How to block adult sites on every device in your home

The single most common reason parents look for a filter. Here's how to block adult content everywhere your kids go online, not just in one browser.

Updated November 11, 2026·2 min read

Short answer

Set up Sheepdog Filter on your home Wi‑Fi router and on your kids' own phones. Adult sites are blocked by default for every child, using a list of hundreds of thousands of explicit sites updated every hour, and SafeSearch is forced on Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo so explicit images don't appear in search either.

Why one browser setting isn't enough

Screen Time's and Family Link's web filters only cover the built-in browser. Kids find adult content through other browsers, search image results, social apps, and "unblocked" proxy sites. A DNS filter covers all of them at once, because every one of them has to look up a site name first.

The setup

  1. Home Wi‑Fi: put Sheepdog Filter on your router so every device in the house is covered, including friends' phones. See home Wi‑Fi parental controls.
  2. Kids' phones: set it on each child's phone so it also works on mobile data and away from home: iPhone, Android.
  3. Lock it: use Screen Time or Family Link so the setting can't be removed.

What gets blocked

  • Adult and explicit sites, from a large, actively maintained list updated every hour.
  • Search engines that can't do SafeSearch, so there's no back door through image search.
  • SafeSearch forced on for Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo, so explicit results are hidden.
  • Proxy, VPN and "unblocked" sites that kids use to get around filters.
  • Dating sites and apps.

Adult sites are blocked for every child, at every age, by default.

No filter is perfect

New sites appear every day, and some social apps host explicit content inside them where no filter can see. Keep talking, keep devices out of bedrooms at night, and tell your kids they can come to you without getting in trouble if they see something that upsets them.

Sheepdog Filter

The internet, childproofed in five minutes.

One switch per worry, every device in the house, and a plain-English report each week. Free to start, no app to install.

Start free

Questions parents ask

Does it block adult content on social media apps?

It blocks dedicated adult sites and apps. Explicit posts inside a social app like X or Reddit come from the same servers as everything else on that app, so the choice there is to allow or block the app.

Is it free?

Yes. Blocking adult sites is part of Sheepdog Filter's free plan.

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