How to Block Apple News on iPhone (Allowed Apps, Not App Limits)
Apple News is built in, so App Limits skip it — restrict it under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps instead. Setup, and what still gets through.
Turning off Apple News means restricting it under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps, not setting a Screen Time App Limit — Apple's own News app is built into iOS and never appears in that list the way a downloaded news app does. What that costs you if you stop there: headlines still show up in the Today View widget and in Spotlight search with the app switched off, and if you're paying for News+, restricting the app doesn't cancel the subscription — the charge keeps coming for content you can no longer open.
How do you actually turn off Apple News on iPhone?
- Open Settings → Screen Time.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. First time here, you'll set a Screen Time passcode — separate from your device passcode.
- Tap Allowed Apps.
- Find Apple News in the list and turn the switch off.
The app icon disappears from the Home Screen and won't reopen, including from a shared link. Screen Time files Apple News under the Information & Reading category for its own usage reporting — the same category as third-party news apps — but that's cosmetic. Because Apple News ships as part of iOS, it's never eligible for an App Limit at all, the same exclusion that applies to Safari, Messages, Photos, and the App Store.
Why doesn't Apple News show up under App Limits?
Search "Apple News" under Settings → Screen Time → App Limits and you'll find nothing to restrict — that's expected, not a bug. Third-party news apps like Google News or BBC News can take an App Limit because they're downloaded software; Apple News can't, because Apple doesn't apply App Limits to its own apps. Allowed Apps is the only lever that actually does anything here.
Because this is a restriction rather than a limit, there's no "Ignore Limit" button and no midnight reset — the whole thing lives behind one Screen Time passcode. It fails the way every passcode-gated restriction does: you know the code and flip it back yourself, someone else knows it too, or you forget it and reset it through Change Screen Time Passcode → forgot passcode, which has used Apple ID recovery since iOS 13.4 and undoes the restriction in about a minute — the same passcode-dependent fragility behind why few app blockers really can't be bypassed.
Does turning off Apple News stop headlines everywhere on the phone?
Not entirely. Two surfaces keep working after the app itself is switched off. A Today View widget on the Home Screen or Lock Screen isn't an app in Screen Time's model, so Allowed Apps doesn't reach it — it keeps rotating headlines regardless of what's restricted underneath, and the only fix is removing it yourself: press and hold the widget, then choose Remove Widget. Spotlight search (swipe down from the Home Screen) can also keep surfacing Apple News stories and suggestions, since that index draws on content already cached on the device rather than requiring the app to be open.
Restricting the app does stop it from launching, but someone expecting headlines to vanish from the phone entirely will still see them arrive sideways, through a widget or a search tap.
Is there a website version of Apple News to block too?
Only a narrow one. Apple News doesn't have a public web reader the way Google News has news.google.com; the domain that shows up is apple.news, the short link Apple generates whenever someone shares an article out of the app. Tap one on a phone where the app is restricted, or without the app installed at all, and it opens a stripped-down preview in Safari — enough for a headline and the opening lines, not the full personalized feed. If even that preview is worth closing off, add apple.news under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content → Never Allow. It's a narrower gap than most apps in this series leave behind, since there's no full browser-based version of the feed sitting on top of it.
Why does Apple News pull people back specifically?
The pull here isn't entertainment the way it is with a social feed — it's closer to worry. Apple News reorders its top-story feed continuously through the day, so there's no version of "caught up" the way a finite inbox offers one; a calm scroll in the morning gets replaced by an updated one an hour later, and it's the update itself that pulls someone back, not any particular story. For a lot of readers that's less a bad habit than a reasonable-feeling response to an anxious news cycle, worth treating as such rather than as a discipline problem — restricting the app changes how often the option is sitting in front of someone, not why checking felt necessary in the first place.
What happens to a News+ subscription if you turn off Apple News?
Restricting the app under Allowed Apps doesn't touch the subscription. News+ bills through your Apple ID independently of whether the app can be opened, so turning off Apple News stops the magazine and newspaper access it unlocks without cancelling the charge — it just sits there, paid for and unused, until it's cancelled separately under Settings → your name → Subscriptions.
What's the realistic way to handle Apple News on iPhone?
| Approach | What it does | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Time App Limit | Doesn't exist for Apple News — it never appears in the App Limits list | The wrong tool entirely; looking for it here wastes the whole visit |
| Turn off Apple News (Allowed Apps) | Removes the app itself | Effective for the app icon, but the Today View widget and Spotlight can still surface headlines |
| Downtime schedule | Blocks Apple News with nearly everything else during set hours | Good for evenings or work hours, not a permanent fix |
| Remove the Today View widget | Closes the one surface Allowed Apps can't reach | Manual, not a Screen Time setting — press and hold, then Remove Widget |
| Cancel News+ separately | Stops billing for content the restricted app can no longer show | Restricting the app alone leaves the subscription running |
| Conditional unlock (e.g., Step N Scroll) | Ties Apple News and whatever else is restricted to a daily step goal | Doesn't replace Allowed Apps; suits people who can walk regularly and are fine with an iOS-only paid tool, not those wanting something free or on Android — there's no Android version |
Turning off Apple News doesn't make headlines physically impossible to reach again — anyone who knows the Screen Time passcode can flip Allowed Apps back in a few taps, and a passcode reset through Apple ID recovery undoes the whole restriction in about a minute. That's a deliberate design choice, not a flaw. What this setup does reliably is remove the app icon as a one-tap option; it doesn't erase the widget, Spotlight, or the pull of a feed that never finishes updating. If the checking is driven by real anxiety about the news rather than habit, closing off the app is unlikely to resolve that on its own — what actually tends to reduce anxious checking matters more than the setting itself.
FAQ
Why doesn't Apple News show up in the App Limits list like other news apps?
Because it's a built-in Apple app, not a downloaded one. Apple doesn't let App Limits apply to its own first-party apps — the same rule that excludes Safari, Messages, Photos, and the App Store. Apple News is restricted through Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allowed Apps instead.
Does turning off Apple News in Allowed Apps also remove its Today View widget?
No. A widget isn't an app in Screen Time's model, so the Allowed Apps toggle doesn't reach it. It keeps rotating headlines on the Home Screen or Lock Screen until you remove it yourself: press and hold the widget, then choose Remove Widget.
Will Apple News headlines still show up in Spotlight search after I restrict it?
They can. Spotlight draws on content already indexed on the device, including past Apple News stories and suggestions, and that index isn't cleared by switching the app off under Allowed Apps. Restricting the app stops it from launching — it doesn't guarantee every trace of it disappears from search.
If I have Apple News+, does restricting the app cancel my subscription?
No. News+ is billed through your Apple ID independently of whether the app can be opened. Restricting Apple News stops you from reading the magazines and newspapers it unlocks, but the charge keeps recurring until you cancel it separately under Settings → your name → Subscriptions.
Is there a website version of Apple News I need to block separately?
Only a narrow one. apple.news is the short-link domain Apple generates when someone shares an article out of the app; opening one without access to the app shows a stripped-down preview in Safari, not a full feed. Add apple.news under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content if you want that closed too.
What happens if I forget my Screen Time passcode after restricting Apple News?
You can reset it through Change Screen Time Passcode → forgot passcode, using your Apple ID — available since iOS 13.4. It's a legitimate recovery option, but it also means anyone with access to your Apple ID can undo the restriction just as easily.
Sources
- Apple Support — "Set up Screen Time for yourself on iPhone"
- Apple Support — "Set content and privacy restrictions on iPhone"
- Apple Support — "Use Screen Time on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch"
Step N Scroll is a habit and screen-time tool, not a medical device. Nothing here is medical advice.