💔 Why isn’t Blocking Working Correctly?

There’s a variety of reasons why Opal may be blocking in a way you do not expect. Let’s clarify those scenarios to confirm if what you’re experiencing is intentional behaviour, versus a bug! First up, please click on the scenario below if you are experiencing it:

1. Opal is Blocking Private Browsing
2. Opal is not allowing me to access Adult Content
3. Opal won’t let me block or allow more than 49 apps or websites simultaneously
4. Opal won’t let me block in a third-party browser
5. Opal won’t allow me to add an app or website to my “Add App or Website” screen

Scenario 1: Opal is blocking Private Browsing in Safari!

Private browsing features in Safari (and some third-party browsers) are disabled by default on iOS 18 when you use our Allow Only feature in a Schedule. This is intentional behaviour. If you would like to access Private Browsing, you must wait until the Schedule ends. Alternatively, to ensure that your Private Browsing features are not disabled by default during an Allow Only list in a Schedule, you may update your OS version here.

Scenario 2: Opal is not allowing me to access Adult Content!

There are a variety of scenarios in which you may be intentionally unable to access Adult Content. They include:

1. You’ve enabled the “Adult Websites” toggle within our Never Allowed feature
2. You’re currently using the Allow Only feature within a Schedule and are on iOS 18. To resolve this, update your OS.
3. You’ve intentional blocked Adult Content in your Schedule, Time Limit, or Open Limit

If you’ve confirmed that none of the scenarios above apply, it’s possible that something else is going wrong. To troubleshoot further, please follow these steps:

1. Exit Opal and navigate to your Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Store, Media, Web & Games > Web Content. Ensure that your web content filter is set to "Unrestricted”
2. If you are on iOS 26 and/or you have access to Opal Pro via a Family Sharing subscription, it's possible that you're being blocked from seeing Adult Websites due to Family Sharing restrictions that were implemented on that OS version. To gain access to Adult Websites, you'll need your Family Sharing coordinator to grant you access
3. If the two steps above do not resolve the issue, we'd recommend checking out the Safe Search Google options, as it's possible they are locked via Google

If none of the steps above resolve the issue, please contact Support.

Scenario 3: Opal won’t allow me to block or allow more than 49 apps or websites simultaneously!

Unfortunately, it is an Apple restriction that Opal is unable to restrict more than 49 apps or websites simultaneously. That said, sometimes Apple will allow these restrictions to be bypassed if you select app categories after tapping “Add App or Website” within a Schedule, Time Limit, or Open Limit. Unfortunately, this is not applied uniformly, and the Opal Support team is unable to intervene when they refuse to make an exception. We apologise for the inconvenience!

Scenario 4: Opal won’t allow me to block via a third-party browser!

How you can block a website depends on what browser you are using. On that note, it’s not always possible to block websites via third-party browsers (including Chrome, Firefox, Ecosia, etc), but you should be able to block websites on the iOS native Safari web app.

If you want to block via a third-party browser, we'd recommend setting up that block using your Allow Only option within a Schedule. That way, only the apps and sites you select will be available, and everything else will be blocked. Please note that Allow Only is an Opal Pro feature.

Scenario 5: Opal won’t allow me to add a custom app or website to my “Add App or Website” screen!

The “Add App or Website” screen is generated by Apple, and unfortunately, we're unable to amend anything that appears there on your behalf. That said, here’s how you might be able to add that app or website to your “Add App or Website” screen:

• Visit the website you'd like to add in Safari (it must be Safari so iOS will track it)
• Leave Safari running in the background for about 10 minutes with that site open
• Navigate back to Opal, and open the “App App or Website” screen
• Search for that website

Unfortunately, if that tip doesn’t work, we'd recommend setting up that block using your Allow Only option within a Schedule. That way, only the apps and sites you select will be available, and everything else will be blocked. Please note that Allow Only is an Opal Pro feature.