One-click website blocker
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The web has the capacity to be both a blessing and a curse at the same time. On the one hand, it enables us to do the work we do and access the wealth of human knowledge. On the other hand, it distracts us from our goals and could make us feel like we’re wasting our lives.
Naturally, the topic of limiting web access has been in discussion for decades now. How do we block harmful websites from our kids? What does blocking time-wasting websites like Facebook and YouTube mean for a modern workplace? Why do we need to restrict ourselves with website blockers to resist temptation and distractions?
All these are valid questions we’ll explore below, in addition to showing you the best ways to block websites that seemingly steal your attention all day long.
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How To Block Websites On Mac
Restricting access to apps and websites has been a feature on both Windows and Macs since the early days. Surprisingly, most people aren’t even aware this is a possibility or don’t use it as it seems to be too complicated to set up.
We’ll start by tackling the flow for the Screen Time feature, available in macOS Catalina and later, which significantly expanded on Parental Controls that Macs have been using for years. A similar feature on Windows is called Family Safety, so if you’ve encountered that before, a lot of the steps will sound familiar, although there are some key differences as well.
Blocking websites and apps with Screen Time
As the name suggests, Screen Time was developed by Apple to help anyone be in control of their Mac usage and, by extension, control the Mac usage of their kids too. With this utility, you can easily filter out adult websites, addictive games, endless YouTube videos, and much more.
Lately, it hasn’t been uncommon for employers to set Screen Time controls for their employees too, mostly to limit social media use or deter them from reading news websites throughout the day.
Regardless of your intended application for Screen Time, here’s how to use it to block a website on Mac as well as any app:
- Open Screen Time in System Preferences
- Navigate to App Limits
- Click the plus sign
- Check the box next to any app category or select the dropdown arrow to check a specific app
- Scroll all the way down to see all the websites you can block as well and even add your own to the list
- As you check an app or website, you can input the exact daily limit in the box below or click Custom ➙ Edit to set a variable limit depending on the day
You can also use specific limits if you’re setting up a computer for your kids. Screen Time will then block websites in Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and any other browser at once. First, you want to prevent anyone but yourself from changing your settings, so go to Options and choose to Use Screen Time Passcode. In the same window, you can also “Share across devices” to have the same settings for all devices of a particular iCloud user.
Then, to use Screen Time as a web and app blocker as well as a complete self-control app, click Content & Privacy ➙ Turn On. In Web Content, select either to Limit Adult Websites or Allowed Websites Only if you know which websites are absolutely needed. Then switch to the Apps tab and uncheck any apps that shouldn’t be used.
As mentioned above, Screen Time doesn’t differentiate between browsers, so if you were looking for how to block a website on Chrome or how to block website on Safari — it’s all the same.
Easily block websites without changing settings
The truth is Screen Time is not really intuitive and somewhat complicated to manage. It takes a while to get all the settings just right. And every time you’ll catch yourself or your kids coming up with a new workaround, you’ll have to devise a way to solve that too.
And what if you share the same computer with your children? Then you’d have to use the passcode to undo the changes every time you pass the laptop to each other. Some of us just don’t need those complications and wish there was an easier way. Luckily, there is.
Meet Focus - a simple website blocker that also works for apps and even specific webpages, all right from your Mac’s menu bar.
To block out distractions in Focus:
- Click on the app’s icon in the menu bar > Preferences
- Navigate to the Blocking tab
- Add any websites, webpages, and applications to the list using plus icons at the bottom. You’re done!
The beauty of Focus is that it doesn’t enforce its focus mode all the time — it works in sessions, which is perfect for sharing the same computer. So when your kids are asking for some playtime, you can just click on the app’s icon and select “Focus for 25 minutes” or “Custom focus...” to set the period of time during which blocking websites will be enforced.
To prevent your kids from changing settings, just go to Preferences again and, in the General tab, check the “Hardcore mode.” For extra safety, you can also turn on the “Password mode.”
What if your kids have their own computer? Not a problem. In the Preferences window, you can choose Schedule and set the limits you desire.
Eliminate distractions to be more productive
Another major advantage of Focus over Screen Time is that it works not only for your kids but for you too. Don’t you sometimes wish you could block websites on Mac? Turn off YouTube, eliminate Facebook, stay away from Reddit — Focus makes it easy.
Just follow the same instructions as you would for your kid: block websites and apps, set up a schedule that mirrors your work hours, and lock preferences during sessions to minimize temptation.
As we all know, it’s impossible to work undistracted for eight hours straight. In fact, small breaks throughout the day are highly beneficial to your productivity. Focus allows you to turn off the website blocker for a small amount of time in the Break mode.
The app would also delight the followers of the Pomodoro technique, which automatically lets you have a short break after an intensive focus session. You can set it up in your break periods in Preferences as well.
For extra motivation, you can include a list of your favorite “go get it” phrases in the Quotes tab in the app’s preferences too. These quotes will appear when you try to access one of the blocked websites and remind you to get back to what’s truly important.
Use a self-control app for blocking and analysis
What if you could combine the flexibility and analytics of Screen Time, the ease of use of Focus, and the power of the Pomodoro technique — all in one? You’d get Session.
Session starts off as a simple Pomodoro tracker that lives in your menu bar. Just click on the app icon, write the task you want to focus on, set the timer, and Start Session. At the end of your session, the app will ask you how you felt and let you take any notes for future reference.
With time, you’ll get precise and extensive analytics on how you’ve been using your focus time, how distracted you’ve been, and how you might improve.
To help you get in control, Session also offers a full-featured website and app blocker:
- Just go to Preferences (⌘ + ,)
- Select App Blocker
- Check “Enable app blocker”
- Write the exact names of apps you want to block (one per line)
- Go to Website Blocker
- Check “Enable website blocker”
- Write down the URLs either on a Deny or Allow list
Quickly concentrate on the task at hand
If Focus and Session can easily solve all your problems related to blocking websites and apps that waste your time, they do very little to physically help you concentrate on a single task amidst your cluttered desktop and a heap of open windows. That’s where you need HazeOver.
HazeOver is essentially a professional screen dimmer. While it’s not a way to block websites on Mac, it’s the perfect solution for your scattered focus. What this app does is highlighting the currently active window and dimming the rest of the screen, including notifications and other apps.
Even though HazeOver is simple in its application, it allows you to fine-tune every single setting to suit your needs. By going to its preferences from the menu bar icon, you can set how strong the dimming effect is, whitelist apps you don’t want dimmed, which is useful when you work with two windows at the same time, and configure how the apps will work on two or more displays.
As a bonus, HazeOver is perfect for working at night, as it only lets the light from the active app window to go through instead of overwhelming you with an ocean of blue light, which will make it harder to fall asleep later on. Similarly, watching a movie in the evening is so much more pleasant when HazeOver is there to dim everything around the video app.
Use the right website blocker at the right time
Overall, if you’ve used to tinker with all the complex settings in Family Safety on Windows or simply like the granular level of control, using Screen Time is certainly an option.
For the rest of us, using Focus + Session + HazeOver presents a much more flexible solution — one that can protect our kids and not let us slack off at the same time.
A bundle of apps for free
Every app mentioned above is a part of Setapp. By downloading one, you get access to everything you need to improve browsing.
Best of all, Focus, Session, and HazeOver are available on Setapp, a platform of over 210 highly acclaimed tools, utilities, and apps for your Mac. Sign up to become a Setapp member and try Focus, Session, HazeOver, and all other apps from its catalog for free during your trial period. In the meantime, how to block websites on Mac should no longer be a pressing issue.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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One-click website blocker
The modern web is a distraction disaster. Every website you visit wants you to buy something, subscribe to its newsletter, or simply overload you with in-your-face ads. And most of these call to actions are done via pop-ups — the most invasive kind of notifications.
So it’s no wonder that there has recently been a spike in user demand for how to remove pop up blockers. Most browsers have responded accordingly and now all of them — Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome — have features that stop pop ups in their tracks. Some, like Safari pop up blocker, even go as far as to enable its protection by default.
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In over 90% of cases, pop up blockers are doing a great job. But occasionally you might come across a website which life seemingly depends on you somehow interacting with its pop-up. It could be a gateway to a public WiFi connection, a payment confirmation, or even an age verification input screen. Then you might wonder how to turn off pop up blocker on Mac.
How To Unblock Pop Ups On Mac Briefly
If you ask yourself, “How do I allow pop ups on Mac?” You’ve come to exactly the right place. In this guide, we’ll cover how to allow pop ups in every major browser as well as some tips that will help you conquer the true evil — the never-ending wave of distractions. Let’s get to it.
How to manage Safari pop up blocker
Since Safari is quite dominant among Mac users, it’s good to know the ways you can control its pop up blocker, whether you’re looking for how to allow pop ups on Mac or how to stop pop ups on Mac.
To open Safari pop up blocker:
Mac Address Blocker App
- Select Safari in the menu bar ➙ Preferences (or use ⌘ + ,)
- Navigate to the Websites tab
- Click on Pop-up Windows in the sidebar
- Open the dropdown for any currently active website and choose from Block and Notify, Block, or Allow
- Open the dropdown for “When visiting other websites” and also choose from the same options
When Safari pop up blocker is working (meaning, something is being blocked), it shows a tiny red notification in the address bar. If you click on it, you’ll see the option to view the blocked window — so if you just need to check the blocked pop-up once, you don’t even have to tweak any Safari pop up blocker settings.
Also remember that the changes to the blocker don’t have to be by any means permanent. Say you’ve just made an online payment, but the website is asking you for some additional information through a series of pop-up windows. Simply switch Block to Allow on that website in the Safari pop up blocker and reset again once you’re done.
Additionally, the same Websites tab in Safari lets you control your sound, camera, microphone, notifications, content blockers, and much more.
How to enable pop ups in Firefox
If you’re using Firefox as your main browser, the answer to how to enable pop ups on Mac is a bit trickier to find:
- In Firefox, click on the burger menu and then select Preferences (⌘ + , shortcut works as well)
- Click on Privacy & Security in the sidebar and scroll down to Permissions
- Check or uncheck the “Block pop-up windows” box
- Open the Exceptions dialog box if you want some websites to ignore the standard settings
As you can see, Firefox allows for a bit more customization than Safari when it comes to knowing how to unblock pop ups that are not all that bad. Finally, let’s dive into Google Chrome.
How to turn off pop up blocker on Mac in Chrome
When it comes to the most widely used browser in the world, it doesn’t disappoint in its ability to control random pop up windows.
To allow or stop pop ups with Chrome:
- Select Chrome in the menu bar ➙ Preferences
- Scroll all the way down and click Advanced
- Scroll some more till you see the section “Privacy and security”
- Click on “Site settings” and then “Pop-ups and redirects”
- Switch between Blocked and Allowed, depending on what the situation demands
- If you click the Allow option, you can also whitelist any websites that you don’t mind getting pop-up windows from. You can even copy-paste a whole list of websites.
Similarly to Safari, Chrome allows for one-off exceptions via the address bar. A small icon will indicate that something has been blocked, and you’ll have an option to allow pop-ups from that website (once or always).
How to concentrate on what really matters
Without a doubt, learning how to stop pop ups on Mac is invaluable to our inner peace. But pop-ups only represent a small part of what’s actually distracting us from getting things done all day long.
Think of notifications, chats, multiple app windows being open at once, and even messy Desktop — all that takes more of our attention than it deserves. Until you get HazeOver.
HazeOver for clearing your view
Get rid of all distractions on the Mac’s screen with HazeOver. It keeps one window clear, while putting the rest on hold.
HazeOver is the ultimate screen dimmer that keeps your active window clear and darkens everything else on your monitor. Suddenly, you don’t see anything distracting and are able to focus on the task at hand. For multitaskers that all of us are today this is much better than going full screen on every app, since you don’t lose your ability to jiggle all the apps you need to get work done, especially when you have more than one monitor.
Besides, HazeOver is the perfect solution for working at night, since you’re not hit with all the light on your screen, but the active area is still clear. In a similar fashion, you can enjoy movies and TV shows with a nice dim ambiance.
How to get rid of all distractions
When you know how to allow pop ups on Mac, you can confidently block them all to feel free. In addition, getting HazeOver to help you with concentration will definitely give you a powerful boost towards being more productive. But if that’s not enough, you need Focus.
Focus, as the name might suggest, is a complete solution for eliminating distractions. This lightweight utility lets you block any websites or apps that stand between you and your goals. Instead, you’ll be shown a motivational quote to inspire you to continue to fight the good fight.
Mac App Store For Windows
Blocking with Focus can be bundled or targeted, ad hoc or scheduled — you’re in control, and you can even track your progress week to week with the app’s built-in analytics and graphs. Who’s lazy now?
To sum up, being able to balance the need to focus with the knowledge of how to remove pop up blockers when you need to is crucial. And all it takes is just a few apps.
Best of all, HazeOver and Focus mentioned above are available to you absolutely free with a seven-day trial from Setapp, the best platform for all kinds of Mac apps (over 160 and counting) out there, be it getting things done, doing taxes, managing teams, drawing, writing — you name it. To try them all, just head over to Setapp’s website and sign up. Why not?
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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