Install Safe Surfer with iOS DNS profile

Safe Surfer makes it easy to block porn and other harmful online content on an iPhone or iPad. This guide will show you how to install Safe Surfer protection. We demonstrate this with an iPhone running iOS 27 (released in late 2026), although the steps will be similar if you are installing on a different kind of iPhone or iPad.

This guide shows you how to install protection without the Safe Surfer app. This doesn't support lockdown features, unlike the normal installation method. If you would like to install Safe Surfer with the normal installation method, you can find out how to do so by clicking this link.

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. Open the Devices menu. Select the user that you would like to assign this device to, then click the "Create device" option.

Click the "iPhone and iPad" option.

Click the "Install protection profile" option.

Enter a name for this device, then click the Accept button.

On the next section, you'll see a QR code to be scanned by the Camera app. We’ll use this in a moment.

Step 2: Install protection

Before we get started, it's a good idea to check if your child has any VPN apps installed, as this will help make sure that Safe Surfer can work uninterrupted. (We'll show you how to stop VPN apps from being used later on.) You can find out how to do this by clicking this link.

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

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

If you're protecting an older deivce, the area to tap might look different.

Tap the Download button.

On the prompt that appears, tap the Allow option.

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

Tap the tabs button.

Tap the close button on the Safe Surfer tab.

Go to the Home Screen, then tap the Settings app.

Tap the Profile Downloaded menu (found at the top).

In rare cases, the Profile Downloaded menu will be found inside a menu called More for Your [iPhone/iPad], also found at the top of the Settings app main menu. If you can't find the Profile Downloaded menu, you can also navigate to General > VPN & Device Management > under the Downloaded Profile section, tap the Safe Surfer listing.

On the card that appears, tap the Install button at the upper-right corner.

Enter the passcode used to unlock this device.

Tap the Install button at the upper-right corner.

On the prompt that appears, tap the Install button.

Once the profile has been installed, tap the tick button at the upper-right corner.

Back on the Safe Surfer dashboard, click the Done button.

Step 3: Change Apple content restrictions

You can find out how to change Apple content restrictions 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: 16/09/2026

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