Short answer: Settings → Screen Time → App Limits → add TikTok. If you blow through the limit, use a Screen Time app blocker during work sessions. If you revoke Screen Time to get back in, you need a physical tag, not another app.

Block TikTok with built-in Screen Time

  1. Settings → Screen Time
  2. Enable App & Website Activity
  3. App Limits → Add Limit → TikTok
  4. Or put TikTok under Downtime so it dies at a clock time

Free. Also easy to tap “Ignore Limit.”

Block TikTok with an app blocker

iPhone blockers use the same Family Controls API. They do not need a VPN.

Hardcore Focus will hide TikTok during a focus session, on a schedule, or always. Opening it early hits the Gatekeeper instead of the For You page.

Compare tools: best iPhone app blockers (2026).

When software fails

Revoking Screen Time in Settings defeats every software blocker. That is not a Hardcore Focus bug — it is how iOS works. Can you bypass iPhone app blockers?

Same playbook for Instagram: how to block Instagram on iPhone.