How to supervise and lock down protection on an iPhone or iPad (Mac)

This guide demonstrates how to supervise and lock down Safe Surfer protection on an iPhone or iPad with a Mac. (If you would like to supervise with a Windows device, you can find out how to do so by clicking this link.) We demonstrate the supervision process with an iPhone running iOS 27 (released in late 2026), although the steps will be similar if you are supervising a different kind of iPhone or iPad.


Important information


IMPORTANT: Please read the following information before proceeding with the guide. If you are not comfortable with the potential risks involved, we strongly recommend switching the device user to a Samsung mobile device, where locking down Safe Surfer protection is officially supported by Samsung's device features.


This app tool is not supported by Apple. Safe Surfer is not responsible for any data loss or damage regarding the device you attempt to supervise. Before attempting to supervise an iPhone or iPad, please perform a device backup before attempting to supervise it. You cannot supervise a device that is not owned by you (for example, if the device is owned by a work or school organisation). Please read through the supervision instructions slowly, as there are multiple steps where you could get lost, or issues that could otherwise take place. If you get stuck at any point (for example, if the supervison tool displays a progress error without specific instructions), try closing the tool and repeating the steps. Due to the supervision process, the device wallpaper might be reset, but it can be changed later.


If any Apple Screen Time settings have already been applied to the device you want to supervise, they will not take effect after the supervision process due to how iPhone and iPad devices work. To help mitigate this, please turn off any applied settings on the device itself (inside the Settings app > Screen Time) and confirm that the changes have taken effect. With regard to re-enabling Apple Screen Time settings, we will link to further instructions at the bottom of this guide.


We recommend checking if any SIM cards / eSIMs being used by this device are currently locked with a SIM PIN. If this is the case (and you don't turn this off now), the SIM PIN will have to be entered later, otherwise you won't be able to use the SIM plan and its phone number. Due to this, it's a good idea to make sure that any SIM cards / eSIMs are unlocked before proceeding. You can find out more by clicking this link.


In addition, if you haven't already checked for VPN apps on this device, we recommend doing so now. This will help make sure that Safe Surfer can work uninterrupted. (Once you have completed this guide, VPN apps will be unable to create new connections.) You can find out how to do this by clicking this link.


Getting started


Before we get started, you'll need the following to proceed:


  • A Mac laptop or desktop.
  • A genuine Apple USB cable. This guide might not work if you use a cable that is not manufactured by Apple. Apple cables come in braided and non-braided varieties. If it's not a braided cable, you can verify that it's manufactured by Apple by checking for a serial number printed on the cable itself (which can be faint grey printing). The printing should read something like the following: "Designed by Apple in California Assembled in [country] A1B2C3D4E5F6".
  • Your child's iPhone/iPad passcode.
  • Your child's Apple Account (iCloud) password, which is different to the device passcode.
  • You might also need your child available for Face ID / Touch ID verification.


If you haven't already installed the Safe Surfer app on the iPhone/iPad you want to supervise, you'll first need to do this by clicking this link. You cannot supervise a device that hasn't been protected by the Safe Surfer app from the Apple App Store.


Step 1: Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard


Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard (https://my.safesurfer.io) on one of your personal Mac devices, then log in to your account and open the Devices menu. Select the user that the iPhone/iPad is assigned to, then click the applicable device listing.



Click the Lockdown button at the upper-right corner.



There are two options available:


  1. App blocking, which lets you have full control over individual apps. This option doesn't allow locking the protection installation, but it does support uninstallation notifications.
  2. Prevent uninstallation, which lets you lock the protection installation.


Once you've selected an option, click the Next button at the lower-right corner.



Review the following information:


  1. If you selected the app blocking path, the Safe Surfer dashboard will prompt you to prepare Safe Surfer on the iPhone/iPad, where we'll show you what to do next.
  2. If you selected the prevent uninstallation path, click the Next button on the "Before you start" section, then skip to step 2.



Continuing with the app blocking path, open the Safe Surfer app on the iPhone/iPad to be supervised.



Tap the Enter PIN option, then tap the PIN field to enter your PIN.



On the Protection menu, scroll down to the Lockdown section. Turn on the Uninstall Notifications option.



Tap the App Blocking menu.



Tap the Prepare for App Blocking option.



On the prompt that appears, tap the Prepare button.



On the following prompt that appears, tap the Continue button.



On the card that appears, tap the Allow with Face ID (or Allow with Touch ID) button.


If you attempt to authenticate, an option should appear to use the device passcode instead.



Once Safe Surfer has been approved, tap the Done button.



Safe Surfer should now report that it has been prepared for the app blocking setup. You can now go back to the device's Home Screen.



Step 2: Turn off iCloud Private Relay and Find My


To supervise an iPhone/iPad, you will need to turn off iCloud Private Relay (if applicable), along with temporarily turning off Find My.


IMPORTANT: The supervision process will disable the iCloud Private Relay feature, but for technical reasons, you should also make sure that it's turned off if the device user has an iCloud+ subscription. You can check this by navigating to the Settings app main menu > tap the Apple account at the top > iCloud. Scroll down and see if you can find the Private Relay menu. If the user has an iCloud+ subscription and the feature is turned on, tap the Private Relay menu > turn off the switch for Private Relay > tap the Turn Off Private Relay option. Once you've finished checking, you can proceed with the following instructions.


To disable Find My, open the Settings app.



Tap the Apple account at the top.



Tap the Find My menu.



Tap the Find My [iPhone/iPad] menu.



Tap the Find My [iPhone/iPad] switch to turn it off.


If you see a message regarding the Stolen Device Protection feature, you can first disable this by navigating to the Settings app main menu > Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode) > enter the device passcode > Stolen Device Protection > turn off Stolen Device Protection, which might require Face ID / Touch ID authentication from your child. (If the device is not in a known location, there is a one hour duration for turning off Stolen Device Protection.) Once you've done this, you can navigate to the Settings app main menu > tap the Apple account at the top > Find My > Find My [iPhone/iPad] > turn off the Find My [iPhone/iPad] feature.



Enter the password of your child's Apple Account, then tap the Turn Off button.



Find My [iPhone/iPad] should now be turned off. You can now go back to the device's Home Screen.



Back on the Safe Surfer dashboard, you can now tick the confirmation box and click the Next button.



Step 3: Supervise device


Click the "Download for Mac (Apple Silicon)" button to download the supervision tool.


If you're using an older Mac with an Intel processor (that is, anything manufactured before 2020), you'll first need to click the drop-down arrow, then select the "Download for Mac (Intel)" option. You can then proceed with downloading the tool.



Once the supervision tool has downloaded, open the Finder app, click the Downloads menu on the left-hand side, and open the supervision tool.



Once the supervision tool has opened, we'll need to connect the iPhone/iPad to your Mac.


Leave the tool window open while we proceed to connect the iPhone/iPad.



Plug one end of the Apple USB cable into your Mac device.



Unlock the iPhone/iPad device using its unlock passcode, then plug the other end of the Apple USB cable into the iPhone/iPad device.



After plugging in the cable, the iPhone/iPad device should ask you for permission to trust the device (that is, your Mac). Tap the Trust option.


If you don't see a prompt to trust the Mac, it's likely already trusted.



Enter the device passcode.



Click the Next button on the supervision tool.



Once you've confirmed that the supervision tool has detected the correct device, click the Yes button.



Click the Lock Down button. After a short moment, the iPhone/iPad will restart.


IMPORTANT: Once you've clicked the Lock Down button, don't close out of the supervision tool or click any following button yet, as we will do this later.



After the device has restarted, swipe the bar upwards (or press the Home button if the device has a button).



Enter the device passcode. This might take a moment.



Once you reach the Hello screen, unlock the iPhone/iPad.



On the prompt that appears, tap the Trust button.



Enter the device passcode.



Tap the Continue button.



If you selected the app blocking path, you'll see an additional menu regarding Device Management, where you'll need to tap the Enrol this [iPhone/iPad] button.



Wait for the supervision tool to finish loading, where this will take a moment.


If it takes more than a minute or two, try clicking away from the supervision tool window, then click the window again.



Once the supervision tool has finished loading, click the Done button.



Once you've completed the above process, the Safe Surfer dashboard should report after a short moment that the setup process has been completed.



Step 4: Turn on Find My


Review the following information:


  1. If you selected the app blocking path, you won't be able to enable Find My or Stolen Device Protection due to the supervision design. (They can be enabled again if you later unsupervise the device.) You can now safely delete the supervision app tool from your Downloads folder. Please note that there are still additional important steps to complete with Apple Screen Time. Once you're ready, you will need to continue with step 2 of the iPhone/iPad stop uninstallation guide.
  2. If you selected the prevent uninstallation path, you can now turn on Find My with the following instructions.


Continuing with turning on Find My, navigate to the Settings app main menu, then tap the Apple account at the top.



Tap the Find My menu.



Tap the Find My [iPhone/iPad] menu.



Tap the switch to turn on Find My [iPhone/iPad].



Find My has now been enabled. You can now navigate back to the Settings app main menu, and then return to the device's Home Screen. (If you turned off the Stolen Device Protection feature earlier on, you can now enable it again. You can do this by navigating to the Settings app main menu > Face ID & Passcode [or Touch ID & Passcode] > Stolen Device Protection > turn on Stolen Device Protection.)


IMPORTANT: You can now safely delete the supervision app tool from your Downloads folder. Please note that there are still additional important steps to complete with Apple Screen Time. Once you're ready, you will need to continue with step 2 of the iPhone/iPad stop uninstallation guide.


Updated on: 01/10/2026

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