Why blocking Amazon specifically
Amazon is a different problem from TikTok or Instagram. Most screen time tools treat all apps the same: cap minutes per day, notify when you hit the limit. That framing does not fit Amazon well. Many people genuinely need it -- ordering household supplies, checking a delivery status, comparing prices. The problem is not that Amazon exists on your phone. The problem is that it has been engineered specifically to collapse the gap between "I wonder if..." and "order placed."
One-click ordering removes the confirmation step that used to give you a moment to reconsider. Personalized recommendations serve you items calibrated to your past behaviour, not your considered preferences. Deal notifications create urgency ("Lightning Deal, 2 hours left") that overrides deliberation. And once a package ships, compulsive tracking opens the app several times a day for no purchasing reason -- but each session shows you more recommendations.
The honest framing: if your goal is to spend less money rather than less time, the lever you actually need is purchase friction, not a screen time cap. If your goal is both -- you are spending money and losing time to Amazon browsing -- then a combination of the two applies. The methods below are sorted for users who want to reduce impulsive purchases and compulsive checking, not for users who want Amazon off their phone entirely (though that option is here too).
Method 1: Delete the app
How: Hold the Amazon icon > Remove App > Delete App. The app is gone. You can still access Amazon via Safari at amazon.com. If you want to block the web version too, combine this with Method 3 below.
Strength: 4/10 alone. The app re-downloads in under a minute, and impulse urges last longer than a minute. The real strength of this method is the type of friction it creates: buying via a mobile browser is significantly more annoying than buying via the native app. No biometric one-click, smaller touch targets, more page loads. That friction is usually enough to stop casual impulse buys, even if it does not stop determined ones.
When to use: as a first move for anyone who impulse-buys via the app but rarely sits at a laptop. The thesis: if you have to open Safari, navigate to amazon.com, log in, find the product, and enter your card details manually, you will reconsider enough purchases to make the inconvenience worth it. If you re-download within a few days, the method is insufficient and you need to escalate.
Method 2: App Limit + Screen Time passcode
How: Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit > (uncheck all) > expand "Shopping" > check Amazon > Next > set time (5 minutes/day is enough for checking a real delivery; 1 minute if you want the limit to be nearly symbolic) > Add. Then Settings > Screen Time > Use Screen Time Passcode > set a 4-digit code. Better: ask someone you trust to set the passcode without telling you.
Strength: 2/10 without a passcode you do not know; 7/10 with one. The "Ignore Limit For Today" bypass takes two taps, which defeats the method entirely unless a passcode blocks it. A 5-minute daily limit without a passcode functions purely as a notification, not a block -- useful for awareness, not for stopping compulsive behaviour.
When to use: when you want to keep the app for legitimate needs (tracking real deliveries, reordering supplies) but cap the browsing time that bleeds into impulse spending. Set the limit low enough that you can check a tracking page but not browse deals. The passcode-held-by-someone-else version is one of the cheapest commitment devices you can set up with no money and no app.
Method 3: Block amazon.com in Safari
How: Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > (turn on) > Content Restrictions > Web Content > Limit Adult Websites. Scroll down to "Never Allow" > Add Website > type amazon.com. Repeat for smile.amazon.com if you use it. This blocks Safari. It does not block the native app if you have it installed, so combine with Method 1 (delete the app) for full coverage.
Strength: 6/10 alone; 9/10 combined with Method 1 and a Screen Time passcode you do not control. Without a passcode, you can remove the restriction yourself in under a minute. With a passcode, the block requires calling the person who knows the code, which is enough friction to stop almost all impulse buys.
When to use: when you have deleted the app (Method 1) and found yourself buying via Safari instead, which defeats the point. Adding the Safari block after app deletion closes that loophole. Note: other browsers (Chrome, Firefox) on your phone will also need the same restriction applied, or removed entirely. The Screen Time web block applies system-wide to Safari; third-party browsers have their own settings and may not respect it. Deleting those browsers or applying the same content filter closes the gap.
Method 4: Remove friction accelerators from your Amazon account
How: This method works on the Amazon account side rather than the iPhone side, and it applies even if you keep the app installed. Log in to Amazon via a desktop browser and do the following: (1) Account & Lists > Account > 1-Click Settings > turn off 1-Click ordering. (2) Account > Payment methods > remove saved credit cards, leaving only a card you check manually or a card with a low limit. (3) Turn off deal and recommendation notifications: Account > Communication preferences > Promotional emails and texts > opt out of all.
Strength: 5/10. You can re-enable any of this from the account settings, so this is friction not a block. But friction is the right tool for Amazon because you do want to be able to use it for deliberate purchases. The goal is to make unplanned purchases harder without making planned ones impossible.
When to use: always, as a baseline, before or alongside any other method. Turning off one-click and removing saved cards means every purchase requires manual card entry, which is a moment of deliberation that the default account setup eliminates. This is the cheapest and most targeted fix for the impulse-buying problem specifically. It does nothing for compulsive package-tracking, which requires a screen time or app-deletion approach.
Method 5: Add a verified-exercise consequence
How: Set a daily phone-time limit in iOS Screen Time (e.g., 60 min/day across all apps, or a tighter per-app limit on Amazon via Method 2). Install ScreenFine ($1/week subscription). When you go over your daily limit, ScreenFine charges 25 pushups per overage block. Amazon browsing minutes count toward the total. You can pause the jar at any time -- the pause is a deliberate choice, not a bypass button, so it does not collapse to pure willpower.
Strength: 8/10 for total phone time. For Amazon-specific time, this works best when Amazon is the main driver of your overage. If you spend 90 minutes per day on your phone and 40 of those are Amazon, capping total phone time at 60 minutes will effectively force a trade-off. If Amazon is a small fraction of your total and the rest is legitimate, a per-app cap (Method 2) is more targeted.
When to use: when you want a structural commitment device for phone use broadly, and the Amazon problem is part of a larger pattern rather than the only issue. The exercise consequence creates a real, dated cost for ignoring your own limit without requiring anyone else to hold a passcode. See the loss aversion guide for why small real consequences outperform larger abstract ones.
Which method should you pick?
- Impulse buying is the main problem: Method 4 (remove one-click and saved cards) first. Free, immediate, targeted. Add Method 1 (delete the app) if Method 4 alone does not hold.
- Compulsive package tracking is the main problem: Method 2 (App Limit, 5 minutes/day). The limit lets you check a real delivery without falling into deal browsing.
- Both buying and browsing are problems: Method 1 (delete app) + Method 3 (block safari) + Method 4 (remove one-click). All three together, with a Screen Time passcode you do not control.
- You need Amazon for legitimate work or household use: Do not try to block it. Use Method 4 to remove the friction accelerators, and Method 2 with a generous limit (15-20 minutes) to contain browsing. Accept that the app stays.
- Methods 1-4 have all failed: Method 5 (verified-exercise consequence via ScreenFine). Hard commitment device. The exercise cost is the mechanism, not the app itself.
The honest read: most Amazon overspending is not a self-control problem in the traditional sense. It is a design problem -- the product is deliberately built to minimize the gap between desire and purchase. Friction is the correct countermeasure. Methods that add back the friction Amazon removed (manual card entry, no one-click, mobile browser instead of native app, a deliberate laptop purchase) address the actual mechanism. Screen time caps are useful supplements but should not be the only tool, because the financial damage from a 3-minute impulse purchase is the same as from a 30-minute browsing session.