How to set a phone curfew on Android that actually holds
Set a schedule that blocks the distracting apps overnight, then protect it so it can’t be uninstalled without a PIN you hold. The phone still makes calls — only the apps you chose are locked, on the schedule you set.
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What a curfew has to survive
A phone curfew is not hard to agree on. It is hard to enforce, and it fails in three predictable ways.
It gets extended, because the tool offers an extend button to whoever is holding the phone. It gets switched off, because the setting that enforces it is on the same device as the person it applies to. Or the app is simply deleted, which takes about four seconds and leaves no trace anyone checks.
A curfew that holds has to close all three, and none of them are closed by picking a stricter bedtime.
Setting the schedule
A schedule is a window when your blocked apps lock themselves — a bedtime, study hours, anything recurring. You set it once and nobody has to remember to start it.
Give it a name, set the times, and pick the days. An overnight window like 21:00 to 07:00 runs past midnight and ends the next morning, and you can limit it to school nights and leave the weekend alone.
Profiles let you keep more than one of these. A strict “Bedtime” covering the feed and the games, a lighter “Homework” on weekday evenings, each with its own app list and its own way out.
Then choose how the lock ends. Hard block means PIN only — the strictest setting, and the right one for a curfew. The alternatives are a QR scan or an NFC tap, which are better suited to locks someone is setting for themselves.
Uninstall protection, so it isn't defeated in ten seconds
This is the step that separates a curfew from a suggestion. Uninstall protection uses Android’s Device Admin API — the same mechanism workplaces use on company phones — to refuse the app’s own removal until it is deactivated with the PIN.
Turn on strict mode at the same time. That puts the PIN in front of everything that would weaken the setup: editing the blocklist, shortening the cooldown, turning the service off. The app also detects when its accessibility service has been disabled and flags it, so the block cannot quietly stop working.
Then hold the PIN yourself. The whole design assumes the person setting it and the person living with it are two different people; that is what makes it work here and what makes it awkward if you tell them the number.
Leaving calls and essentials available
Blocking everything is the fastest way to lose the argument. The phone at night is also the alarm clock, the way you reach them, and the way they reach you.
Only what is on the blocklist is affected, so leave calls, messages, the clock and maps off it. Being able to point at that — the phone still works, the feed is what’s closed — is worth more than the extra strictness you gave up.
Family setup
One Pro plan covers up to five people, so a household does not need a subscription per phone. Invite members by link or QR from the family screen.
Each phone is then set up on that phone: its own blocklist, its own unlock method, its own PIN. Practically, that means doing the setup together on their device and keeping the PIN yourself.
Being straight about the ceiling: this is a deterrent built for a household that broadly agrees on the rule. It is not surveillance, it does not report on what was used, and a determined teenager on stock Android can still disable an accessibility service. If what you need is monitoring and web filtering, a parental-control suite is the right tool, not this.
The app in this guide
MassBlocker runs the curfew: scheduled windows, hard block behind a PIN you hold, uninstall protection, and one family plan for up to five people.
Related guides
- Block apps you can't uninstall — how Device Admin closes the uninstall loophole
- How to block apps on Android — permissions, blocklists and unlock methods in full
- Block apps with an NFC tag — a tap-to-unlock you can put in another room
Questions
Can they just delete it?
Not in the usual four seconds. Uninstall protection uses Android's Device Admin API to refuse removal until the PIN is entered, and strict mode puts the same PIN in front of the blocklist and the cooldown. Honest limit: on stock Android a determined teenager can still disable an accessibility service, so this is a strong deterrent, not a jail.
Will it block phone calls?
No. Only the apps you put on the blocklist are affected. Calls, messages, alarms and maps keep working, which matters if the point of the phone at night is being reachable.
Can I set different rules per person?
Each phone gets its own profiles, schedules and unlock method, set up on that phone, and one family plan covers up to five people with a master unlock code you keep. Different people can run completely different rules.
Do they need an account?
The free tier needs no account at all. A family plan does, because the subscription has to know who it covers.
Is this the same as parental controls?
No, and it is worth being clear about the difference. This blocks chosen apps behind a cooldown and a PIN. It does not filter web content, track location, or report on what was used — if that is what you need, you want a parental-control suite, not an app blocker.