1. Using Parental control Settings
  • Click on the Apple icon located on the top left corner of the screen to open the Apple menu.
  • In the menu that opens, click on the “System Preferences” menu. You can also get the preference menu icon in your Dock, but with a gear-like symbol.
  • Locate the parental icon on the lower left side of the screen (in Mac OS X). And if you cannot see it, type “Parental control” in the search bar located on the top left of the “System preferences” window to find the option.
  • Click on the user account that you want to customize by enabling or blocking websites. After applying customizations, click on the “Enable Parental Controls.” If you don’t have an account for your child, you should create one by clicking on the “create a new account with parental controls” and then follow the on-screen instruction to get the account set.
  • Tap to open the web tab located on the upper part of the window. If you’re using the old versions of Mac OS X, the option is labeled as “Content”.
  • Go through the options and customize them to manage what you child will access and the time limits. Under this option, you can create a limit by clicking on “Try to limit access to adult websites automatically,” whereby adult content will get blocked using Apple’s automatic list. Alternatively, you can also use the “Allow access to only these websites” and block all sites not listed in the section.
  • Add more restrictions to block any access to what may seem adult content and limit the time for accessing the websites. You can do that by clicking on the “App” tab and “Time Limit” respectively.
  • You can choose to unblock all the restrictions by clicking on the “Allow unrestricted access to websites.” By doing this, you will disable all parental control restrictions in all tabs.
  1. Block Websites On Mac Using Host Files
  • Go to “Applications” and then navigate to “Utilities” and finally click on terminals. Using these settings, you will be able to modify host files, which allows you to make changes to some IP address. If you associate a false IP to some URLs, you will prevent your browser from getting access to such websites.
  • Create a backup of all your host files to keep you safe from preventing the access to the internet in case of any fault. Now, type “sudo /bin/cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts-original” in the Terminal precisely as it is and hit the “Enter” button on your keyboard to create a command.
  • Key-in your administrator password when prompted and hit on the “Enter” key.
  • Use this command to open the host file “sudo/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts” and hit the “Enter” button to open the host file in editable text mode in the Terminal. Alternatively, you can also edit the host file using the window in the main Terminal.
  • Do not edit the text that appears. Instead, skip the text in the Terminal window and try to use the arrow key to get to the bottom of the text page.
  • After that, key-in “127.0.0.1” which is the local address. Any web browser directed to that IP will not reach the web page.
  • Next, hit the spacebar on your Mac keyboard and type in the URL of the site you’d wish to block without including ‘https://.‘  Avoid copy-pasting the URL from another text as that may add other invisible characters that can make the method ineffective.
  • Press “Enter” to get to a new line and include as many URLs as you wish and ensure each line begins with “127.0.0.1”.
  • Close the host file by quitting or closing and clicking on “Save” when prompted. In some cases, the file may get saved automatically when you exit the window. Press on the “Ctrl + O” to save your text file if you’re editing the host file in the main window. After that, close the window by clicking on the “Ctrl + X” on your keyboard.
  • After that, type “dscacheutil–flushcache” in the Terminal and hit on the “Enter” key on the keyboard to clear the cache. By doing that, your browser will be able to check the new host file immediately. You can restart to effect the changes.
  • Next, confirm if you can still access the blocked website. If so, then your browser might be bypassing your host file or accessing the blocked site via IPV6. To solve that, you can try some of this variations to get the sites blocked completely.
  • 127.0.0.1 (URL) without  including the ‘www’part.
  • 127.0.0.1 m. ( URL)  to block the mobile versions of the site.
  • 127.0.0.1 login.(URL).

You can visit your site to check for the variations of the URL and use any of the above formats to block the site. If you’d wish to unblock the site in the future, use the procedure below to unblock the site you blocked.

  • Key-in “sudo nano /etc/hosts-original” in the terminal and hit on the “Enter key”.
  • On your Mac keyboard, press on “ctrl+O”.
  • Delete the part “-original” in the name and hit on the “Save” button.
  1. Block Websites on Mac Using Browser Extensions
  • Install browser extension in your web browser. Most of the common browsers with a user-made extension (Add-ons) include Firefox and Google Chrome. Using the browsers, search in the browser extension store for “Filter websites, Block websites or Productivity” to find site-blocking apps.
  • Install the site-blocking app on your browser.
  • After that, restart your computer to integrate the extension on your browser completely.
  • Go to the app’s settings and add the sites that you would want to block

However, this method works on the particular browser in which the extension is installed but not in your computer as a whole.

TIP: Be cautious when selecting the site-blocking extensions to avoid ending up with malware being downloaded into your computer. Avoid apps with low ratings and fewer customer reviews as they may be a potential risk.

  1. Block Websites on Mac Using a Site-Blocking App (Focus App)
  • Using your browser, download and install Focus App.
  • Click on the Focus App icon in your Mac’s menu bar.
  • After that, click on “Preferences.”
  • Go to the “Blocking” tab.
  • Add the webpages, websites, and applications that you want to block by the use of the “+” icon at the lower part of the screen, and you will be done.

Note: this app works right from your menu icon and comes with many incredible settings and features that you can use to ensure controlled access to specific websites. Apart from Focus App, you can also try out SelfControl as an alternative website blocker app.

How do I block a website on Safari Mac?

Type in 127.0. 0.1, press Spacebar, and then enter the web address of the site you want to block. You can add as many websites to the block list as you want. Just make sure to put each website in a new line and don’t change the prefix that is the local IP address of your Mac.

How do I block a website on my Mac without parental controls?

Go to Content > Limit Adult Websites. 5. Click Customize. Click the plus icon + to add Restricted or Allowed URLs for websites blocking in Safari.

How can I block websites?

Here’s how.
  1. Open the browser and go to Tools (alt+x) > Internet Options. Now click the security tab and then click the red Restricted sites icon. Click the Sites button below the icon.
  2. Now in the pop-up, manually type the websites you want to block one-by-one. Click Add after typing the name of each site.

How do I block a website forever?

Block a Site Permanently
  1. Click Add.
  2. From the Choose Type drop-down list, select a method to identify the blocked site.
  3. In the adjacent text box, type the IP address, network IP address, host range, host name, or FQDN.
  4. (Optional) In the Description text box, type a description of the blocked site.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Save.

Can I set parental controls on Google Chrome?

To set parental controls on Chrome, you can turn on SafeSearch, which filters explicit results out of Google searches. For more parental controls, you can also set up Google Family Link to monitor and limit screen time. You could also block websites in Chrome using a browser extension.

How do I block a website on Chrome without an extension?

To block a notification you don’t need an extension or to edit any files or OS settings. You can block push notifications from sites in Chrome’s general privacy settings. You can get there instantly with this URL: chrome://settings/content/notifications or navigate to the settings screen and click Privacy and security.

How do I block all websites except on Google Chrome?

You need to right-click the Chrome shortcut on your Desktop, Taskbar, or Start Menu, then select Properties. After that, add the parameter to the end of the written Target listing, with space in between. Now, apply the settings by clicking OK.

How do you block all websites except some?

How do I block certain websites on my phone?

Open the app and go to the Global Filters tab on the top right. Tap on the New Pre-filter option. Tick both the Wi-Fi and data icons if you want the website to be blocked on both connections. Enter the address of the website you want to block.

How do I set time limits on certain websites?

Limit is a Chrome browser extension that allows you to limit your time spent on distracting websites. To use Limit, simply select the website you find most distracting and choose a daily time limit. For example, you could limit yourself to ten minutes a day on Facebook, or half an hour a day on Duolingo.

What is a good amount of screen time?

What’s a healthy amount of screen time for adults? Experts say adults should limit screen time outside of work to less than two hours per day. Any time beyond that which you would typically spend on screens should instead be spent participating in physical activity.

How can I control my child’s screen time?

These 6 tips can help you trim your children’s screen time when not in school:
  1. Be accountable. Set expectations with your kids, and set goals to be intentional about reducing screen time.
  2. Be realistic.
  3. Be engaged.
  4. Put hand-held devices away.
  5. Create phone-free zones in the home.
  6. Go outside.