How to Block WEBTOON on iPhone
A Screen Time App Limit blocks WEBTOON's icon, but Fast Pass and Daily Pass timers regenerate on schedule, and webtoons.com reads the same library in Safari.
WEBTOON is blocked on iPhone with a Screen Time App Limit set to the Entertainment category or the app directly, under Settings > Screen Time > App Limits. The catch: WEBTOON's Fast Pass and Daily Pass unlocks keep ticking whether or not you're inside the app, so the moment your limit resets, there's usually a fresh unlock sitting there waiting — the app schedules your return, not you.
How do you set a Screen Time limit for WEBTOON?
- Open Settings > Screen Time > App Limits.
- Tap Add Limit, then choose Entertainment — the category WEBTOON falls under in Apple's Screen Time classification — or search for WEBTOON directly and select just that app.
- Decide category vs. single app: an Entertainment category limit also catches other reading and streaming apps on the phone, which matters if you tend to switch rather than stop.
- Set a time allowance and the days it applies.
- Set a Screen Time passcode under Screen Time > Change Screen Time Passcode, separate from your device passcode — without one, the Ignore Limit button removes the whole thing in a single tap.
Menu wording shifts slightly between iOS versions, but the App Limits path has held steady for years.
Does an App Limit on WEBTOON stop the website too?
An App Limit only recognizes the app icon — it has no effect on webtoons.com. Unlike some entertainment apps whose website is a stripped-down account page, webtoons.com runs the complete reading experience in a normal Safari tab: the full catalogue, the same Fast Pass unlocks, the same Daily Pass claim, no app required. That makes the website a real gap rather than a minor one.
To close it, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content, choose to limit adult websites, and add webtoons.com under "Never Allow." This only covers Safari; a second installed browser reaches the same domain unless you repeat the restriction there.
What survives a WEBTOON block?
WEBTOON doesn't have a companion app the way Instagram has Threads — there's no separate binary carrying the same catalogue under a different icon. What survives is quieter: push notifications about new episodes, an expiring Fast Pass, or a refreshed Daily Pass still land on the lock screen with the app fully limited, because App Limits block the icon, not alerts. Turn those off at Settings > Notifications > WEBTOON if the pings themselves are what's pulling you back in.
Worth knowing: WEBTOON is part of Naver, the South Korean company also behind the naver.com portal — a different kind of pull built around search, news and shopping rather than episode timers. See how to block Naver if that's a separate habit worth addressing.
Why does WEBTOON specifically keep pulling you back?
The mechanic isn't an infinite feed — a chapter is a fixed, finite thing, and most series publish once a week. What's engineered is access to it. Fast Pass spends in-app currency to unlock the next chapter early, and a Daily Pass renews on its own clock for one series at a time, free if you show up when it's ready. That trains a specific daily check-in — "did my pass refill yet" — the shape of a game's lives system, not the shape of a feed that's simply always available. That's different from Wattpad, whose pull is serialised prose with chapter cliffhangers and, in places, mature-tagged content — a different problem, even though both are reading apps.
Is blocking WEBTOON the wrong call, given it's reading?
Honestly, harder to say yes to than for a pure feed. Reading a comic isn't inherently the problem the way autoplay or infinite scroll is, and the weekly release schedule already caps things once you're caught up — a natural stopping point is built in. A blanket App Limit removes something that might be a genuinely bounded hobby.
What tips it is the pass system. Fast Pass and Daily Pass exist to manufacture a reason to open the app before the weekly drop, converting "read what's out" into "check whether my pass is ready." Losing an evening to catching up in one sitting already has an end point. Losing evenings to checking in on a schedule the app sets is what the passes erase.
Which approach actually works for WEBTOON?
| Approach | How it works | Verdict for WEBTOON |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Time App Limit (Entertainment category or app-specific) | Blocks the icon after your set time; resets at midnight | Works for casual sessions; Fast Pass and Daily Pass notifications keep pulling you back between limits |
| Downtime schedule | Blocks WEBTOON, and most apps, during set hours | Useful for "no reading past bedtime"; doesn't stop pass-driven checking during allowed hours |
| Deleting the app | Removes the icon; library and coins stay tied to your account | Effective immediately, but reinstalling and signing back in restores everything in under a minute |
| Blocking webtoons.com | Closes the full reading experience in Safari | High value here — unlike most apps' websites, this one is a complete substitute, not just an account page |
| Conditional unlock (e.g., Step N Scroll) | Keeps WEBTOON locked until a daily step goal, tracked via Apple Health, is met | Breaks the "check if my pass refreshed" habit by decoupling it from a fixed unlock time; is free for blocking and paid for the AI scans and GPS walk recording, and still needs you to be able to walk |
If the pull is losing sleep to one more chapter, how to stop scrolling in bed covers the broader pattern rather than WEBTOON's specific version of it. For every app covered here, see the full list of app guides.
What can't a Screen Time block fix?
Nothing here makes WEBTOON impossible to open — Content & Privacy Restrictions can be changed, the app can be deleted and reinstalled, and a determined reader always finds a way back in. Screen Time also can't tell the difference between reading a chapter you were already going to catch up on and reading one because a Daily Pass just refreshed. If the pattern is specifically about the pass system rather than reading itself, a limit is reasonable structural friction, but it doesn't change what the pass economy is built to do — only how easily it can reach you.
FAQ
Does an App Limit on WEBTOON also block webtoons.com in Safari?
No. An App Limit only recognizes the WEBTOON app icon, not webtoons.com, which runs the full catalogue — including Fast Pass unlocks — in a normal browser tab. Block it separately under Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content, or the website works as a complete substitute for the app.
Does my Fast Pass or Daily Pass expire if an App Limit keeps me out of WEBTOON?
That's controlled by WEBTOON's own systems, not by Screen Time. An App Limit doesn't delete a pass or reset its timer; it just keeps you from opening the app to use it. Whether an unused pass carries over or resets is WEBTOON's own timing, independent of anything Screen Time does.
Does deleting WEBTOON lose my library, coins, or reading progress?
No, as long as you're signed into your account. Purchased coins, saved series and read history are stored against your account, not the device, and come back when you reinstall and sign back in.
Can I limit WEBTOON to certain hours instead of blocking it outright?
Not cleanly. Screen Time has no single-app "only between these hours" setting. Downtime blocks most apps outside a set window, and leaving WEBTOON off the always-allowed list covers it — but it can't be given its own separate hours apart from whatever else Downtime is already restricting.
Can Step N Scroll see that I've specifically blocked WEBTOON?
No. Apple's Family Controls framework hands third-party developers opaque tokens for blocked apps, not the app's real identity. No developer in this category can see that WEBTOON specifically is what you've locked.
Does blocking WEBTOON on my phone stop new episodes from publishing?
No. Episode drops are entirely server-side, tied to WEBTOON's own weekly publishing schedule and your account, not to whether the app is currently limited on your phone. Blocking the app only controls when you're able to go read what's already out.
Sources
- Apple Support — "Set up Screen Time for yourself on iPhone"
- Apple Support — "Set content and privacy restrictions on iPhone"
- Apple Support — "Use Downtime to set time away from your screen in Screen Time on iPhone"
Step N Scroll is a habit and screen-time tool, not a medical device. Nothing here is medical advice.