Best Porn Blocker? I Could Turn Mine Off Anytime, And I Always Did
If you're looking for the best porn blocker, I'm guessing it's the day after. You feel ashamed, you promised yourself "never again", and you know you've been stuck in the same loop for years.
I know that day very well. I tried porn blocker after porn blocker, and I turned off every single one. Here's why, and here's the setup I finally found: 6 months, zero relapse.
Why I started looking for a porn blocker
Porn at 13.
Brain fog and anxiety at 20.
Then the worst week of my life. A girl I really liked. And me, unable to get an erection. 7 tries in a few days. 7 fails.
I broke up with her myself. Too ashamed to say why, so I made up another reason.
That's when I started looking for a porn blocker. I wasn't the only one: on Reddit, I found guys writing "got dumped by my girlfriend because of porn, any recommendations for porn blockers?". Different ending, same problem.
The porn blockers I tried (and how I got around every one)
- The iPhone's built-in blocker (Screen Time, "Limit Adult Websites"): I chose the passcode myself. So I knew it. So I typed it.
- Browser extensions like StayFocusd: I disabled them in 2 clicks.
- Blocking Twitter: I ended up on Nitter, a copy of Twitter. Same feed, different address.
Every time, I knew it was bad for me. And every time, I turned it off anyway.
(If you just want the settings, here's how to block porn sites on your phone and PC, step by step. Then come back: the settings alone weren't enough for me.)
A porn blocker you can turn off isn't a blocker. It's a question you answer at your weakest moment.
Why most porn blocker apps fail
It's not the app. It's that you hold the key.
Look at what people type into Google: "how to disable app blocker", "how to disable app blocker on Android". Those searches aren't from hackers. They're from guys like me, in the middle of an urge, trying to turn off the blocker they installed that same afternoon.
You wouldn't tell a drug addict to "just say no". So why does everyone tell porn addicts to use their willpower? When porn is one tap away, willpower loses. Every time.
How to test any porn blocker in 30 seconds
Before you trust a porn blocker, ask yourself these 3 questions:
- Can I turn it off in less than 10 seconds?
- Can I get around it with another browser, another app, a private window or a copy of the site?
- Does it only block websites, or also apps, videos and feeds?
If the answer to any of them is yes, you'll find the way out. I always did.
The question that changed everything
After years of turning blockers off, I was exhausted. So I asked myself one question:
What's the dumbest way to make sure I never watch porn again?
The answer was obvious: stop looking for a better blocker. Find one that I can't turn off.
What makes a porn blocker impossible to bypass
It took me months of tests to find the right setup. I made two mistakes you can skip:
- Too strict → I blocked even what I needed for real life. A few days later, I loosened it. A few days after that, I was back on porn.
- Too loose → one tiny door stayed open. Guess who found it.
The setup that finally worked has 4 rules:
- A delay before you can turn it off. The urge passes. The delay doesn't.
- It blocks apps, websites and videos, not just a list of porn sites.
- It's on your phone and your computer. One open device is enough to relapse.
- You keep everything you need: messages, Google searches, work. That's what stops you from loosening it.
Most blockers can be switched off in a minute. This one can't. That's why I call it a digital straitjacket.
Knowing the 4 rules is one thing. Setting them up without locking yourself out of your own life is another. My first setup failed because of one mistake almost everyone makes. I show it, and the fix, in Step 2.
The best porn blocker for me: the one I use now
I left my iPhone for an Android phone, because an iPhone can't lock you out of itself without someone else holding the passcode. On Android, my blocker covers apps, websites and even videos, with a delay before anything can be turned off. It also runs on my computer.
And my social apps lost their feed: no stories, no endless videos. I can still message my friends and search on purpose. I just can't fall into the scroll anymore.
Which blocker, and how I set it up so it holds without driving me crazy? That's Step 2 of my method.
6 months later? Zero porn. Not once.
Porn is rarely the only trap. Here's why quitting porn alone often turns into scrolling.
If scrolling is your problem too, here's the best app blocker for Android, and the 5-question test.
Porn blocker or accountability app?
A porn blocker stops you. An accountability app tells on you. I wanted the first one.
Accountability apps send a report of what you watched to a friend, a partner or a mentor. The idea is that shame will keep you clean. Shame never stopped me. I felt ashamed after every relapse, and I still went back.
There's also a practical problem: a report arrives after the damage. By the time your friend reads it, you've already relapsed. A lock works before.
And it puts someone else in charge of your recovery. You end up hiding from them instead of fixing the problem. I wanted to beat this alone, with nobody watching over my shoulder. A lock does that. A report doesn't.
Is a free porn blocker enough?
Price doesn't decide if it works. The off switch does.
A free blocker you can't turn off in a weak moment beats a paid one with a pause button. Before you compare prices, ask one thing: in a weak moment, can I get past this in under a minute? If yes, keep looking.
Signs your porn blocker is too weak
- You've turned it off at least once "just to check something".
- You know exactly which browser or app gets around it.
- It's only on your phone, and your laptop is wide open.
- You feel relieved, not annoyed, when it's "accidentally" off.
If one of these is true, your blocker isn't a lock. It's a reminder you've learned to ignore.
What happened in the first days
Here's the part nobody tells you: when I turned it on, I felt almost nothing. No big withdrawal. Mostly, I was bored.
And bored → I texted my friends. Then I went out with them. A lot, a lot more.
Then the rest followed:
- My anxiety attacks are gone.
- No more fog when I wake up.
- I go to the gym every week. I gained 10 kg.
- Morning erections came back. When I watched porn, they were gone.
This setup cost me months of mistakes. You can make the same mistakes. Or you can skip them.
I'm installing this exact setup with a handful of guys, 1 on 1, for free. If your phone is an Android, grab a spot below.