How to block ReelShort on iPhone, step by step

Step 1, set an app limit

Open Settings, tap Screen Time and turn it on if it is off. Tap App Limits, then Add Limit. Search for ReelShort by name and tick it, or tick several drama apps at once.

Do not tick the whole Entertainment category, it would also block Netflix and YouTube. Set the limit to one minute and switch on Block at End of Limit.

Step 2, add Downtime for the night

In Screen Time, tap Downtime and set a schedule, for example 11 pm to 7 am. During Downtime only the apps you allow stay open, so your drama apps cannot be opened by habit at 1 am.

Downtime closes everything that is not on your allowed list, so check that your alarm and messages are in it.

Step 3, stop coin purchases

Go to Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions, iTunes & App Store Purchases, then In-app Purchases, and choose Don't Allow. Coins bought through the App Store are then refused.

This setting covers the App Store only. A purchase made on a website is not covered, so also check that you have no saved cards in the apps themselves.

Step 4, lock it so it holds at 1 am

Tap Use Screen Time Passcode and ask a friend to choose a code you do not know. Without a passcode, one tap on Ignore Limit lifts the limit, and that is usually what happens at 1 am.

Apple describes these settings in its own guides, linked below.

What Screen Time does not do

It is a wall, not a coach. It has no friendly message, no way to earn a short window, no counter of money kept and no friends. That is the gap we are building into a drama specific app.

Drama Detox is not released yet, it is built on Apple's Screen Time tools and will be free to block. You can join the waitlist.

Common questions

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