How to block image and video search on Android
Search engines are the front door. You do not need to find a site when the image tab shows you the same thing in a grid, and SafeSearch is one toggle away from being off. Blocking image and video search closes that door properly.
Why SafeSearch is not enough
SafeSearch is a preference on one engine, in one browser profile. It can be turned off in seconds, it does not follow you to a different engine, and it is filtering rather than blocking, so it misses plenty on its own.
Blocking the image and video surfaces instead is blunter and much harder to undo, because it is enforced by the blocker rather than requested from the search engine.
Switch it on
The switch is on the Blocking tab, in the Content Blocking card, next to Block adult content.
- Install Blockerflow and complete setup, including the Accessibility Service permission.
- Stay on the Blocking tab, the screen the app opens on.
- In the Content Blocking card, switch on Block image & video search.
What it covers
Google is covered through its image and video search addresses, including the modern result tabs and the older image home page. Bing image and video search are covered, as are the image and video modes of DuckDuckGo, and the image and video search of Yahoo and Yandex.
Ordinary web search carries on working. Only the image and video surfaces are blocked, so you can still look things up. When one is blocked you get the Content Blocked screen saying Image and video search is blocked.
The other half of search protection
Blocking the image tab does not help if the query itself is the problem, so Blockerflow scores search queries separately whenever Block adult content is on. Explicit searches are stopped on the major engines, with deliberate protection for health and education wording so a genuine medical question is not caught by a word that happens to overlap.
The two work together: query scoring handles what you type, and this switch handles the surface that would show it as a grid of thumbnails.
Close the browser loophole
None of this matters if you can open a browser the blocker cannot read. Chrome and Firefox are confirmed to work. Everything else is blocked outright while Block unsupported browsers is on in the Advanced Blocking card, which is where the real protection against a second browser comes from. Leave it on.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still use normal web search?
Yes. Only image and video search are blocked. Ordinary web results keep working.
Which search engines are covered?
Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo and Yandex, in a supported browser.
Will it block medical or health searches?
Query scoring deliberately protects health and education wording, so a genuine medical search is not caught by an overlapping word.
Try Blockerflow
Block adult content and distracting feeds on Android, with an accountability system behind it.