Protect an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Safe Surfer
It’s easy with Safe Surfer to block harmful online content on an iPhone or iPad device. On your first protection installation, it will take around 30 minutes for the full installation, or 45 minutes for the entire guide.
Step 1: Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard
Visit the Safe Surfer dashboard (https://my.safesurfer.io) on one of your personal devices, then log in to your account. Click the Devices menu on the left-hand sidebar, then click the New device option.
Click the "Another mobile, laptop, or desktop device" option.
Click the "iPhone and iPad" option.
Click the "Get the iPhone/iPad app" option.
You can assign this new device to a person, or you can click the Skip button to do this later.
On the next 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 App Store app.
Search for the Safe Surfer app, then download it. Once it has finished downloading, tap the Open button.
Inside the Safe Surfer app, it will ask you for permission to send notifications. Tap the Allow option.
Tap the Continue button.
Tap the "Let's do it!" button.
Enter a friendly name for this device (so that it can be easily identified later), then tap the Next button.
Sign in with your Safe Surfer account details, or tap the Scan option to scan the QR code on the Safe Surfer dashboard.
If you signed in with your email address (rather than scanning the QR code on the dashboard), you can assign this device to a person, or you can tap the Skip button to do this later.
Tap the Finish button.
Install configuration profile
Once you've landed on the Protection menu, tap the switch found next to Enable Internet Blocking.
On the card that appears, tap the Download button.
Safe Surfer will take you to the device's default web browser app. On the prompt that appears, tap the Allow option.
On the Profile Downloaded prompt, tap the Close button.
Go to the device's home screen, then tap the Settings app.
Tap the Profile Downloaded menu.
On the card that appears, tap the Install button.
Enter the passcode used to unlock this device.
On the following prompt, tap the Install button.
On the prompt that appears, tap the Install button.
Tap the tick button at the upper-right corner.
Go to the device's home screen, then tap the Safe Surfer app.
After a short moment, when the Safe Surfer app asks, set a PIN to lock the Safe Surfer app.
Install Safari Extension
On the Protection page inside the Safe Surfer app, tap the switch found next to Safari Extension. Once you've landed on the Safari Extension menu, go to the device's home screen.
On the home screen, tap the Settings app.
Go back to the Settings menu menu, then tap the Apps menu.
Tap the Safari listing.
Tap the Extensions menu.
Tap the Safe Surfer listing.
Make sure that the Allow Extension setting is enabled, then turn on the switch found next to Allow in Private Browsing.
Under the Permissions section, tap the All Websites menu.
Tap the Allow option.
Back in the Safe Surfer app, turn on the switch found next to Social Media Monitoring.
In the Safe Surfer app's More menu, there is also an optional feature available to disable images inside Safari if desired.
Step 3: Prevent uninstallation
You can find out how to prevent uninstallation 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, iPad, or iPod 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 installation guides article.
Updated on: 02/03/2026
Thank you!