likely come from a future iOS update.

💬 Need help?

If this issue is affecting you and you’d like us to take a closer look, feel free to reach out to our support team. We’ll be happy to help you find the best solution for your specific setup.

If location schedules are not working, please try the following steps:

1. Check Location Permissions: Ensure that location permissions are granted for AppBlock.
2. Toggle Location Services: Try turning location services off and on again in your device settings.
3. Recreate the Location Schedule: Delete the existing location schedule and create a new one.
4. Extend the Radius: Increase the radius for the location schedule to improve accuracy.
5. Refresh the Blocking: Refresh the blocking settings as mentioned in the article to ensure everything is up to date.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, please send us a short video (max 20MB) of your blocking settings to our support team, so we can take a closer look and assist you further.

Blocking websites with usage limits is technically possible only in the Safari browser. You can do this in a similar way to blocking apps:

1. Go to Schedules > Blocklist > Save.
2. Select Usage limits and set the daily usage limit for the chosen websites.
3. Under Apps and Safari websites, open the Other category to see a list of recently viewed websites in Safari.

If the website you want to block isn’t listed, visit the site in Safari, then return to AppBlock. The website should now appear in the Other category.

Please note that usage limits will only apply when you access these websites via the Safari browser, as iOS cannot track website usage in other browsers.

You can easily set up app blocking based on your location, whether it’s at a specific place or when you’re outside a designated area (Inverse radius). To do this, create a new schedule with the apps you want to block and select “Location” as the blocking condition.

Make sure that location access is set to “Always” for the feature to function correctly. Next, choose the radius where the schedule will be active, then proceed to set the schedule’s time. Once you’re done, tap “Create” in the top right corner to save your schedule.

Yes, you can combine blocking conditions to customize how and when apps are blocked. Currently, we offer four types of blocking conditions, with two of them allowing for preset combinations:

1. Time
   • You can block apps based on a set time duration. Additionally, you can combine this with a location condition to block apps during specific times in a chosen area.
2. Location
   • The location condition lets you block apps in a specific area (or when outside it) and on selected days and times. When combined with the time condition, both conditions must be met for the apps to be blocked.
3. Usage Limit
   • You can select specific days and set a total time limit for how long you can access certain apps. However, due to system limitations on iOS devices, it’s currently not possible to set usage limits by specific hours.
4. Open Limit
   • Open Limit allows you to set a daily limit on how many times selected apps can be opened and how long they can be used while accessible. Open limit cannot be combined with any of the conditions above.

This flexibility allows you to tailor your app-blocking schedule to fit your needs, whether based on time, location, or usage.