How to block TikTok on your child's iPhone

According to TikTok's terms of service for the European Economic Area, only people aged 13 or older may use TikTok. For users in Germany there is an additional provision: between 13 and 17, the contract with TikTok needs a parent's consent. According to TikTok, direct messages are only available from 16 and LIVE only from 18. On the App Store, TikTok is rated 13+.

Accounts of 13 to 17 year olds come with some defaults on TikTok: the account is private, daily screen time is set to 60 minutes, and there are no push notifications at night, from 9 pm for ages 13 to 15 and from 10 pm for ages 16 and 17. They depend on the age TikTok has on file. So check that your child's account has the right date of birth. If your child is under 13, the question isn't how to limit TikTok but whether they already have an account.

With Family Sharing you block TikTok from your own iPhone. According to Apple, open Settings > Family, tap your child's name and then Apps & Websites. In the Allowed list, tap TikTok and then Block App. Your child can no longer use the app. According to Apple, it appears dimmed on the Home Screen but isn't deleted. The menu names are those of iOS 27; older versions use some different names.

If TikTok isn't installed yet, the age rating helps. Under Apps & Websites > Restrictions you set the highest age rating of apps your child may download. If you choose a rating below 13+, Apple says you get a notification whenever your child tries to download an app rated higher. With Ask to Buy, your child has to request new apps from you anyway. According to Apple, it is on by default for children under 13.

Many parents don't want to ban TikTok outright, just to keep it out of school, homework or the night, for example. Screen Time has the Screen Time Schedule for that: according to Apple, you set routines for weekdays and weekends with time windows like Before School, School and After School, and choose which app categories are allowed in each window. With Time Allowances you limit how long your child can use apps of a category each day. Such a limit applies to every app in the category, not just TikTok.

TikTok videos also play on tiktok.com. If only the app is blocked, your child keeps watching in the browser. According to Apple, under Apps & Websites you tap the Add button, enter tiktok.com and block the website, and it no longer opens in Safari. Stricter is Ask to Browse: your child then has to request every new website from you. According to Apple, from iOS 27 this works in Safari and other supported browsers, and it is on by default for children under 13. What other gaps Screen Time has is covered in how kids get around Screen Time. YouTube works the same way, with Shorts on top: see blocking YouTube on your child's iPhone.

If TikTok stays allowed, Family Pairing lets you decide how your child uses it. You link a TikTok account of your own to your child's. According to TikTok, you can then, among other things:

• set the daily screen time. Once it's used up, your child needs a one-time passcode from you to keep watching.
• schedule time away: on the days and times you choose, TikTok isn't available to your child, also recurring every week. Your child can ask for more time, and you decide.
• turn on Restricted Mode, which limits content that may not be suitable for teens.
• decide who can comment on your child's videos and, from 16, who can send them messages.
• see who your child follows, who follows them and which accounts they have blocked.

TikTok is often where the jokes and trends come from that the class talks about the next day. If TikTok is blocked without warning, it can easily feel like a punishment to your child. Explain to your child why and when TikTok is gone, and agree together how they can get more time. You can write down what you agree on in a family media agreement.

TaskBlue is for parents who don't want to ban TikTok outright but want it gone at set times. TaskBlue doesn't just block TikTok, it makes the app invisible: during focus it disappears from the home screen entirely, for example at school, on a schedule or in the morning until the BlueTag alarm is scanned, and afterwards it's back. You choose at least three apps or one category once, so TikTok together with other distracting apps. Under Make websites invisible you add TikTok as well, and tiktok.com then won't open in Safari or other browsers while focus runs.

The BlueTag is a small key ring that comes with TaskBlue and stays with the parents. A scan with the BlueTag brings the apps back early. If TikTok should be gone for good, Apple's Block App is the right tool, not TaskBlue. TaskBlue is only available for the iPhone. The comparison shows how it differs from Screen Time.