How to Block Porn on a Mac (5 Methods)

Key takeaways

• Fastest free method: Screen Time, which filters adult websites in Safari.
• Every browser: a DNS filter covers every browser and app on the Mac, or every device on the network if you set it on the router.
• One browser: a browser extension covers only the browser it is installed in.
• Your own settings: any setting you control yourself can be changed back by you.
• Strongest built-in option: a second account whose Screen Time passcode is held by another adult.

Methods compared

1. Screen Time content and privacy restrictions

Screen Time is built into macOS and includes a web content filter. Apple documents the filter for Safari, and it applies to the account you set it on.

1. 1.Open System Settings, then click Screen Time in the sidebar.
2. 2.If you are setting this up for someone else in your Family Sharing group, choose them from the Family Member pop up menu first.
3. 3.Click Content & Privacy, then App Store, Media, Web, & Games.
4. 4.Next to Access to Web Content, choose Limit Adult Websites.
5. 5.Click Customize to add sites of your own to the allowed or restricted lists.

Apple offers three settings for web content: Unrestricted Access, which allows everything, Limit Adult Websites, which filters adult sites automatically, and Allowed Websites Only, which restricts browsing to a list you approve. The third option is much stricter and is usually only practical on a child's account.

To stop the setting from being changed casually, scroll down in Screen Time and turn on Lock Screen Time Settings, then set a four digit passcode. Apple also lets a family organiser set this for a child through Manage Screen Time. In macOS Tahoe 26, Apple turned web content filters on by default for existing child accounts aged 13 to 17, with the age varying by country.

What it covers: adult websites in Safari, on the account it is set on.

What it does not cover: Apple does not document the setting's effect in other browsers, so treat Chrome, Firefox and Edge as needing their own arrangement. The filter is automatic rather than exhaustive, which is why Apple provides the restricted list for sites you want to add yourself. If you hold the passcode, you can also remove the restriction.

Effort: about five minutes.

2. Safari and browser level blocking

If you use more than one browser, each one needs its own blocking extension, because an extension only works inside the browser it is installed in.

In Safari, choose Safari from the menu bar, then Safari Extensions, which opens the Mac App Store. Install the extension you want, then choose Safari, Settings, and Extensions, and select the extension's checkbox to turn it on. Chrome and Firefox have their own extension stores, and each one is a separate installation with its own settings.

Look for an extension that blocks by category rather than one that expects you to type in every address yourself, because a list you maintain by hand will always lag behind.

What it covers: browsing inside one browser.

What it does not cover: any other browser, any application that is not a browser, and private browsing windows unless the extension is allowed to run in them. An extension can also be switched off from the browser's extensions page in one click.

Effort: a few minutes per browser.

3. A DNS filter on the Mac or the router

A DNS filter works below the browser. When the Mac looks up a website's address, the filtering service refuses to answer for adult domains, so the site does not load at all. This is the only free method here that covers every browser and every application in one step.

Three services run free family filters, and all three are set the same way, by entering two addresses.

On the Mac

1. 1.Open System Settings, then click Network in the sidebar.
2. 2.Click the network service you use, such as Wi-Fi or Ethernet, then click Details.
3. 3.Click DNS, then click the add button at the bottom of the DNS Servers list.
4. 4.Enter the preferred address, add the alternate address the same way, then click OK and Apply.

On the router: sign in to your router's admin page and replace its DNS servers with the same two addresses. Every device on the network then uses the filter, including phones and tablets. The menu names differ by brand, so check your router's own documentation.

One setting worth knowing: browsers have their own secure DNS option, and pointing it at a different provider sends lookups past the filter. In Chrome this lives under Settings, Privacy and security, Security. Leave it on your current service provider, or off.

What it covers: every browser and application on the Mac, or every device on the network if you set it on the router.

What it does not cover: a VPN or a different network, since neither uses the filtered lookups. Filtering is by domain, so content inside a service you have not blocked is unaffected. Changing the setting back takes administrator access on the Mac, or router admin access.

Effort: about five minutes on the Mac, fifteen to thirty minutes on a router.

4. A second account with parental controls

The old standalone Parental Controls pane is gone from current versions of macOS. What replaced it is Screen Time applied to a separate account, and this is the strongest arrangement macOS offers on its own, because the settings and the passcode belong to a different person. There are two ways to set it up.

A child account in Family Sharing. Open System Settings, click your name at the top of the sidebar, click Family, then Add Member and Create Child Account. Once the account exists, the family organiser sets its Screen Time content restrictions and turns on Lock Screen Time Settings with a passcode.

A standard account on the Mac. Open System Settings, click Users & Groups, and add a new account. macOS offers Administrator, Standard and Sharing Only account types. A standard account cannot change other users' settings or add users, so working from a standard account, with the administrator password held by someone else, adds a real step between an impulse and a change.

What it covers: everything done in the managed account, with the restrictions of whichever method is applied to it.

What it does not cover: any other account on the same Mac, and other devices. It also needs a second person who is willing to hold a passcode, which is the part most adults setting this up for themselves do not have.

Effort: thirty minutes or more, plus the conversation with the person holding the passcode.

5. Use a blocker app

A blocker app is harder to bypass than Screen Time, a browser extension or a DNS filter. A browser extension can be removed in one click. Screen Time and a DNS filter can each be undone by anyone who learns where the setting is. A blocker app can stop its blocks from being edited or removed, without needing another person to hold a passcode.

Limits: most blocker apps are paid, and the app has to be installed on the Mac.

For a comparison of blocker apps on a Mac, see the best porn blockers for Mac.

Which method suits which situation

If you want a free method for yourself, set a DNS filter on the Mac, and turn on Screen Time's adult website filter if Safari is your main browser. If you want blocks you cannot turn off yourself, use a blocker app or let another person hold your Screen Time passcode. If you share the computer with a partner, let your partner set the Screen Time passcode and add a DNS filter on the router. If you want to protect a child's Mac, create a child account in Family Sharing, set the web content restriction, turn on Lock Screen Time Settings, and add a family DNS filter on the router so phones and tablets are covered too.

Frequently asked questions