Semo

How to block Netflix 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 Netflix.

How do you block Netflix on an iPhone?

It depends on what you mean by a block. Screen Time can limit Netflix, 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 Netflix with iPhone Screen Time

Netflix is entertainment, not social. A Social limit will miss it. Downloads do not sneak past an App Limit: offline titles still play inside the Netflix app, so the icon is what Screen Time sees. A profile PIN stops someone else using your profile. It does not stop you.

iOS 26

  1. Limit Netflix from Entertainment, not Social Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, Add Limit. Open Entertainment and tick Netflix. If you select the whole category, other video apps share the clock.
  2. Include evenings in the Netflix time Tap Next. Customize Days if weeknights should be shorter. Autoplay will still queue the next episode until the system limit is hit. The limit is what stops the icon.
  3. A profile PIN is not this setting Leave the Netflix profile PIN for what it is for. It is not an App Limit. Also check Always Allowed, and remember netflix.com in Safari on iOS 26.

iOS 27

  1. Netflix draws from the Entertainment allowance Time Allowances: set the daily total and Entertainment. Manage Categories shows whether Netflix was grouped with the video apps you meant.
  2. The next episode is still one app iOS does not treat one extra episode as special. When the Entertainment allowance or the daily total is used up, the app stops. Until then, autoplay is Netflix's own behaviour.

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 Netflix's own limits do, and why they fail

Netflix does not offer a daily hour cap for your own profile. "Are you still watching?" pauses playback until you confirm, and then continues. Autoplay next episode is on by default and is the opposite of a limit. A profile PIN and a maturity rating keep a child out of a profile. They do nothing about a late night on the profile you already unlocked. Downloads make the show available on a train. They still open Netflix.

An example reason

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

I turn on one episode at the end of the day, and autoplay is why I am still awake.

How Semo helps with Netflix

You can store that reason, and a rule such as "one episode I chose, then stop". Semo blocks Netflix by asking an AI question that quotes it when the app opens. It does not switch off autoplay inside Netflix, and it cannot count episodes. No published result says the question beats autoplay.

Questions

Does "Are you still watching?" count as a block?

No. It waits for a tap and then plays. It is not tied to a daily total and it is not Screen Time.

If the show is downloaded, does Screen Time still apply?

Yes. Playback is still the Netflix app. An App Limit or Time Allowance on that app still applies.

Will a Netflix limit block YouTube?

Only if you limited the whole Entertainment category instead of Netflix alone. Check the limit and remove the apps you did not mean to include.