Articles on: iPhone and iPad

Install Safe Surfer with iOS DNS profile

Safe Surfer supports installing protection on an Apple mobile device through what's called a configuration profile. On your first protection installation, it will take around 20 minutes for the full installation, or 30 minutes for the entire guide.

We demonstrate the installation process on an iPhone device running iOS 18, released in 2024, although the steps will be very similar if you are installing on a different kind of device.

Step 1: Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard

Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard (https://my.safesurfer.io) on one of your personal devices and log in to your account. Click the Devices menu on the left-hand sidebar, then click the New device option.

Click the option labelled "Another mobile, laptop, or desktop device".

Click the option labelled "iPhone and iPad".

Click the option labelled "Apply filter settings".

Enter a friendly name for this device (so that it can be easily identified later), then click the Accept button.

Inside this section, you'll see a QR code to be scanned within the Safe Surfer app. We’ll use this later on.

Step 2: Install protection

On the device to be protected, tap the Camera app.

Hover over the QR code on the dashboard with the camera, then tap the yellow link tag.

If you're doing this on an older device, the link might appear as a bubble at the top of the screen that can be tapped.

Tap the Download button.

Tap the Allow option.

Tap the Close button on the prompt that appears.

You can now close out of the browser tab. For example, if you're in the Safari app, tap the tabs option at the lower-right corner.

Tap the close option, then go back to the Home Screen.

Tap the Settings app.

Tap the Profile Downloaded menu.

In rare cases, the Profile Downloaded menu will be found inside a menu called More for Your iPhone (also at the top of the Settings app).

When the Install Profile card appears, tap the Install option at the upper-right corner.

Enter the passcode used to unlock this device.

Tap the Install option at the upper-right corner.

Tap the Install button.

Tap the Done option at the upper-right corner.

Due to Apple's privacy design, we are unable to prevent the Safe Surfer DNS profile (that is, the protection installation) from being paused/deleted if the device user is tech-savvy. Further below, we will help you install some fallback protection for the Safari web browser app (and optionally block all other browser apps as a precaution). If you have a Pro Surfer subscription, we will notify you through the Alerts system to check the protection installation if the DNS profile has been either not connected for a while or deleted. In general, we recommend keeping devices out of bedrooms. You might like to consider having a dedicated living space where devices can be used safely. If this is an issue, we strongly recommend that you consider switching the device user to a Samsung mobile device (because Samsung devices run Android), where we can stop many workarounds, fully block VPN apps, and provide a more effective screentime experience.

Tap the Back option at the upper-left corner.

Tap the Settings option at the upper-left corner.

Back on your personal computer, click the Done button.

You'll now see details regarding a new listing for this device on the Safe Surfer dashboard.

Back on the protected device, to see blocking in action, try visiting ExampleAdultSite.com in Safari. This is a safe website for testing to see if pornographic websites are being blocked. If it's not blocked, you'll need to review the previous steps.

Step 3: Change Apple content restrictions settings

Inside the Settings app, tap the Screen Time menu.

Tap the Communication Safety menu.

This feature isn't available on some older devices. If this is the case, skip ahead to the instructions regarding the Content & Privacy Restrictions menu.

Tap the Continue button.

Tap the Don't Share option.

If it's not already turned on, tap the switch found next to Communication Safety to enable it. One you're done, tap the Back option at the upper-left corner.

Tap the Content & Privacy Restricions menu.

If it's not already turned on, tap the switch found next to Content & Privacy Restictions to enable it.

Tap the Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content menu.

On some older devices, this menu is called Content Restrictions.

For the Allowed Store Content section, we suggest using the following options:

Music, Podcasts, News, Fitness: Clean
Music Videos: Off
Music Profiles: Off
Movies: M (that is, PG-13 or the equivalent for your region) or Don't Allow
TV: M (that is, PG-13 or the equivalent for your region) or Don't Allow
Books: Clean
Apps: 12+ (Highly recommended, unless the device user absolutely requires a web browser app other than Safari, such as Google Chrome. It's safer on Apple mobile devices to only use Safari when also using parental controls.)
App Clips: Don't Allow

The Allowed Store Content section should now have your settings applied.

Scroll down to the Web Content section. For the Web Content and Siri sections, we suggest using the following options:

Web Content: Limit Adult Websites (This is highly recommended as an extra layer of protection for Safari.)
Web Search Content: Don’t Allow
Explicit Language: Don’t Allow

The Web Content and Siri sections should now have your settings applied.

Tap the Back arrow at the upper-left corner.

If it's not already set up, tap the Lock Screen Time Settings option.

Enter a passcode to be used for locking the Screen Time settings.

Re-enter the passcode.

Unless you would like to use an Apple ID for Screen Time Passcode Recovery, tap the Cancel option at the upper-left corner.

Tap the Skip button.

Tap the Settings option at the upper-left corner.

Step 4: Enable Ask to Buy (optional)

If your household has mostly Apple devices, we suggest using Apple's Ask to Buy feature—this can help you prevent certain apps (such as VPNs) from being used as a protection workaround. Find out more by clicking this link.

Protection complete

Great work! This device is now protected. To start monitoring protected devices, visit our easy-to-use online dashboard.

If you have any other iPhone or iPad devices you would like to protect, simply start again from the top of the guide. If you would like to protect a different kind of device, visit our Guides page.

Updated on: 25/10/2024

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!