Field Guide

The filter blocks websites. Your phone needs one more lock.

Breaking Chains blocks sites at the network level, on every screen in the house. But a native app that is already installed talks to its own servers, and nothing at the DNS layer stops a new app being downloaded. Apple and Google already built the controls that close that gap. Here is how to use them, without the nuclear "block the whole App Store and beg for a PIN every week" approach.

iPhone and iPad: the smart way. It does not break app updates.

The trick most people miss: restrict apps by their maturity rating instead of blocking the App Store entirely. Almost every explicit app and AI-porn app is rated 17+. Set the age limit to 12+ and those apps vanish from the store and the home screen, while everything you already use keeps installing and updating normally. No weekly unlock ritual.

Settings, then Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions. Turn it on.
Content Restrictions, then Apps. Set to 12+ (or 9+ for stricter). Every 17+ app disappears from the App Store and the home screen, and apps at or below the limit still update normally.
Content Restrictions, then Web Content. Choose Limit Adult Websites. This is Apple's own web filter running as a backstop behind Breaking Chains, and you can paste specific sites into Never Allow.
Explicit Language, Music, Books, Podcasts. Set to Clean.
Set a Screen Time passcode your accountability partner holds. A different code than the one that unlocks the phone, with the partner's Apple ID as the recovery so only they can reset it.
Account Changes and Passcode Changes: Don't Allow. So none of this can be quietly undone.

To remove an already-installed app for good: delete it. The rating limit prevents re-download.

Honest limitation: a handful of AI-generator apps deliberately rate themselves 12+ or even 4+ to slip under filters. The rating limit catches most, not all. That is exactly why you layer it: Breaking Chains blocks their backend domains, the rating limit removes them from the store, and Apple's web filter is the third net. No single layer is enough alone.

Android: content restrictions with a partner-held PIN.

Google Play, profile icon, Settings, Family, Parental controls. Turn on, and set a PIN your partner holds.
Apps & games: set to Rated for 12+ (or lower). Higher-rated apps stop appearing in Play.
Google Family Link, if the phone is in a family group, adds per-app approval and blocking.
Turn off sideloading. Settings, Apps, Special access, Install unknown apps: set every source to Not allowed. This closes the APK back door that bypasses Play entirely.
Digital Wellbeing (or Samsung's controls) for per-app limits.

Honest limitation: Android is more open than iOS, and sideloading is the main escape hatch. Disabling "install unknown apps" everywhere is the step that actually matters.

The principle.

Breaking Chains gives you control over how much you block, not a one-size lockdown. Pick your DNS tier, then add as many device-level layers as you want. The partner-held passcode is what makes any of it real. A lock you can open yourself is a reminder, not a safeguard.

For the full picture of what we block at the network level and why, read how we handle AI-generated porn.