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A porn blocker for students that doesn't break school Wi-Fi

Last updated November 2, 2026

Fullstop is a free porn blocker for your Mac that doesn't break school. It never touches your Wi-Fi or DNS settings, so campus Wi-Fi sign-in works. It allows your school's VPN and exam browsers like Respondus LockDown Browser, and it never blocks .edu sites. What it does block, it blocks for real: your admin access goes behind a 3-day wait. Urges don't last 3 days, so you don't even try.

Why most porn blockers break school Wi-Fi

If you've ever installed a blocker and then sat in the library looking at "connected, no internet," this is why.

When you join campus Wi-Fi, guest Wi-Fi or dorm Wi-Fi, the network first sends you to a sign-in page. To do that, it has to answer your Mac's first lookups itself. A lot of porn blockers work by forcing your Mac to send every lookup to a filtering service somewhere else instead (Cloudflare for Families, CleanBrowsing, OpenDNS and so on). Many school networks don't let those through until you've signed in, and some never let them through at all. So the sign-in page never loads, and you're stuck.

It's not just Wi-Fi. Blockers break school in four ways:

• Wi-Fi sign-in. A forced DNS filter fights the network's sign-in page, so you can't get online.
• The school VPN. A good blocker has to block VPNs, because a VPN skips every blocklist. But you need your school's VPN for library databases, journals and course software off campus. A blocker that kills every VPN kills that one too. Blockers that filter through a VPN of their own clash with it as well, because usually only one VPN can be on at a time.
• Online exams. Respondus LockDown Browser is, technically, another browser. A blocker that closes every other browser closes your exam.
• Class software. MATLAB, Office, Zoom and the rest need an administrator to install and update. Take admin away carelessly and you can't install what your class needs.

What happened to me

I'm an addict, and I'm a student. I went through every one of these.

My first real setup forced my Mac's DNS onto a filter, with a background guard that put it back whenever I changed it. At home it worked. On campus, the Wi-Fi sign-in page wouldn't load. Connected, no internet, and I had class.

So I wrote myself a little "pause" script that switched the filter off so I could get online, and a "resume" script to switch it back on afterwards. Read that again: I'd built a blocker with an off switch, and I was using it every day. Some days I ran resume. Some nights I didn't.

Then it was the school VPN. I'd blocked VPNs, because a VPN gets around everything, but I needed my university's VPN to get into the library from home. Then it was an exam in LockDown Browser. Then it was a class app that needed an admin to install.

Every time the blocker got in the way of school, I got a perfectly good reason to turn it off. And once it's off for a good reason, it's off at 1 a.m. too. That's the real problem: a blocker that breaks school gets switched off, and a switched-off blocker doesn't block anything.

So when I built Fullstop, school had to work on day one, with no off switch anywhere.

How Fullstop keeps school working

Is your school's VPN or website not on .edu? Lots of schools outside the US use addresses like .ac.uk. Tell us and we'll look at adding it.

Why students relapse at 1 a.m.

You're on your own laptop, in your own room, usually alone, with nobody checking. There's an exam you're avoiding or an essay due at 9. It's late, you're stressed and tired, and the urge shows up.

Here's what I worked out: time is what cures this. The urge feels like it'll last forever, but it doesn't. If you can wait it out, it goes away, and you're fine. The problem is that when the urge is that strong, none of us has the patience to wait. The off switch is right there, and it's faster than waiting.

So Fullstop makes time the deterrent. Every way off, whether that's uninstalling it, unblocking a site or getting your admin access back, takes 3 days. You're not going to wait 3 days to goon. You know it, and so does your brain. So you don't even attempt it. And by the time those 3 days could be up, the urge is long gone.

Built for a student budget

It's free. There's no account, no card and no trial that runs out. Most blockers that actually hold cost money every month, and students shouldn't have to pay to stay clean. If a paid plan ever comes, unlocking your Mac will never depend on paying.

Set it up before the semester gets busy

1. Clear out your stash first. Fullstop blocks sites, not files you already have. Delete anything saved on your Mac, on external drives and USB sticks, and in Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox and your school OneDrive. Then empty the Trash.
2. Install the class software you need now. Install anything for your classes before setup, while you still have admin. After setup, approved apps like MATLAB and Office still install from the Admin tasks button. Anything else waits 3 days.
3. Install Fullstop on a good day. It takes a few minutes. Your account becomes a standard user. Your files, apps and login password stay the same.
4. Go to class. Wi-Fi, the school VPN, LockDown Browser and your school's sites keep working. Everything else stays blocked, and the only way out is 3 days away.

What it doesn't cover

• Your phone. Fullstop only protects this Mac. It doesn't cover your phone or other computers.
• Files you already have. That's why deleting your stash is step one.
• Erasing the whole Mac. Wiping the disk removes Fullstop along with everything else on it.
• Posts inside open sites. YouTube and Instagram stay open and aren't filtered inside.
• Older Macs. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with FileVault turned on.

Questions students ask