How to block Grubhub on iPhone (and stop the cravings)

Grubhub is the delivery app people forget to block. DoorDash and Uber Eats get the attention, and Grubhub sits there with your card saved, a Seamless twin on the next screen, and a "free delivery" pitch that makes caving feel cheap. To block it on iPhone in a way that survives a Friday night, think in doors, not apps: delete both apps and sign out of the site, put a Screen Time limit behind a passcode you do not know, and turn off installs so nothing comes back at 10 pm. The mechanics are the same as in our Uber Eats guide; the leaks are Grubhub's own, and this guide ends with the part the others skip, the craving that opened the app.

Why deleting Grubhub doesn't work on its own

Deleting the app removes the icon, the notifications and the reorder button in one move, and on a calm Tuesday that is genuinely enough. The problem is the other nights. Reinstalling takes seconds, your card and address are still in the account, and grubhub.com in Safari logs you straight back in. Grubhub adds two leaks the other apps do not have. The first is Seamless: same company, same account, same restaurants, different icon. Delete Grubhub, keep Seamless, and you have blocked nothing. The second is the price of caving: a Grubhub+ subscription takes the delivery fee off the order, so the thing you are trying not to do costs less than it used to. Neither leak is fixed by willpower. The barrier has to be something you cannot undo in the two minutes a craving lasts, which is what the three methods below build.

Method 1: delete Grubhub and Seamless, then sign out of grubhub.com

Start here because it is free and it works on the easy days. Before you delete anything, open your account inside the app and remove the saved card, so a reinstall does not land on a ready-to-pay checkout. Then press and hold the Grubhub icon, tap Remove App, then Delete App, and do exactly the same for Seamless. Now close the browser door: open grubhub.com in Safari, sign out, and if Safari offers to save or autofill the password, decline. If you order through the Seamless site, sign out of that too; it is the same login. The aim is not to make ordering impossible. It is to make sure that at 10 pm the path to checkout has four or five extra steps in it, and each step gives the craving a chance to pass, which is the whole logic of stopping delivery orders without relying on willpower.

Treat this as step one, never the whole plan. It leaks exactly the way described above, which is why the next two methods exist.

Method 2: Screen Time app limit with someone else's passcode

This is Apple's built-in tool, and it takes two minutes:

• Open Settings → Screen Time and make sure it is turned on.
• Tap App Limits → Add Limit.
• Open the Food & Drink category and select Grubhub and Seamless, plus any other delivery app while you are there.
• Set the limit to 1 minute, the minimum, and tap Add.
• Turn on Block at End of Limit, otherwise the block is a polite suggestion.

Now the honest part. When the minute runs out, the block screen offers an Ignore Limit button: one more minute, remind me in 15, or ignore for today. You can hide it behind a Screen Time passcode, but if you set that passcode you know it, and four digits are not friction for a brain that wants pad thai. The fix is simple and slightly humbling: set the passcode in Settings → Screen Time and let a partner, a flatmate or a friend choose the digits without telling you. The limit now belongs to the calm version of you plus one person who is not craving anything. If nobody is around to hold the code, that is the gap a blocker with a commitment lock fills, and the DoorDash guide covers that option.

Method 3: block reinstalling with Content & Privacy Restrictions

Methods 1 and 2 leave the App Store open. A deleted app is one search away, and a Screen Time limit can be edited by anyone who knows the passcode. iOS has a switch for this door and almost nobody uses it. Go to Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions, turn the restrictions on, open iTunes & App Store Purchases → Installing Apps and set it to Don't Allow. From now on the App Store installs nothing, Grubhub and Seamless included, until that setting is flipped back, and flipping it back needs the Screen Time passcode someone else chose.

Two things to know. It blocks every install, so on the day you need a new app you ask your passcode holder, install it, and turn the restriction back on. And while you are in Content & Privacy Restrictions, close the Safari door properly: Content Restrictions → Web Content, then add grubhub.com and seamless.com under Never Allow. Delete, limit, block installs, block the sites: that is the full set, and the delete-reinstall loop has nowhere left to run.

Stop Grubhub notifications and promo emails

A "$0 delivery tonight" notification at 8 pm is the habit knocking, and you are at checkout before the craving has had to make its case. If you delete the app, the notifications go with it. If you are keeping it installed for now, silence it: open Settings → Notifications, find Grubhub and switch Allow Notifications off, then do the same for Seamless. That handles the phone.

Email does not care whether the app is installed. Open the next Grubhub promotional email, scroll to the bottom and use the unsubscribe link; it takes a few clicks and removes a cue that would otherwise land in your inbox for years. Do it once more for Seamless if you get both.

Should you delete your Grubhub account?

It is an option, and for some people the right one: no account means no saved card, no saved address and no one-tap history on any device. You can request it from your account settings or through Grubhub's help pages, and because Seamless runs on the same account, one deletion closes both. Two things first. If you have a Grubhub+ subscription, cancel it too. And be honest about what a deletion buys you: an account you can recreate in a minute is a stronger version of deleting the app, useful because it adds steps, not because it makes ordering impossible. If you are quitting delivery for good, it is a clean line to draw. If you are cutting back, the three methods above give you a block you can lift on purpose later, which is usually the better fit.

Stop the cravings: what to do the first night you want to order anyway

The block holds. The craving does not care, and blocking the app without a plan for the craving is how people end up in a different app a week later. So have a move ready. First, find out what the craving actually is: the free what am I craving quiz takes a minute and sorts tonight into hunger, tiredness, stress, habit or boredom, because the fix is different for each. If it is hunger, eat the backup meal you planned, and if you did not plan one, eggs on toast beats a forty-minute wait for a bag. If it is habit, tell yourself you can still order in ten minutes, then change your state: leave the room, drink water, shower, put the phone somewhere else. Evening urges stack tiredness, hunger and a familiar cue on top of each other, which is why fast food cravings hit hardest at night. A single craving builds, peaks and passes in a few minutes whether or not you feed it, and the first nights are the loudest. Every one you get through makes the reflex quieter. If you do order, one order is not a relapse; here is what to do in the next hour.

FAQ

Can I block Grubhub without deleting it?

Yes. Set a Screen Time app limit of 1 minute on Grubhub (and Seamless) with Block at End of Limit turned on, and add grubhub.com under Never Allow in Web Content. The catch is the Ignore Limit button, which you can always press if you know the Screen Time passcode, so let someone else choose it.

Does Screen Time block the Grubhub website?

Not by default. App Limits only cover the app, and grubhub.com works fine from Safari with the same login. To close that door, go to Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content and add grubhub.com and seamless.com under Never Allow.

How do I stop Grubhub notifications?

Open Settings → Notifications, find Grubhub and switch Allow Notifications off, then do the same for Seamless. Deleting the app removes them too. For promo emails, open one and use the unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Is Seamless the same as Grubhub? Do I need to block both?

Yes on both counts. Seamless is owned by Grubhub and runs on the same account and the same restaurants, so a block that only covers Grubhub leaves a working copy on your phone. Select both in the Screen Time limit, delete both, and add both websites under Never Allow.