How to Block Apps at Night on iPhone (iOS 26 and iOS 27)
By Bedline · Published
To block apps at night on iPhone, use Screen Time. On iOS 27, go to Settings > Screen Time > Screen Time Schedule, turn on Schedule, add a schedule for every day, and give it a night window that leaves out the Social Media category and the others you lose your evenings to. On iOS 26 and earlier, the same job is Settings > Screen Time > Downtime > Scheduled, with Block at Downtime turned on so the apps cannot simply be reopened (you can choose it once you set a Screen Time passcode). Both are free and built in. If you want to pause a handful of specific apps rather than whole categories, a Screen Time app such as Bedline does that on a schedule.
Apple rebuilt Screen Time in iOS 27, and Downtime gave way to Screen Time Schedules, so the steps below cover both versions, then what each one does not do.
Check which version you have
The menus changed in September 2026. Apple's announcement of the Screen Time update says the new features are available in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, and that every device in a Family Sharing group has to be updated before the update applies. Apple's iPhone guide to Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances states the requirement more broadly: you need iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27 or later on all your Apple devices to use them, and in a Family Sharing group all devices must be upgraded.
Open Settings > General > About and read the iOS version.
- iOS 27 or later: you will see Screen Time Schedule and Time Allowances in Screen Time. Follow the next section.
- iOS 26 or earlier (including iOS 18): you will see Downtime and App Limits. Skip to the section after it.
On iOS 27: a night window in Screen Time Schedule
Apple's iPhone guide for iOS 27 gives these steps for your own iPhone:
- Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
- Tap Screen Time Schedule, then turn on Schedule.
- Tap Add Schedule, tap the days of the week the schedule is for, then tap the checkmark.
- Tap the time window. There you can tap its name to rename it, tap a time to change when it starts or stops, tap the Time Allowance categories that are available in it, tap Always Allowed to see the apps and contacts allowed at all times, or tap Delete this Time Window.
For the night, make a window that starts when you want the phone down and ends when you get up, and leave Social Media, Entertainment and Games out of the categories available in it. The categories come from Time Allowances: if a window shows none, Apple's guide says to create them first under Settings > Screen Time > Time Allowances > Manage Categories. Apple's Child Safety guide describes the same settings for a child's device, where they sit under Settings > Family instead.
Two details matter for a night:
- A window works by category, not by single app. Apple's steps choose the Time Allowance categories available in a window. If you take Social Media out of the night window, every app in that category goes quiet, not only the one that keeps you up. The single apps you can name are the ones in Settings > Screen Time > Always Allowed, which Apple's guide says you can use at all times, regardless of any schedule or allowance, so put the ones you need at night there.
- Try the window once. Apple's steps do not describe what a blocked app shows when you open it, or how a Screen Time passcode applies to a schedule you set for yourself. Set a short test window while you are awake, open a blocked app, and see what it offers before you rely on it overnight. Check in the same test that your alarm, calls and messages still get through.
Time Allowances are the other half of the new Screen Time: a daily budget per category, and the apps stop once a category's allowance or the daily total runs out, according to Apple's guide. That is a limit on how long, not on when, so for the night the schedule is the setting that does the work. Match Screen Time Schedule, a switch in Settings > Screen Time > Time Allowances, uses the allowances during certain times in your schedule.
On iOS 26 and earlier: Downtime
Apple's guide to setting schedules with Screen Time on iOS 26 describes Downtime as set times when most apps are unavailable. To make it nightly:
- Open Settings > Screen Time, tap App & Website Activity, and turn it on if you have not already.
- Tap Downtime, then turn on Scheduled.
- Choose Every Day, or Customize Days for different weekend hours, and set the start and end times.
- Turn on Block at Downtime. Apple's guide says you can choose it once you set a Screen Time passcode.
- Add the apps you still need under Settings > Screen Time > Always Allowed.
Downtime works the other way round from what most people expect. You do not pick the apps to block; Apple's guide says that during downtime only calls, messages and the apps you allow are available. It also says you get a reminder five minutes before downtime starts.
Without Block at Downtime, Apple's guide says you see a reminder that it is downtime and can choose to keep using the apps. With it on, the restricted apps appear dimmed with an hourglass and cannot be opened, and the Screen Time passcode is what guards the setting.
The problem with doing it yourself
On iOS 26 and earlier, Block at Downtime rests on a Screen Time passcode, and when you set it up for yourself, you are the one who knows it. At 1 a.m., typing it is easy.
Some ways people make that harder:
- Ask someone else to set the passcode. A partner or friend types a Screen Time passcode you do not know. The way out is no longer a few taps away, and you also lose the ability to change your own schedule without asking them.
- Keep the list of exceptions short. Each app in Always Allowed is a way around the night. The fewer there are, the less there is to drift into.
- Charge the phone away from the bed. No setting is involved, and nothing on the phone can be talked out of it.
Decide before you choose a tool whether you want a block with an emergency exit or one you cannot lift at all. Many people find that a block they resent at midnight gets switched off for good the next morning, so the strictest setting is not always the one that lasts.
What Sleep Focus does and does not do
Sleep Focus is often suggested for this, but it does a different job. Apple's guide to Sleep Focus describes it as filtering notifications and calls while you sleep. It silences; it does not block. Every app on the phone still opens when you tap it. Use it alongside a schedule if notifications are what wake you, not instead of one.
Using an app to block apps at night
Apps that pause other apps at night build on Apple's Screen Time. Apple's developer documentation for Family Controls authorization says an individual can authorize such an app for their own account. That is the Screen Time permission screen you see when you set one up.
What such an app adds over the built-in settings is mostly choice and shape:
- Bedline lets you set the time your night starts (your Bedline) and your wake-up, with different weekend hours if you like, then pick the specific apps, whole categories, or websites to pause. At your Bedline, Screen Time pauses them until you wake up. If you need your phone, you can hold to confirm an emergency unlock for up to an hour, after which the apps rest again on their own, and you can change or switch off tonight only without touching your routine. Apple never tells Bedline which apps you chose, and it needs iOS 18 or later. It is a tool for a phone-down routine, not a sleep treatment, and like any Screen Time app it can be switched off by the person who set it up.
- Sunbreak says on its App Store page that the apps you choose lock at bedtime with no "Ignore Limit" and unlock automatically at sunrise, and that if you break your pact, the one or two friends you added as accountability partners get one email the next morning.
The built-in route costs nothing and may be all you need, especially on iOS 27 if blocking a whole category at night suits you. An app is worth a look when you want to pause three apps and leave the rest of the phone alone, or want an emergency exit that closes again by itself instead of a passcode you type.
Which one to pick
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Every social app blocked at night, free | iOS 27 Screen Time Schedule with Social Media left out of the night window |
| Almost everything blocked except a few apps | Downtime on iOS 26 or earlier, with Always Allowed |
| Specific apps paused from a set time until you wake | A Screen Time app such as Bedline |
| Fewer notifications, nothing blocked | Sleep Focus |
| A block that is harder to lift yourself | Someone else holds the Screen Time passcode |
Whichever you choose, test it once at an hour when you are awake, so you know what the blocked screen looks like and how you would get past it in an emergency, and check that your alarm still sounds.