How to block Threads 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 Threads.

How do you block Threads on an iPhone?

It depends on what you mean by a block. Screen Time can limit Threads, 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 31 October 2026 against Apple's Screen Time guides and the public descriptions named on the page. We review these notes at least every 90 days.

Published 19 October 2026. Updated 31 October 2026. We review facts on this page at least every 90 days (next review due by 29 January 2027).

Block Threads with iPhone Screen Time

Threads is not Instagram. An Instagram daily reminder, and an Instagram App Limit, leave Threads untouched. Threads is its own icon in the social category. The following feed and the For You feed are inside that one icon.

iOS 26

Add Threads even if Instagram is already limited Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, Add Limit. Open Social and tick Threads. The Instagram limit you already made is a different row.
Keep the Threads timer off your messengers Select Threads alone. A Social category limit would also hit apps you use for one-to-one messages.
Notifications are how Threads gets the first open In Settings, Notifications, Threads, turn off alerts if a banner is what starts the session. The App Limit only applies after use is counted.

iOS 27

Threads shares Social Media unless you move it Time Allowances will treat Threads like other social apps. Set that category, then open Manage Categories and check Threads is in the group you think it is.
An Instagram allowance is still not a Threads allowance Even on iOS 27, two apps do not share a limit just because the same company ships them. Confirm both names in the category.

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 Threads's own limits do, and why they fail

Threads shows time spent in the app in some versions, and it can nudge you. That view is not a system block, and it does not borrow Instagram's daily limit. There is no separate "following only" switch that Screen Time can see. Muting accounts changes the feed. The app still opens.

An example reason

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

I opened Threads to read one person I follow, and the For You feed is why the app is still open.

How Semo helps with Threads

Store that reason. Semo blocks Threads, if you selected it, by asking an AI question that quotes the reason. It will not fire on Instagram unless Instagram is also selected. It cannot hide the For You feed inside Threads. No results have been published.

Questions

I set Instagram's daily limit. Why is Threads still unlimited?

Because Threads is a separate app with its own Screen Time row. Set that row if Threads is the app you want to cap.

Can I allow accounts I follow and block the For You feed?

Not with Screen Time. Both feeds are Threads. A written rule can name the difference. The system limit cannot.

Does Threads have a hard daily lock of its own?

We could not confirm one in public help on 31 October 2026 that closes the app without a dismiss button. Use Screen Time if you want the icon stopped.