How to block Reddit at night on your iPhone

Reddit does not finish. There is always one more comment, one more reply under that comment, one more community you have never opened. If that is where your last hour goes, the fix is not more willpower at midnight. It is a rule you set in daylight.

This guide shows you how to block Reddit at night on an iPhone. A night block is a rule you set once, in advance, that closes chosen apps for a window of hours around sleep. It is not the same as a daily limit, which counts minutes and runs out whenever it happens to run out.

Why is Reddit so hard to put down in bed?

Some of it is the feed. Some of it is what Reddit sends you while you are already lying down.

Reddit's help pages describe a notification type called trending notifications. In Reddit's own words, they are notifications you get about popular posts from communities you have recently visited. Reddit also says you cannot switch trending notifications off for one specific community: you can only turn them off completely.¹

Read that again, because it is the design detail that matters at night. The app watches where you have been browsing, then uses it to pull you back. At 11pm, one tap on a notification is rarely one tap.

Reddit also says how long a notification stays available depends on its type, ranging from 1 to 365 days, and that most disappear after 7 days.² Nothing is actually urgent. It just feels urgent when you are tired.

How to block Reddit at night on iPhone with Screen Time

Apple's built in tool is free and it is the first thing to try. In iOS 27, Apple describes Schedules as a way to set when during the day you can use your apps, and Time Allowances as a way to set how long.³

1. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap Screen Time, tap Screen Time Schedule, then turn on Schedule.³
3. Tap Add Schedule, then tap the days of the week you want the schedule to cover.³
4. Tap the Time Window, rename it something like Night, and set the start and stop times to cover your bedtime hours.³
5. Choose which Time Allowance categories stay available in that window. Leave the category Reddit sits in out of it.
6. Check Always Allowed. Apple lets you pick apps and contacts that work at all times regardless of any schedule or allowance, which is where your alarm, phone and family should live.³

Apple notes that Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances need iOS 27 or later across your Apple devices.³

If you are still on iOS 26

The same two ideas were called Downtime and App Limits. Go to Settings, tap Screen Time, tap App and Website Activity and turn it on, then tap Downtime and tap Scheduled. Pick Every Day or Customize Days, then set the start and end times.⁴

If your limits keep folding, that one toggle is usually why. We go deeper into that in why Screen Time limits stop working.

Turn off the nudges inside Reddit

A block on the app is stronger if the app stops tapping you on the shoulder. Reddit documents both of these on its own help pages.

• Open your Notifications Settings in the Reddit app and choose which notification types you want to receive.²
• Turn trending notifications off. Reddit is clear that this is all or nothing, so if you want them gone at night, they are gone in the day too.¹

This does not stop you opening Reddit. It stops Reddit opening you.

Let Sleep Focus do the quiet half

Apple's Health app lets you schedule regular bedtimes and wake up times. Apple says a Sleep Focus helps reduce distractions before and during bedtime, for example by filtering out notifications and phone calls.⁵

You can also set a wind down period from 15 minutes to 3 hours before your bedtime, and Apple says your Sleep Focus begins at the start of that wind down time.⁵ Line the start of your wind down up with the start of your Reddit block and the two work as one.

Why a night block beats a daily Reddit limit

Daily limits fail at night for a simple reason. The minutes you have left are the minutes you spend in the worst possible hour.

A limit asks you to ration. A schedule asks you to decide once. If Reddit doomscrolling is mostly a night problem, treat it as a night problem. Our guide on how to stop doomscrolling covers the habit side, and how to stop scrolling in bed covers the bedroom setup.

Where SETL fits

SETL is an iPhone app blocker built bedtime first. You set your bedtime once and your chosen apps, Reddit included, are blocked automatically every night, so there is no schedule to rebuild each week. It runs on Apple's Screen Time framework, which means Apple hands SETL private tokens and SETL never learns which apps you picked. You can read how it works on the SETL Sleep bedtime app blocker page, or compare it with Apple's own tools on our Apple Screen Time alternative page. SETL is on a waitlist ahead of launch.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Speak to your doctor about ongoing sleep, attention or mental health concerns.