Covenant Eye is the best porn blocker and accountability software I have tested and was vital in my recovery, as mentioned in The Ultimate Guide On How to Stop Watching Porn. Although creating and setting-up a Covenant Eyes account is relatively intuitive, there are a few details and tricks that I had to learn the hard way that could have prevented a couple of relapses if only I had known them sooner.
Ready to block porn once and for all?
Before You Start
Get all devices you used to watch porn, such as desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Make sure you have permission to install new software on these devices. Obviously, you need a working internet connection as well as a credit card.
If you already have an accountability partner, I highly recommend creating your account and installing Covenant Eyes on your devices together. All in all, it takes like 30 minutes tops.
1. Create a Covenant Eyes Account
To create a new Covenant Eyes account, go to www.covenanteyes.com and click on Get Started on the top right corner. I will refer to this account as the primary account throughout this tutorial.
Choose a username and a password and click Create My Account. If you create it together with an accountability partner, let them come up with and hold on to the password. Knowing the password allows you to change blocking settings and deinstall Covenant Eyes on your computer, easily becoming a vulnerability when an urge hits.
If you don’t have an accountability partner (yet), create a strong and secure password with a password generator that you won’t be able to remember. Make sure to write it down on a piece of paper instead of saving it digitally. Again, this could easily become a vulnerability. Give it to an accountability partner later or store it either at a distant or safe place you can’t easily access. The purpose is to slow you down when facing an urge. E.g., your locker at school or university, a drawer at your workplace, or you could ask a reliable friend to hold on to. You don’t necessarily have to explain what it’s for in case you are not ready to tell someone about it just yet.
Next, enter your full name and a valid email. Again, make sure to use your accountability partner’s email address or create a new email account with the same randomly generated password. You can reset your password if you have access to the email account, which would again allow you to change blocking settings or create a deinstall code. Trust me; I have been there.
Your phone number can be yours, but the security question should again be answered by your accountability partner. If you don’t have an accountability partner, you could create another secure and strong password. Make sure to jot it down on the same piece of paper and don’t save it digitally. Then, click “Add my details”.
Finally, enter the details of your credit card and chose a payment option. I chose the more flexible but slightly more expensive monthly payment plan. The payment is processed by Striped, which is a reliable payment system and makes Covenant Eyes a trustworthy service for me.
2. Setup Your Covenant Eye Account
Once you have created your account, it’s time to set up your blocking and accountability settings by logging in to your account together with your accountability partner or on your own using the randomly generated password you have jotted down on a piece of paper.
Click on the profile icon (1) and then on My Settings. This is where you can chose the email report frequency, the screen accountability, and filtering services, see your allies and filter guardians, and chose Covenant Eyes email settings.
Email Report Frequency
If you have an accountability partner, this is where you can decide how often he or she should get an accountability report sent to his or her inbox. An accountability report informs your accountability partner about your screen and internet activity. For more detailed information on that, check out my Covenant Eyes review.
When it comes to deciding how often your accountability partner should get these reports, I would suggest to chose “Daily” for the first 30 days, then “Every 3 days” for the next 30 days, and finally “Weekly” for the last 30 Days.
Screen Accountability and Filtering Services
This is where you can choose if you want screen accountability only or if you want to block porn as well by blocking access to websites and services that have been flagged as containing pornographic content. I would recommend choosing both services for the first 90 days.
After 90 days, you can evaluate if you still need a blocker or if you have progressed far enough in your recovery that you can try to do without one. This certainly is an individual decision, and if you chose to give it a try, I would recommend keeping using screen accountability for another 90 days. Knowing that your accountability partner will get a screenshot of what you are watching can be an essential security layer that will help you fine-tune your willpower and progress in your recovery.
Blocking Level
There are two blocking levels to choose from: Adult and Family. I recommend choosing “Adult”, which is suitable for older teens and adults. The family option, e.g., activates restricted mode for YouTube, which is not necessary in my opinion.
Custom Website List
Covenant Eyes blocks alls websites that have been previously flagged as pornographic, but there are sites that, per definition, are not porn sites but still can contain pornographic content. Here you can add individual websites that you used to act out or were triggering in the past by putting the URL in the field that says “Website” and pressing the “Block” button.
I recommend making a list of all sites you frequently used or triggered you and check if Covenant Eyes blocks them once you have it installed on your computer. Add all websites that Covenant Eyes doesn’t block by default. For me, these were mainly online dating and chat sites. I also highly recommend adding Twitter and Reddit because both sites allow pornographic content, which has become a vulnerability for me in the past.
You also have the option to allow sites that Covenant Eyes blocks by default. These can be, e.g., special interest blogs about queer topics. Suppose you notice that Covenant Eyes blocks sites that you want or need to access. In that case, I recommend talking with your accountability partner about it and evaluate if it might be potentially triggering. If you decided it’s safe, you or your accountability partner can then add it by putting the URL in the “Website” field and pressing the green “Allow” button.
This process of fine-tuning your blocking settings can take 1-2 weeks by stumbling upon triggering sites or noticing that sites have been blocked that you want or need. I recommend informing your accountability partner immediately about a potential triggering website so he or she can add it to the list right away. For websites that have been blocked but you want to keep using, I recommend creating a note where you collect them. After a week, meet up with your accountability partner, go over the list together and add those which you have decided to be safe or necessary.
My Allies
If you want another person to receive your accountability report, this is where you can add them. This is also a great way to get the report yourself, which I recommend as an extra layer of awareness and motivation. I’ll call this the secondary account in this tutorial.
Click “Add an alley” and enter your name. Then, click “Next” and enter your real email address you use and have access to. Finally, click “Send email invitation”. You then get an email. Before you click “Yes! Let’s do this”, make sure to log out of your primary Covenant Eyes account or copy and paste the link into a different browser. Covenant Eyes then asks you to sign in to an existing account or create a new account. We need to create a new one for this to work. Fill in all requested information—this time, you put in your real email and create a password you hold on to. Once you did that, click “Create Account & Accept Invitation”.
Once the account has been created, you can choose the email report frequency. I recommend the same progression of frequencies as for the primary account, starting with daily.
The secondary account is also where you can check reports at any time for specific timeframes. Just navigate to Relationships > Your Name and then click “View Activity.” Select a start and end date and click “View Activity”. You then get an overview of the selected period.
Relationships
Under Relationships (2), you can see all your relationships listed. If you added yourself as an alley with a secondary account to get the accountability report as well, this is where you should see it.
This is also where you could add another alley, filter guardian, or member to your account. If you are interested in learning more about these options, make sure to check out the Covenant Eyes support page.
3. Install Covenant Eyes on Your Computer
Once you have set up your account correctly, it’s time to install Covenant Eyes on your computer(s) to finally block porn once and for all. Log in to your computer with a user that has permission to install software. Please be aware that once Covenant Eyes has been installed on your computer, you’ll need to generate an uninstall code via your primary account to deinstall Covenant Eyes again.
If that’s all good, navigate to Downloads (3) and chose macOS or Windows. I don’t recommend installing any beta version since they might still be buggy, potentially compromising your recovery. Now, hit the “Download “button.
Unfortunately, there is currently no version for Linux. You can read more about it here.
Once Covenant Eyes has been downloaded, open the install app and follow the instructions on the screen. You might need the administrator password for your computer and certainly, restart your computer to finish the installation process at the end. If you use macOS, you might also need to grant screen recording permission once your computer has rebooted.
You can find detailed instructions for Mac and Windows here.
Once Covenant Eyes has been installed, you can log in with your primary account’s (!!) username, and password and you are good to go. Please keep in mind that you can’t connect to the internet if you are not logged in to Covenant Eyes. I recommend checking if blocking works by navigating to a popular porn site and one of the websites you have individually listed.
There are also two features you should know about. First, you can check if you run the latest Covenant Eye version by clicking the icon and then “Check for Updates”. And if you add more sites to the block list along the way, make sure to click “Refresh Covenant Eyes” once you or your accountability partner has added them. This updates the running software on the spot.
4. Install Covenant Eyes on Your Mobile Devices
Phones and tablets have become the devices we use the most in recent years. It’s crucial to secure these devices and block porn on them too. Since I don’t have an Android device, I refer you to this article if you have an Android phone or tablet.
For iOS devices, the first step is to install the Covenant Eyes browser from the App Store. Then, open the app and click the “Add VPN Configuration” button. When the app asks you if Covenant Eyes can send you push notifications, accept. Rarely but sometimes Covenant Eyes need to reconfigure, and it conveniently sends you a message when that’s the case.
Next, you need to activate Screen Time if you haven’t done so yet and create a Screen Time Passcode under Settings > Screen Time. Again, your accountability partner should come up with and hold on to the code. If you don’t have an accountability partner, create a random code yourself and jot it down together with your Covenant Eyes primary account password.
Next, you need to disable Safari by navigating to Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps and delete any other browser such as Chrome or Firefox. Covenant Eyes needs to be your only browser. This is crucial because otherwise, it’s easy to get around the VPN connection. Additionally, I would recommend getting rid of the general Google app, Reddit and Twitter for the reasons described above.
Finally, you need to disable the ability to install new apps. Otherwise, you could easily install another browser at any time. To do this navigate to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > iTunes & App Store Purchases. This will deactivate the App Store. Make sure first to download any app you might need and update your existing apps.
This means you can’t download or update any apps on your own now. My best solution for that problem is to meet up with my accountability partner once a week to download new apps or update my existing ones under his supervision. He just needs to put in the passcode; I briefly activate the App Store again and deactivate it once I’m done. This is a little annoying, but it’s only temporary for the first couple of months and a minor inconvenience for security and support in my recovery.
5. Install Covenant Eyes on Other Devices
Computer and mobile devices are certainly the ones most people use to access the internet and are, therefore, the most essential and first devices you should secure.
Of course, plenty of other devices can connect to the internet now that can easily become a vulnerability. If you don’t want to give them up during your recovery, you can find specific instructions on how to block porn for gaming consoles and VR headsets as well as smart TVs here.
For even more information, make sure to check out the Covenant Eyes support resource on other devices here .
How to Uninstall Covenant Eyes
If you want or need to uninstall Covenant Eyes at some point, you can find a tutorial with instructions for all devices here.
Please take a moment and let me know if this tutorial was helpful to block porn on your devices.
