App To Block Outgoing Mac Websites

May 02, 2016  The registered version, available for a one-time payment of $10, adds notifications to the app which display prompts that make this process a lot easier. Closing Words. It is certainly inconvenient to block outbound connections by default, and that is likely the main reason why Microsoft set outbound connections to allow by default. If the Firewall Options button is disabled, first click Turn On Firewall to turn on the firewall for your Mac. Click the Add button under the list of services, then select the services or apps you want to add. After an app is added, click its up and down arrows to allow or block connections through the firewall.

One-click website blocker
  • LuLu is a great free, shared-source, macOS firewall that can block unknown outgoing connections, unless explicitly approved by the user. It runs on OSX 10.12+ and runs well on macOS Mojave. It can be configured to allow or block Apple signed binaries and has clear GUI based rule set that can be edited.
  • Jun 14, 2020  Make productivity your priority with BlockSite, the No.1 website blocker that helps you stay focused and helps to remove distractions from your life in just a few clicks! BlockSite is considered an awesome self control app to regain time control as it enables you to control your browsing content by blocking apps and sites when you need to keep focused.
  • Aug 07, 2019  The app is super easy to use, here’s a quick walk-through of how to block websites with it. Open 1Focus and click the Websites tab. Under Blocked Websites at the top, click the plus button to add one. You can also add Exceptions on the bottom right if you like. Blocked websites with 1Focus on Mac.
Use Focus to remove online distractions on demand.

The web has the capacity to be both a blessing and a curse at the same time. On the one hand, it enables us to do the work we do and access the wealth of human knowledge. On the other hand, it distracts us from our goals and can even be outright dangerous for our kids.

Naturally, the topic of limiting web access has been in discussion for decades now. How do we block websites full of porn for our kids? What does blocking websites like Facebook and YouTube mean for a modern workplace? Why do we need to restrict ourselves with website blockers to resist temptation and distractions?

All these are valid questions we’ll explore below, in addition to showing you the best ways to block websites that seem to steal your attention all day long.

Get a solution for sites blocking

Install Setapp on Mac and boost your browsing experience. Or, rather let Setapp boost it by blocking sites that distract you.

How To Block Websites On Mac

Restricting access to apps and websites has been a feature on both Windows and Macs since the early days. Surprisingly, most people aren’t even aware this is a possibility or don’t use it as it seems to be too complicated to set up.

We’ll start by tackling the flow for Parental Controls on Mac. If you’ve used a similar feature on Windows before called Family Safety, the steps would sound familiar, although there are some key differences.

Blocking websites with Parental Controls

As the name suggests, the Parental Controls feature was developed by Apple to help parents put certain restrictions on their kids, such as accessing adult websites, addictive games, endless video streams, etc.

Lately, however, it hasn’t been uncommon for employers to set Parental Controls for their employees, mostly to limit social media usage or deter them from reading news websites throughout the day.

Regardless of your intended application for Parental Controls, here’s how to set it up:

  1. Open Parental Controls from System Preferences
  2. If you have an account you want to restrict already set up, just choose it from the list. If you don’t, click to create a new user account and then Continue.
  3. Fill out all the necessary information and click Create User

Now you should see the full Parental Controls menu with tabs such as Apps, Web, Stores, Time, Privacy, and Other. Feel free to explore all of them and set the restrictions that you deem a good fit. But first, let’s walk through the most popular setups.

To limit your kids exposure to adult websites, go over to the Web tab and choose “Try to limit access to adult websites.” Click Customize to enter websites you want your kids to visit at any time or never go to at all. Similarly, if you don’t want your employees wasting time on social media, you can include any those websites here too.

If you only allow children to visit a handful of websites overall, then choose “Allow access to only these websites” and list them all in the window below using the plus button.

Mac

To limit certain apps, navigate to the Apps tab and check “Limit Applications on this Mac.” Now in the Allowed Apps window, click on the dropdown arrow and select any applications that you’re fine with kids having access to.

When you are done, simply click the padlock icon on the bottom left to lock your settings in place. If you want to ensure that over time you kids don’t find a sneaky way to go around your settings, you can infrequently monitor their logs by going into the Logs menu available on the bottom right of your Parental Controls panel.

One important mention is that if you are searching for how to block a website on Chrome or how to block website on Safari, this description above is the way to do it. Parental Controls doesn’t differentiate between browsers, so its settings will work on Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or any other browser you use.

Easily block websites without changing settings

The truth is Parental Controls are somewhat complicated. It takes a while to get all the settings just right. And every time you catch your kids coming up with a new workaround, you have to devise a way to solve that too.

And what if you share the same computer with your children? Then you need to log out and log in every time you pass the laptop to each other. Some of us just don’t need those complications and wish there was an easier way. Luckily, there is.

App To Block Outgoing Mac Websites

Meet Focus - a simple website blocker that also works for apps and even specific webpages, all right from your Mac’s menu bar.

To block out distractions in Focus:

  1. Click on the app’s icon in the menu bar > Preferences
  2. Navigate to the Blocking tab
  3. Add any websites, webpages, and applications to the list using plus icons at the bottom. You’re done!

The beauty of Focus is that it doesn’t enforce the focus mode all the time - it works in sessions, which is perfect for sharing the same computer with your kids. So when your kids are asking for some playtime, you can just click on the app’s icon and select “Focus for 25 minutes” or “Custom focus..” to set the period of time during which blocking websites will be enforced.

To prevent your kids from changing settings, just go to Preferences again and, in the General tab, check the “Hardcore mode.” For extra safety, you can also turn on the “Password mode.”

What if your kids have their own computer? Not a problem. In the Preferences window, you can choose Schedule and set the limits you desire.

Eliminate distractions to be more productive

Another major advantage of Focus over Parental Controls is that it works not only for your kids but for you too. Don’t you sometimes wish you could block websites on Mac? Turn off YouTube, eliminate Facebook, stay away from Reddit - Focus makes it easy.

Just follow the same instructions as you would for your kid: block websites and apps, set up a schedule that mirrors your work hours, and lock preferences during sessions to minimize temptation.

As we all know, it’s impossible to work undistracted for eight hours straight. In fact, small breaks throughout the day are highly beneficial to your productivity. Focus allows you to turn off the website blocker for a small amount of time in the Break mode.

The app would also delight the followers of the Pomodoro technique, which automatically lets you have a short break after an intensive focus session. You can set it up your break periods in Preferences as well.

For extra motivation, you can include a list of your favorite “go get it” phrases in the Quotes tab in the app’s preferences as well. These quotes will appear when you try to access one of the blocked websites and remind you to get back to what’s truly important.

Quickly concentrate on the task at hand

If Focus can easily solve all your problems related to blocking websites and apps that waste your time, it won’t really help you concentrate on a single task amidst your cluttered desktop and a heap of open windows. That’s where you need HazeOver. 2d cad software for mac.

HazeOver is essentially a professional screen dimmer. While it’s not a way to block websites on Mac, it’s the perfect solution for your scattered focus. What this app does is highlighting the currently active window and dimming the rest of the screen, including notifications and other apps.

Even though HazeOver is simple in its application, it allows you to fine-tune every single setting to suit your needs. By going to its preferences from the menu bar icon, you can set how strong the dimming effect is, whitelist apps you don’t want dimmed, which is useful when you work with two windows at the same time, and configure how the apps will work on two or more displays.

As a bonus, HazeOver is perfect for working at night, as it only lets the light from the active app window to go through instead of overwhelming you with an ocean of blue light, which will make it harder to fall asleep later on. Similarly, watching a movie in the evening is so much more pleasant when HazeOver is there to dim everything around the video app.

Use the right website blocker at the right time

Overall, if you’ve used to tinker with all the complex settings in Family Safety on Windows or simply like the granular level of control, using Parental Controls is certainly an option.

For the rest of us, using Focus + HazeOver presents a much more flexible solution - one that can protect our kids and not let us slack off at the same time.

A bundle of apps for free

Block outgoing number

Every app mentioned above is a part of Setapp. By downloading one, you get access to everything you need to improve browsing.

Best of all, both Focus and HazeOver are available on Setapp, a platform of over 150 highly acclaimed tools, utilities, and apps for your Mac. Sign up to become a Setapp member and try Focus, HazeOver, and all other apps from its catalogue for free during your trial period. In the meantime, how to block websites on Mac should no longer be a pressing issue.

When you want to make sure that inappropriate websites aren’t accessed on your Mac, you have a few different ways to do it. Whether you have young children who share your Mac or a visitor that’s using it as a guest, you can easily block sites you don’t approve of.

In addition to blocking unsuitable websites, you might be interested in blocking sites that tempt you to play instead of work.

Here are three simple ways to block websites on Mac.

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  • 4 Are you ready to block those websites on Mac?

How to block websites using Parental Controls

If you have children, setting up Parental Controls on a shared Mac is the easiest way to keep your kids away from sites and apps they shouldn’t see or touch.

To block websites using Parental Controls, just follow these steps.

  1. Open your System Preferences from either the button in your Dock or by clicking Apple icon > System Preferences from the menu bar.
  2. Select Parental Controls.
  3. Click the lock button on the bottom left, enter your Mac user password, and click Unlock.
  4. If you have not turned on controls for a particular user, select them from the left and then click Enable Parental Controls. For additional help with the other Parental Control settings, check out our helpful guide.
  5. On the next screen, click the Web tab at the top.
  6. You’ll see that you have three options. The middle option is the one that allows you to block specific websites by URL. So, mark the radio button for Try to limit access to adult websites.
  1. Click the Customize.
  2. Below the section titled Never allow these websites, click the plus button and enter the URL for the site you want to block. Continue this process to add more sites to the list.
  3. When you finish, click OK.

Block Outgoing Calls On Iphone

How to block websites using Terminal

If you’re comfortable with using Terminal on your Mac for various commands, you can also set up a website block list with it. Just follow these steps.

  1. Open Terminal with Applications > Utilities from your Dock or with Finder open click Go > Utilities from the menu bar and choose Terminal.
  2. Copy and paste or type the command below and then hit Return.
  1. Enter your Mac user password and hit Return.
  1. Go to the bottom using your arrow key and type: 127.0.0.1 followed by a space and then the website you want to block. Hit Return. List each site on a separate line. (See screenshot below.)
  2. Press Control + O (capital letter O) and hit Return to save.
  3. Press Control + X to close nano.
  4. Close the Terminal window.

Now when you open a browser and go to one of the sites you listed in Terminal, you should be blocked from accessing it.

How to block websites using 1Focus

You can search the Mac App Store for a third-party app to help you block websites, but one recommendation is an app called 1Focus.

This is a perfect app for those situations where you want to make sure your mind and your eyes are focused on your work and not hitting up a social media or gaming website. The app is super easy to use, here’s a quick walk-through of how to block websites with it.

  1. Open 1Focus and click the Websites tab.
  2. Under Blocked Websites at the top, click the plus button to add one. You can also add Exceptions on the bottom right if you like.

App To Block Outgoing Mac Websites Free

Next, set up a schedule for when and how long you want to block the websites.

Block Outgoing Number

  1. Click the Schedule tab at the top.
  2. Click the plus button to add a time block in hours and minutes. You can also start a time block immediately by filling in the hours and minutes under Quick Start and then clicking the Schedule Blocking button.

When you or someone else tries to access a blocked website, they will see with a nifty quote instead of that website.

App To Block Outgoing Mac Websites Email

1Focus also gives you the ability to block categories like dating or gambling and set a repeating schedule daily or on specific days with an in-app purchase.

1Focus currently works with Safari, Chrome, and Opera. It’s available on the App Store for free with an in-app subscription purchase option for the additional features.

Are you ready to block those websites on Mac?

Each of these ways to block websites on Mac is easy and effective. You can make sure that sites you want to keep away from your children or those you want to remove from temptation as you work will be blocked.

Block Outgoing Phone Call

Will you try one of these methods to block websites on your Mac? Let us know which one you choose and how it works for you in the comments below!

Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a project manager, department manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time. Sandy holds a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.

She loves technology– specifically – terrific games and apps for iOS, software that makes your life easier, and productivity tools that you can use every day, in both work and home environments.

Mac App To Block Websites

Her articles have regularly been featured at MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog and many other leading tech publications.

App To Block Outgoing Mac Websites Download

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