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What does the Shield tab show?

Updated September 2026

The Shield tab is the state of your protection in two tiles: WEB for the web shield and APPS for the apps you sealed, each with one word and one line under it. Under them, More protection carries the app deletion lock, the Games category switch and a door to the layers Fold'em cannot install for you. Tapping a tile opens its sheet, which is where you add. It is a page for reading and adding, never for removing: nothing on it takes protection off.

The two tiles

WEB and APPS sit side by side because they are the two enforcement layers, and each is drawn from one reading rather than assembled from scattered state. The APPS tile shows a number and "Apps blocked". The WEB tile shows a word and a line, and the pair of them is the whole answer to whether protection is holding.

The web tile has six readings and each says something different:

  • On, "Sites never load". The resolver is answering.
  • Off, "Sites load normally". The DNS setting is not enabled.
  • Standing by, "Another VPN in front". Something else answers DNS first, so the shield is never asked.
  • Unconfirmed, "Last check unanswered". The probe did not come back; the shield is likely still holding.
  • Unknown, "Could not read". The status could not be fetched, and the tile refuses to guess.
  • Checking. The first read has not finished yet. A tile is half the page and cannot be silently blank.

A Screen Time problem faults the APPS tile alone. The web tile reads the DNS system, which a Screen Time revoke does not touch, so the page reads the two layers separately rather than painting the whole thing red.

Three faces of the same page

  1. Both layers holding

    WEB reads On and Sites never load; APPS shows the count of sealed apps. Underneath, More protection carries the App deletion lock row, "Apps cannot be deleted without a 72 hour wait", the "Block the Games category" switch and the Layered self exclusion row with how many of the four layers you have in place.

    The Shield tab with WEB reading On and APPS reading seven apps blocked, above the More protection rows.

    Both layers holding

  2. Screen Time withdrawn

    The APPS tile turns and reads Down, "Screen Time not approved", and the count leaves the face, because a number there would claim protection the phone does not have. Your day count is held rather than climbing, and your keyholder's card turns with it. Home offers the walk back through granting it again.

    The Shield tab with the APPS tile reading Down, Screen Time not approved, beside a WEB tile still reading On, sites never load, because a Screen Time revoke does not touch the DNS setting.

    Screen Time withdrawn

  3. Another VPN in front

    The WEB tile turns amber and reads Standing by. It is not an accusation: a private relay or a work VPN answering DNS first is an ordinary thing, and the shield takes over again the moment it stops. Nothing about the app seal changes while this shows.

    The Shield tab with the WEB tile reading Standing by, another VPN in front.

    The shield standing by

What each tile opens

Tapping APPS opens Blocked apps: your sealed apps as a grid, the plus tile that opens Apple's picker, and a Save at the foot that applies what you staged. Tapping WEB opens Web shield: the sentence about the resolver's list, the switch, and a "Sites you added" row leading to the sites you picked yourself. Both are sheets over the page, and both report back to the page, which is the one thing that writes.

The switch on the web sheet never moves on its own. Turning it on opens the guided steps into iOS Settings; turning it off opens instructions for doing that in Settings, because the app cannot remove the DNS setting and does not pretend to.

More protection

The App deletion lock is a per term choice, off unless you turn it on. On means no app on this phone can be deleted; turning it off starts a 72 hour window held on the server, and it stays on that whole time. The Games category switch blocks every App Store game, new installs included, and turning it off starts a different 72 hour wait, counted on the phone. The two are named apart everywhere for that reason. Layered self exclusion is a door out of Fold'em, to the three protections Fold'em cannot install for you.

What this does not do

Nothing on this page removes an app, a site or the web shield, and nothing on it ends a term or shortens a wait. It does not list your sealed apps by name, because Fold'em never learns their names. And the two tiles report this phone only: another device has its own state and this page cannot see it.

Still stuck? Email support@foldem.app and we answer within two working days.