How to block X at night on your iPhone (formerly Twitter)

X (formerly Twitter) is the app people describe as impossible to leave when the news is bad. One post leads to a quote post, which leads to a reply thread, which leads to a video that started playing on its own. If your bedtime keeps sliding, the useful move is to block X at night so the app is simply shut when you get into bed.

A night block is a rule you set in advance that closes chosen apps for a window of hours around sleep. It is not a daily limit. A limit counts minutes and runs out whenever it runs out, which is often exactly when you least want it to.

Why doomscrolling news at night is so hard to stop

Two things in the design of X work against you after dark.

The first is the recommendation engine. X says that when it identifies a post, an account to follow, or other content that is popular or relevant, it may add it to your timeline, and that it shares those recommendations through push notifications, your Notifications tab and your For you timeline.¹ In other words, the push notification on your Lock Screen at midnight does not have to be from anyone you follow.

The second is movement. X says that in timelines, Moments, the Explore tab and across X, native videos and GIFs will autoplay.² A still page is easy to close. A page that is already moving is not.

How to block X at night on iPhone with Screen Time

Start with Apple's built in tool, because it is free and it is already on your phone. In iOS 27, Apple describes Schedules as setting when during the day you can use your apps, and Time Allowances as setting 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 and tap the days of the week you want to cover.³
4. Tap the Time Window, rename it Night, then set the start and stop times around your bedtime.³
5. Choose which Time Allowance categories stay available inside that window, and leave the category X sits in out of it.
6. Open Always Allowed. Apple lets you choose apps and contacts that work at all times regardless of any schedule or allowance, so your alarm, Phone and close family stay reachable.³

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

On iOS 26, it is called Downtime

Same idea, older names. Go to Settings, tap Screen Time, tap App and Website Activity and turn it on, then tap Downtime and tap Scheduled. Choose Every Day or Customize Days and set your start and end times.⁴ Daily limits live under App Limits on that version.⁴

If your limits keep collapsing at 11pm, that setting is usually the reason. We unpack it in why Screen Time limits stop working.

Change two settings inside X while you are there

A block holds better when the app is less magnetic in the first place. Both of these are documented by X.

• Stop video autoplay. In the X app for iOS, go to Settings and privacy, tap Data usage under Accessibility, display, and languages, then tap Video autoplay and choose Never.² X notes these settings are separate on x.com and in the app, so change both if you use both.²
• Sit on Following instead of For you. X says you can switch between the tabs, that Following shows posts only from accounts you follow, and that when you close X you return to whichever timeline you had open last.¹

Neither of these blocks anything. They just remove some of the pull.

Add Sleep Focus so notifications go quiet too

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 set a wind down period from 15 minutes to 3 hours before your bedtime, and Apple says the Sleep Focus starts at the beginning of that wind down.⁵ Start your X block at the same moment and the phone gets quiet and closed together.

Why a night block beats a daily limit

A daily limit treats every hour as the same. It is not. The 30 minutes you spend on X at 8am costs you almost nothing. The 30 minutes at 12.40am costs you a morning.

The night block also removes the negotiation. You are not deciding whether to stop while tired and halfway through a thread. You decided weeks ago. If the habit runs deeper than timing, read how to stop doomscrolling and bedtime procrastination.

Where SETL fits

SETL is an iPhone app blocker built bedtime first. You set your bedtime once, pick your apps, and they are blocked automatically every night, with SETL Plans for the nights you know will be different. It is built on Apple's Screen Time framework, so Apple gives SETL private tokens and SETL never learns which apps you chose. See the SETL Sleep bedtime app blocker page, or our broader app blocker for iPhone 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.