Semo

How to block Facebook on iPhone

Semo is an iPhone app that blocks distracting apps by asking an AI question that quotes your own reason back to you. This page is only about Facebook.

How do you block Facebook on an iPhone?

It depends on what you mean by a block. Screen Time can limit Facebook, and you can ignore that limit if you know the passcode or never set one. Semo asks an AI question that quotes your own reason, and you can dismiss it. The steps on this page are Apple's. Semo is not on the App Store yet. Price shown in the app.

Last checked against Apple's Screen Time guides and the public descriptions named on the page. We review these notes at least every 90 days.

Published . Updated . We review facts on this page at least every 90 days (next review due by 29 January 2027).

Block Facebook with iPhone Screen Time

Facebook and Messenger are different apps. A limit on Facebook does not stop Messenger, and a limit on Messenger does not stop the Facebook feed, Reels or Watch. On iOS 26, Facebook is under Social. On iOS 27 it is in Social Media. facebook.com in Safari is a third door on iOS 26.

iOS 26

  1. Limit the Facebook app, then decide about Messenger Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, Add Limit. Open Social and tick Facebook. Add a second limit for Messenger only if you want chats capped too.
  2. Watch and Reels are already included Do not look for a separate Watch or Reels app. They are inside Facebook. The time you set on the Facebook icon covers them.
  3. Check Always Allowed and the browser People add Facebook to Always Allowed and then wonder why the feed still opens. Remove it if you want the limit. The website in Safari is not covered on iOS 26.

iOS 27

  1. Facebook and Messenger can sit in one Social Media pool Time Allowances are by category. If both apps are in Social Media, they share the time. Manage Categories is where you check the grouping.
  2. A linked facebook.com is not the same as every browser trick iOS 27 may count the developer's linked site. It will not automatically count a wrapped browser or another app that shows the same site.

Apple's steps: App Limits on iOS 26 and Time Allowances on iOS 27. A limit you set for yourself can be ignored if you know the Screen Time passcode, or if you never set one.

What Facebook's own limits do, and why they fail

Facebook's Time management screen can set a daily reminder. The reminder has a way to dismiss it and keep scrolling. It is not a passcode held by someone else. Notification settings and "snooze" for 30 days change pings from groups. They do not close the feed. Unfollowing or unfriending changes what the feed contains. The app remains installed and opens to whatever is left.

An example reason

Written for this page. Not a quote from a user.

I open Facebook to reply in one group, and Reels is what I watch.

How Semo helps with Facebook

That is a specific reason to store, with a rule that names the group and names Reels as the part you do not want. Semo blocks the Facebook app by asking an AI question that quotes it. Messenger is only included if you also chose Messenger. We have published no results.

Questions

I limited Facebook and Messenger still opens. Is Screen Time broken?

No. They are two apps. Add a limit for Messenger if chats are the problem, and leave it off if chats are the part you want to keep.

Facebook's daily time reminder did not stop me. What did I miss?

Nothing. The in-app reminder is dismissible. Screen Time is the control that can actually stop the icon, and only if you do not know a way to ignore it (your own Screen Time passcode, or no passcode).

Does a Facebook limit include the website?

On iOS 26, no. On iOS 27, only the site linked to the app. See the Safari guide for everything else.