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SelfControl Isn't Blocking Sites, What Do I Do?

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Charlie Stigler edited this page Jul 19, 2021 · 1 revision

This page will help you troubleshoot if SelfControl isn't blocking sites when it's supposed to.

Initial Debugging Steps

First, try:

  1. Refreshing the page
  2. Clearing your browser cache
  3. Restarting your browser

Those will fix most cases. If you're still having issues, read the relevant section below.

SelfControl Isn't Blocking Anything At All

The most likely cause for this is a VPN or proxy server that's protecting your internet traffic. These are often installed by your school or workplace, and SelfControl is not compatible with them.

Try disabling your VPN/proxy, restarting your web browser, and testing again.

SelfControl Is Blocking Some Sites, But Not Others On My List

SelfControl blocks websites based on the machine the site is hosted at, not the actual website address. Sometimes this won't work that well. You may need to add other domains and subdomains of the website (e.g. new.facebook.com in addition to facebook.com) to get it working - play around a bit and add all the relevant subdomains you can find.

If there's one particular site you just can't get working, you can report it on this issue.

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