Can You Block GIFs on a Kid’s Apple Watch?

The Gertrude Blocker iOS app was initially created to plug a glaring gap in Apple's Screen Time parental controls, introduced in iOS 17, when parents lost the ability to block #images GIF search in Messages. To this day, it is one of the only apps that allows parents and accountability partners to block these GIF searches and images.

One of the most common questions we get is whether Gertrude can also block GIF search and display on an Apple Watch. Sadly, the answer is: only partially. Apple does not let us install our internet filter on the watch itself. However, when a watch is connected to its companion iPhone running Gertrude, the blocking does work. But when the watch is using its own Wi-Fi or cellular connection, the GIF search and display are available again.

Can you block #images GIFs on an Apple Watch?

• The official tool Apple gives us that we use to block GIFs on iPhone and iPad, called a "content filter", is officially unsupported and unavailable on watchOS, including the most recent versions.
• Apple currently does not provide a setting in Screen Time or anywhere else that disables #images GIF search in Messages on Apple Watch.
• Multiple parents have reported to us that an Apple Watch connected to its companion iPhone running Gertrude does indeed block GIFs. We believe this is due to the watch using the iPhone's internet connection (complete with filtering).
• Parents have also reported that when the watch is away from the iPhone (or if it is a standalone Apple Watch set up without a companion iPhone), there is no blocking of GIFs.
• On both iPhones and Apple Watches, previously downloaded and viewed GIFs from any session remain visible and accessible for a long time, as they are stored in the device's cache. So even if a watch comes back into the range of a Gertrude-protected iPhone, already cached GIF images remain visible.

The Apple Watch parental-control trap

Parents often think that getting their child just an Apple Watch is a way to allow basic communication without the risks of a full smartphone. While this is a reasonable assumption, the lack of ability to block GIFs makes an Apple Watch considerably less safe than many parents expect. Many GIFs available in the #images iMessage app when texting are sexually suggestive or explicit and have been widely known to be a gateway towards pornography addictions for many young people.

Apple explicitly markets this setup to families under the name Apple Watch For Your Kids (formerly Family Setup). But we would fairly strongly advise against this strategy and would recommend just waiting longer to get your child a properly protected iPhone several years later. None of my kids have had an Apple Watch, and none has had an iPhone until near their 16th birthday, and when they received one, it was heavily restricted with Gertrude and Screen Time.