Why does blocking an app or a website not take effect immediately?
Safe Surfer performs internet filtering through DNS servers, which can be thought of as the "contacts list" of the Internet. To visit a website, such as https://safesurfer.io (where the domain safesurfer.io is the important bit for the filtering part), a device needs to talk to a DNS server to discover where exactly the Safe Surfer website is found on the Internet. If a protected device tries to visit a porn website, we block it so that the device can't talk to it in the first place.
If you block content on the Blocking menu or the Screentime features, you might find that blocking/unblocking can take a little while to take effect, or seemingly not at all. This is commonly caused by a computer networking concept called caching. When Joe's phone uses the Facebook app, the app will talk to a series of Facebook servers. If a parent blocks Facebook five minutes into Joe's phone using the Facebook app, the Facebook app can still appear to work just as normal. This is because the Facebook app has already "solved" where the Facebook servers sit on the Internet, because it would be inefficient for devices to recheck a Facebook domain approximately every minute.
If you're using our Screentime features for protected devices, in certain cases it could take longer than expected to block/unblock something. The instructions below will help you to resolve this. If you're still facing issues with content not being blocked/unblocked, you might need to reduce the amount of content that you're blocking/unblocking on the menus for Timers and Timetables. Different kinds of devices (and apps) manage computer networking in slightly different ways, which is why this can happen.
Getting blocking to work depends on what kind of device you have. In most cases, you can perform the following steps:
Fully close the app you're using (that is, if you're on a mobile device, open the recents/multitasking menu and close the app), wait a few seconds, and open the app again.
Restart the device.
Either of these steps should force a DNS cache flush.
In addition to DNS blocking, the Safe Surfer app on Android supports blocking apps themselves—this greatly helps avoid this issue. You'll need to make sure that you have the "App blocking" feature turned on inside the Safe Surfer app's home menu. You'll need the physical device with you to turn this feature on. If a website isn't being blocked, try turning off and on the device.
If you're blocking internet on an Android device through the Timetables menu, this doesn't take advantage of the App blocking feature, which stops blocked apps entirely. To do this, you'll also need to add specific timetable block settings for the apps that you'd like Safe Surfer to fully block.
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
If a social media app isn't being blocked by your Screentime rules, you might need to try using the Apple Screen Time Downtime feature instead. This is due to complexities surrounding how computer networking works on Apple mobile devices.
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
If you block content on the Blocking menu or the Screentime features, you might find that blocking/unblocking can take a little while to take effect, or seemingly not at all. This is commonly caused by a computer networking concept called caching. When Joe's phone uses the Facebook app, the app will talk to a series of Facebook servers. If a parent blocks Facebook five minutes into Joe's phone using the Facebook app, the Facebook app can still appear to work just as normal. This is because the Facebook app has already "solved" where the Facebook servers sit on the Internet, because it would be inefficient for devices to recheck a Facebook domain approximately every minute.
If you're using our Screentime features for protected devices, in certain cases it could take longer than expected to block/unblock something. The instructions below will help you to resolve this. If you're still facing issues with content not being blocked/unblocked, you might need to reduce the amount of content that you're blocking/unblocking on the menus for Timers and Timetables. Different kinds of devices (and apps) manage computer networking in slightly different ways, which is why this can happen.
Getting block settings to apply
Getting blocking to work depends on what kind of device you have. In most cases, you can perform the following steps:
Fully close the app you're using (that is, if you're on a mobile device, open the recents/multitasking menu and close the app), wait a few seconds, and open the app again.
Restart the device.
Either of these steps should force a DNS cache flush.
Android devices
In addition to DNS blocking, the Safe Surfer app on Android supports blocking apps themselves—this greatly helps avoid this issue. You'll need to make sure that you have the "App blocking" feature turned on inside the Safe Surfer app's home menu. You'll need the physical device with you to turn this feature on. If a website isn't being blocked, try turning off and on the device.
If you're blocking internet on an Android device through the Timetables menu, this doesn't take advantage of the App blocking feature, which stops blocked apps entirely. To do this, you'll also need to add specific timetable block settings for the apps that you'd like Safe Surfer to fully block.
iPhone and iPad devices
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
If a social media app isn't being blocked by your Screentime rules, you might need to try using the Apple Screen Time Downtime feature instead. This is due to complexities surrounding how computer networking works on Apple mobile devices.
Windows devices
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
Mac devices
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
Chromebook devices
If a website or an app isn't being blocked after 5–10 minutes, try turning the device off and on.
Updated on: 19/06/2024
Thank you!