Guide

Which apps can't be blocked on an iPhone or iPad?

Some of Apple's own apps. With every other app locked, we saw Safari, Phone, Files, Health, Settings, Wallet, Find My and Clock still open; for Safari, the answer is to lock the websites inside it instead.

What we saw

On 10 October 2026 we switched on Lampworth's "Only the apps I allow" on an iPhone, with two apps allowed. Every other app should have been locked. These still opened: Safari, Phone, Files, Health, Settings, Wallet, Find My and Clock. On an iPad, Maps stayed open too.

iOS decides this, not Lampworth. Lampworth asks iOS to lock every app but the ones you allow, and iOS kept these open. Apple has not published a list of them or said why, so this is what we saw in October 2026, not a list from Apple.

Version 1.1 tells you this before the rule starts. Its last step, Check your list, has a line that says what iOS always keeps open.

Before you start

• Lampworth 1.1 or later on your child's iPhone or iPad, and your parent PIN.
• A short list of the apps your child should be able to use.

Lock everything else, websites included

1. Open the Apps screen. Open Lampworth, tap Parent and enter your PIN. Tap Edit on the Timed apps card. If nothing is chosen yet, tap Choose apps instead.
2. Choose the way. Under Which apps can be used?, tap "Only the apps I allow".
3. Follow the three steps. Tick the apps, add any websites, then read Check your list. Tap Try it for 15 minutes.
4. Check and keep it. Open an app you did not tick, and a website you did not add. If they are locked, tap Keep it on. If nobody does, the rule switches itself off after 15 minutes.

The full steps are in how to allow only certain apps on a child's first iPad.

What you can do about the ones that stay open

• Safari: lock the websites. Safari opens, but only the websites you add load. In our test on an iPad, the one website we added, bbc.co.uk, opened, and wikipedia.org showed iOS's "Website Not Allowed" page. How to pause websites in Safari.
• Settings: lock what matters there. Switch on "Lock the date and time", so the clock cannot be moved to end a rest early (the clock guide). On a device that keeps a parent's Apple Account, lock Screen Time settings with a passcode, so Lampworth's access cannot be switched off there (the deleting guide).
• Phone, Find My and the others. Lampworth could not lock them in our test. Apple's own Screen Time reaches some of them, as below.

What it cannot do

• In our test it could not lock the Apple apps above.
• We tried this with "Only the apps I allow". We have not tried each Apple app on its own.
• We have tested websites in Safari. We have not yet tested other browsers.
• Lampworth never sees what your child does in any app, these included.

And Apple's own Screen Time?

Apple's Content & Privacy Restrictions can turn off some built-in apps, which hides them from the Home Screen (Allowed Apps & Features). Its Communication Limits manage who your child can call and message. Apple's page gives the steps (Apple Support).

Next

Read why Safari still opens when apps are paused, or how Lampworth compares with Apple's Screen Time.