BlockSite: Block Apps & Focus Reviews

Does BlockSite do what it is supposed to? Yes. It blocks my requested sites, and it’s easy to add customized lists.

Does BlockSite do a little more than I’d like it to? Yes. It slows down all of my web browsing & often blocks websites that shouldn’t be blocked. It takes me multiple (~5) refreshes to load a single webpage when I have BlockSite installed. Don’t even bother trying to complete an order of any kind because loading that many pages in sequence is impossible. I ended up deleting it the first time I downloaded it because of this issue. But I downloaded it bc my goal is to use my phone less, and if it’s a nightmare to click on any webpage, I tend to get frustrated and put my phone down —> goal accomplished.

TLDR; yes it blocks your chosen websites, but it occasionally blocks & always slows down all other websites as well.

So like another person, I use this on my laptop. Specifically on Google Chrome & Microsoft Edge to prevent from impulse buying and going on SNS and it helps out a lot. When I saw this for iOS I was crazy happy because I really love this service...but there’s an issue I have that’s similar to what was reported.

1. BlockSite ’s VPN constantly turns off on its own & also turns off my connection, whether I use data & have data roaming on or use Wi-fi. I still surf the web, but I also play a lot of app games that require internet connection, and use my phone for school & work related stuff as well so this is a huge problem for me and it makes it harder to do things.

2. It...somewhat blocks the sites I use. It’ll give me a notification saying it was blocked but I can still see the site on other apps (like when someone sends me a link via Instagram to one of the blocked sites, I can still completely see it). But it likes to disconnect and block sites that aren’t on my block list.

I REALLY do hope BlockSite gets updated and these issues get fixed at some point because while I’m glad this exists and its very helpful for my mental health, its also a pain to deal with sometimes. 😣

I installed and created an account on my school’s laptop computer and I want to monitor the account on my iPhone. Is there a website address besides an app that I can monitor the blocked sites and passwords that I can log into? I do NOT want to create a new account every time I download BlockSite on different devices. Does anybody know how to reach the account that is already created from another device without installing another app on other devices that will make you create another account but does not sync your current account? If not, Not syncing accounts into one ☝️ defeats the purpose of keeping sites blocked if you cannot monitor BlockSite for any device. It already shows how easily blocked sites become unblocked by another person by a simple change of password to make it their own.

I was wondering if it’s possible for me to add your VPN manually to my Apple Configurator 2 Management Tool so that I can push the profile to multiple iOS devices in my household.

The reason I ask is because when we download your iOS app directly, it’s too easy to just go into settings and delete the VPN while BlockSite is still installed. My solution would be to apply your VPN on a device management profile that I can push to my devices. Please let me know if this is possible and I will be happy to subscribe. I essentially would be managing devices linked to the same Apple ID so that a purchase for your services should transferable to all my devices.

BlockSite works well, but the little pop-up notifications that show up every time a blacklisted site name appears (or is typed, or partially typed) can make it frustrating to the point of unusable. Sometimes so many of them pop up on a site I *don’t* want blocked (due to ads, or links to blacklisted sites) that the page becomes unreadable. I don’t want my whole browser to be flagged, just certain sites. App would be better if you could turn these off like other notifications.

I love BlockSite it’s free to use and works good. I would give it a five star but there is one problem. When I go to safari I test if it works it and it does, it blocks the websites but I can still get to the website that I blocked on private mode. I understand there might be some thing they can’t block because private is personal and they could probably get sued or something I don’t know about that. But I feel like they should be able to block the website you said to block on private. I would love if it worked for private.

I just stumbled across BlockSite cause well, I’m like most men who need something to keep me focused. I bought the premium version. I do love BlockSite cause it has over 100+sites banned. The thing about it is that I need a lock system on it cause you can easy access BlockSite and turn which site you want on. But I hear there is a lock system coming out and I’m really excited for it. I’ll just make a long or hard password and just get rid of it from my mind or something. So I can’t wait

I use this app on my desktop so that I can block social media sites at night so I can go to bed earlier. I realized I just ended up looking at these sites on my phone and was excited to find this app had an app. I got BlockSite and there is no schedule feature, rendering BlockSite basically useless for me. I asked about this on customer support and they got back to me saying this is being worked on and when I asked for a ballpark ETA like… a month? a year? They just said “soon.” That means basically nothing to me so I’m disappointed I can’t use BlockSite yet and suppose I will just be waiting indefinitely for this feature.

BlockSite would be better if it didn’t make regular browsing irritating. Every time I search anything BlockSite freaks out and I have to refresh the page a ton of times for it to finally work.

Also if it could restrict key words from searches that would be great!

Other than that it does a lot better than some other apps who ask to be paid before they can help you with your problem.

Took me a while to figure out what was wrong with my phone. Even after I’d turned off all website blocks in BlockSite, it still kept blocking random sites and slowing down my internet to the point where it was difficult to even do the simplest tasks in safari. I think it even affected FaceTime calls. To be clear, it does block the websites you tell it to, if you’re desperate for a solution. But I wonder how many people who have BlockSite installed are frustrated with their phones trying to understand why random websites and simple internet tasks are no longer working. Way more damage than help for most people!

I paid for the unlimited version of BlockSite on my desktop and then downloaded the mobile version for my iPad and iPhone. BlockSite doesn’t work on ANY of my mobile devices. Frustrated, I reached out to their “Support” and they asked me what version I had, I told them, and never heard back. I tried emailing their “Support” team again and still got no response…

For the life of me, I don’t know why these companies charge when they don’t even provide what they claim they do. I would happily spend money to be able to block certain sites, but the lack of customer support / help is inexcusable. This “mobile version” doesn’t work on iOS at all!

I downloaded BlockSite to block adult sites on my phone. But now normal websites in Safari that I do not have blocked load broken as basic, unusable versions. If I try refreshing a couple times, it’ll either go back to normal or say that I lost connection, which is the screen you get when you try to go to a site you do want to block. Turning off my site blocker is not a habit I want to get into. I’m going to need to find an app that doesn’t break Safari.

I’m giving this more than one star because it does block the sites I want blocked. But it is also breaking Safari for me. I’m on an iPhone 11

“Productivity” has definitions beyond fighting addictions to adult content, social media, gambling, etc. I was hoping to find an app which would block my use of work apps while I’m on vacation, because during this time “productivity” for me will simply be experiencing joy away from corporate America. Was bummed to see that’s not included! Or at least you’re missing some big ones - teams, outlook, zoom, etc. I’d love if I could select apps from a list of my active downloads rather than have a list of 100 apps I’ve never heard of.

I downloaded BlockSite a few days ago. BlockSite does what it’s supposed to do, which is wonderful! I’ve been far more productive without the distractions of the sites I’ve blocked. However there are a few issues I’m having that I’m considering trying a different site blocking app because of.

- The VPN frequently interrupts my internet browsing in google chrome.
- I’ve been having issues with FaceTime ever since I started using BlockSite. When I FaceTime someone and they answer, their screen shows up black and muted. This began once I started using BlockSite.
- I manually added twitter to blocked websites. Ever since I did this, I get notifications that Twitter was blocked when I’m not even on websites related to twitter. It’s not that big of a deal but it is odd.

Hopefully these things can be fixed because I do enjoy BlockSite ’s benefits. It just gets in the way of things I use frequently.

I mean, fine, you want people to pay for various website lists to block. I can build my own block lists, although that certainly won’t win you any brownie points from me, devs.

The larger issue is, at least on iPhone 8, the VPN permissions this requires cause constant website loading errors. That became enough of an impediment that I had to disable the full thing anyway just to browse normally, and then change its VPN permissions to allow for an easy off switch.

In short, I wind up having to restrict the thing that’s supposed to be controlling my impulse browsing. Not a great design.

So I got this to block adult sites, and it does the job well and doesn’t block random sites that don’t fall into the adult category

My only problem is that password protection doesn’t work. I had a friend enable it with his passcode, so that I can’t change any settings. But if I try to change anything, or turn things on and off, it totally lets me

If must be a small bug or glitch, but if it gets fixed I’d give this 5 stars

Thank you guys so much for creating BlockSite. I cannot see what I am typing, I’m not sure why, saw a I am using voice recording to type for me. When I found BlockSite today, I was happy, because I need to get off of these bad sites. It drains me. Then I watch videos on how to stop sometimes, and then when I want to go back to the bad websites I’ll forget about why I shouldn’t do it. It takes over your life sometimes. Thank you guys so much.

Echoing others here that the VPN on my phone is very janky, cuts in and out when I’m trying to load sites that are not blocked. And I get a flurry of badges telling me what social media sites are blocked when I go to any non-blocked site that has links and badges of blocked sites. Very annoying. And yes I am using all recommended cellular data settings and have all notifications turned off. As is it seems to work best by making the browser so clunky that I can’t really use the phone for web browsing. Too expensive when there are not even scheduling features.

Not sure why this slows down my internet connection for all sites and I constantly need to refresh pages that aren’t even on my list of blocked sites because I lose connection. It does end up making me stay off my phone though but it’s weird that the “VPN” turns back on by itself after I turn it off. I cancelled my subscription but don’t see any option to delete/uninstall this from my phone which is sketchy. Please how can I uninstall this?

Hi, I love BlockSite itself as it’s very straight forward. However, whenever the block site VPN is active, FaceTime won’t deliver any audio anymore. I, therefore, have to turn the vpn off every time I want to make a FaceTime call, which kind of defeats the purpose of BlockSite , since I will more often than not forget to turn it on again. BlockSite itself works great though.
Thanks!

Great app, but I think you should fix/remove the vpn option, as it kinda messes with the internet connection for chrome. I'd also suggest that BlockSite should be compatibe with other browsers like safari and that it can block words/names in addition to websites. Other than those aformentioned problems, I'll definitely recommend this to other iphone users.

I like the idea of being able to block websites to prevent me from browsing. The issue I have with it, is anytime something is blocked you get a popup confirm window that tells you so. If there was a way to prevent this popup window from distracting me from what I do want to do I’d be all for this. Yahoo runs a bunch of ads and so does ESPN on other websites sites. For every ad I get a popup telling me the web site has been blocked. Hopefully, this gets addressed for now I’ve removed the plugin and am looking for another solution.

I got BlockSite for the specific purpose of blocking adult content and websites. I tested it out and at first, it will probably let you enter the restricted websites, but after a minute or two of browsing there, it will cut the internet connection to that website on your phone, until you leave that site. The only complaint/suggestion is that I wish it would block it on site instead of letting you get comfortable browsing then cutting you of.

I’ve used BlockSite on my computer and it works amazingly. I was so excited to find out they have the IOS version. However, it really needs a lot of improvement.
1. Password protection so that you can’t go back and unblock the websites.
2. Schedule for (preferably) each blocked site.
3. Block apps because right now only the websites from google are being blocked.
I have yet to find a reliable website and app blocker for my iPhone. So far I’ve got none that work well. So keep up the good work! BlockSite is much needed!