[PLANNED] Block Custom Domains, For Apps That Are Not On the List

Feedback šŸ’”
#1

I have a set of apps that donā€™t appear on the blocking app chooser page, and I would like to block these apps too. I found šŸ”„ [Completed, V3.0] Add my own Website and Apps - #13 by Opal , but my other apps page just turns black as soon as I select it. There are no buttons for me to choose what I should do next. Is there anything i can do to block an app that I want to ?

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Website Blocking Will Now Work On Any Browser {v.3.8}
ā€˜Otherā€™ app category not working
#2

wanted to add an additional comment: I was able to block the app by not selecting it on the allowlist, but I still canā€™t find the app on the blocklist. I am not sure how Opal works in the background, but surely there should be a way to select an app/add your own domains to block

#3

Thank you for the report @opalInTheBronx , and Iā€™m sorry youā€™re experiencing this issue.

The way it works is that Apple controls the page youā€™re seeing where you select Apps and Websites to block. We donā€™t have visibility on what shows up there - it should be all apps you have on your phone and websites you visited recently. Sometimes they are organized in a category which is surprising (for example FaceTime may be in the Social category). Have you looked through all categories?

Iā€™m glad Whitelist is working for you however.

#4

Thank you @here for reporting this issue. Thanks to you we have 2 updates:

  1. We added some clarifications to our FAQ page at this link about What websites and apps are currently included in the list your can chose from
  2. We are working on a new feature that will allow you to add custom domains to block across all browsers, regardless of wether they are included in Appleā€™s generated list or not. Updates will be made to this thread.
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#5

I have a simple use case - Iā€™d like to block the Reddit app as well as reddit.com.

Blocking the Reddit app is easy with the new Opal! However, the list of websites available to be blocked seems totally random, and only occasionally includes reddit. I had it successfully blocking reddit until a day ago, but then the option to block reddit disappeared.

I know Opal is capable of blocking reddit.com. What can I do to just manually add the website to block myself instead of waiting for it to arbitrarily show up?

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#6

Thanks for the feedback - havenā€™t seen a URL disappear from the list yet, that must be very frustrating. This list is generated by Apple 's Screen Time, and we (Opal) do not have control over what is included.

However, can we add our own blocking method outside of Appleā€™s list - which we are working on in this thread. That is why I added your feedback here.

#7

Hi there, I linked here from ā€˜Otherā€™ app category not working - #2 by lilpit, which was merged into this thread. I too am looking to whitelist specific web sites that end up inside of the inaccessible ā€œOtherā€ category.

Will the work mentioned in this thread also apply to web sites for the white list (that arenā€™t in Appleā€™s Other list)? Or will it only apply to blacklists? Thank you.

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#8

Good question, it will only apply to blocklist and not whitelist.

#9

Can I request that it be added to whitelist as well? It would be really useful for a device that needs to be locked down except, for example, a handful of specific web sites and apps.