How to block Kick on your network
Kick is a live streaming platform that launched in late 2022 and grew quickly on the back of high-profile streamers. Many schools, employers and parents now want it off their networks.
This guide shows network admins how to block the Kick website and app with DNS, category rules, firewalls, routers and MDM, and how to check that the block really holds.
Why organisations block Kick
Most admins are not reacting to Kick as a brand. They are reacting to what live streams bring onto a network: unmoderated chat, mature content in real time and hours of video traffic.
Content for adults
Live streams are hard to pre-screen. Language, stunts and mature themes can appear without warning, which is a poor fit for students and young members.
Gambling streams
Casino and betting streams have been a visible part of the platform. Schools and youth groups see this as a direct conflict with their duty of care.
Live chat with strangers
Chat runs alongside each stream. Children can be drawn into conversations with adults they do not know.
Bandwidth
One HD stream is small; forty in a lunch break is not. Live video competes with lessons, video calls and cloud apps on shared links.
Work time
Employers block entertainment streaming during working hours, or limit it to break times, as part of an acceptable use policy.
Policy consistency
If Twitch and other streaming sites are already blocked, leaving Kick open creates an obvious gap that users find within days.
Category first, name second. If your policy is about live streaming in general, the category rule is the real control. The kick.com domain rule is a safety net for the one site people ask about by name.
Kick domains to block
The main domain is the one that matters. Kick runs its website, app API and account pages on kick.com and its subdomains, which a wildcard rule covers in one line.
| Domain or host | What it does | Action |
|---|---|---|
kick.com and *.kick.com | Website, channel pages, chat, login, and the API hosts that the mobile and TV apps call, such as api.kick.com. | Block |
| Kick-specific media hosts in your logs | Video segments and thumbnails can be served from cloud or CDN hostnames. Add a host only if it clearly belongs to Kick alone. | Check logs |
| Shared CDN or cloud hosting domains | Large providers serve thousands of unrelated sites, including school and business tools, from the same domains. | Do not block |
| Mirror, re-stream and clip sites | Third-party sites that re-host or embed Kick streams under other names. | Category rule |
Domain lists change as services move hosts and add features, so treat this as a starting point. Before adding an unknown host from your logs, check it in the domain category lookup to see whether it belongs to Streaming Media or to something shared.
Four ways to block Kick
Pick the layers that match your network. A home or small office can stop at DNS. A school with managed tablets needs DNS, browser policy and MDM working together.
- Hand out your filtering resolver through DHCP on every SSID and VLAN.
- Add kick.com as a wildcard block.
- Block the Streaming Media category for student or general staff groups.
- Redirect all outbound port 53 traffic to your resolver and block DNS over TLS on port 853.
- Use a managed DNS filter if you do not run your own resolver.
- Create a URL or web filter profile that blocks the streaming category and kick.com.
- Add an application control rule if your firewall has a Kick signature.
- Block QUIC (UDP 443) on filtered segments so the server name is visible on TCP.
- Apply TLS inspection only where your policy allows it, and exclude banking and health sites.
- Block or uninstall the Kick app on supervised iOS and Android Enterprise devices.
- Add kick.com to the device web content filter or managed browser block list.
- In Google Admin, add kick.com to the URL block list and block the Android app for Chromebook users.
- In Microsoft Intune, push an Edge URL block list policy.
- Prevent users from adding VPN profiles or changing DNS settings.
- Open the parental control or website blocking page in the router admin panel.
- Add kick.com and, if the router allows wildcards, *.kick.com.
- Set the router's DNS to a filtering resolver so category rules apply too.
- Change the router admin password so the rule cannot be removed.
For a wider policy that covers every live video service at once, see how to block streaming sites on your network or the guide on blocking websites by category.
The Kick app vs the Kick website
The website and the app use the same back end, so a network rule on kick.com stops both on your Wi-Fi. The difference is what happens when the device leaves your network.
Website in a browser
- Stopped by DNS, firewall and category rules on your network.
- Stopped on managed laptops and Chromebooks by browser URL policy, on any network.
- Can slip through if a browser uses its own encrypted DNS; turn that off by policy.
- Embedded streams on other sites are caught by the category rule.
App on a phone, tablet or TV
- Stopped on your Wi-Fi when kick.com hosts no longer resolve.
- Not stopped on mobile data unless the device is managed.
- MDM can block install and remove existing copies on owned devices.
- Smart TVs and consoles on guest Wi-Fi follow the network rule only.
Personal phones. On a student or staff phone using mobile data, no network rule applies. That is a matter for your device or phone policy, not your filter.
Handling bypass attempts
Once a popular site is blocked, people look for a way round it. These are the routes that turn up most often, with the control that closes each one.
Free VPN apps and browser extensions
Block the VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers category, add VPN application signatures to your firewall, and allow only approved browser extensions on managed devices.
Encrypted DNS in the browser or phone
Browsers and phones can send DNS to public resolvers over HTTPS or TLS. Disable browser DNS over HTTPS by policy, block port 853, and set private DNS on managed Android devices.
Mirror and re-stream sites
Some sites re-broadcast or embed popular streams under different names. A Streaming Media category refreshed daily is the practical way to keep up with them.
Web proxy sites
Proxy front-ends load a blocked page through another domain. See how to block proxy sites for the full set of controls.
Personal hotspots
A phone sharing mobile data to a laptop bypasses your network completely. Only device policy on owned laptops and clear rules about hotspots can address this.
Already-open streams
A stream opened before the rule went live may keep playing for a short time. It stops when the player reconnects or the DNS cache expires.
How to test your Kick block
Test with a device set up exactly like the ones your users have, signed in as a test user, with mobile data turned off.
- From a client on the filtered network, run
nslookup kick.comandnslookup api.kick.com. Both should return your block answer. - Open kick.com in Chrome, Edge and Safari. Each should show your block page or fail to load.
- Open the Kick app on a test phone or tablet. The home feed and any stream should fail to load.
- Search for a re-stream or clip site in a search engine and confirm the result is blocked by category.
- Install a free VPN on the test device and confirm it cannot connect.
- Turn on browser encrypted DNS and confirm the browser policy turns it back off, or that the site stays blocked.
- On a managed device, switch to mobile data and confirm the app is still blocked by MDM.
- Read the DNS and firewall logs and confirm each event shows up with the right category.
Recommended settings by audience
The right depth depends on who is on the network. These are starting points to adapt to your own policy.
Primary and middle schools
Block Streaming Media and VPN categories on every network, plus kick.com. Block the app on all school devices.
Allow approved educational video by domain exception.High schools
Block for student groups; decide staff access separately. Keep VPN and proxy categories blocked everywhere.
Review blocked VPN attempts weekly with your pastoral team.Offices
Block entertainment streaming for most groups, or allow it only at break times with a schedule.
See time schedules for filtering.Families
Use a router or DNS filter profile for children's devices, and parental controls on their phones.
Talk about why before switching it on.Youth clubs and libraries
Block on the network used by minors; adults may need a separate, lighter profile.
Different SSIDs make this simple.Guest Wi-Fi in cafes and hotels
Usually allowed. Block adult, malware and phishing categories only, unless families are your main guests.
Bandwidth limits may matter more than blocks.Still loading? A quick troubleshooting table
Most reports of a block "not working" come down to one of a handful of causes. Match the symptom, then apply the fix.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Works on one laptop only | That browser uses its own encrypted DNS, or the laptop has a VPN client. | Turn off browser DNS over HTTPS by policy; remove or block the VPN. |
| Page is blocked, app still plays | The app reaches a host you have not covered, or the phone uses private DNS. | Read the logs for that device; confirm the wildcard on kick.com and enforce DNS settings. |
| Works on staff Wi-Fi only | Staff SSID uses a different resolver or policy group. | Confirm whether that is intended; align the policy if not. |
| Works for a few minutes, then stops | Cached DNS answer on the device. | Wait for the record to expire or toggle airplane mode, then retest. |
| A clip site still shows Kick streams | Third-party site not yet covered by your list. | Use the Streaming Media category rather than a name list; check the domain's category. |
| Unrelated sites broke after the change | A shared CDN or cloud domain was blocked. | Remove the shared domain; keep only Kick-specific hosts. |
Write the rule down before you switch it on
A block nobody understands creates help desk tickets and workarounds. A short written rule makes the block easier to defend and easier to apply the same way every time.
State the scope
Say which networks and devices the rule covers, and that live streaming sites are included as a group, not only one brand.
Name an approver
Pick one person who can approve exceptions, for example a media studies teacher or a marketing lead who needs to watch a stream.
Tell people why
A two-line note to students, staff or family members cuts bypass attempts. Mention that VPN use on the network is also against the rules.
Brief the help desk
Give the team one standard answer for "Kick is not loading" tickets and the link to the exception process.
Link to safeguarding
Web filtering is one layer. If a child has seen something upsetting on a stream, that goes through your school or club safeguarding process, not the filter.
Review it yearly
Platforms change. Check once a year whether the rule still matches your policy and whether new streaming sites need the same treatment.
Why a short list is not enough
The kick.com rule covers Kick itself. It does not cover the clip sites, mirrors and proxies that grow around any popular platform, and those change every week.
New domains are checked again after a week and after a month, because many sites add content after launch. That is how a re-stream site that looked empty on day one ends up in Streaming Media by the time it gets popular.
Filter makers, MSPs and edtech vendors use our web filtering database inside their own products. Browse every label in the category taxonomy, and see related guides on blocking Twitch and blocking YouTube.
Kick blocking FAQ
Can I block Kick on my Wi-Fi?
Yes. Block kick.com with all subdomains in your DNS filter, router or firewall, and block the Streaming Media category for groups that should not watch live streams. Devices on that Wi-Fi will no longer load the site or the app. Devices on mobile data are outside a Wi-Fi rule.
Why does the Kick video still play after I blocked kick.com?
The page or app may have been opened before the rule went live, the device may be caching DNS answers, or it may be using a VPN, encrypted DNS or mobile data. Check your logs for the hostnames the device is still reaching and confirm that the device uses your resolver.
Should I block the video delivery network Kick uses?
Only if a hostname is clearly dedicated to Kick. Live video is often delivered through shared cloud and CDN hosts that other services also use. Blocking a shared host can break unrelated sites, so block kick.com and the category, then add only Kick-specific hosts you see in your own logs.
Does blocking Kick also block Twitch and YouTube?
A domain block on kick.com affects only Kick. A Streaming Media category rule affects all live and on-demand streaming sites in that category, so use it where your policy covers streaming in general and add allow-list exceptions for learning content you want to keep.
Can I stop Kick on a school iPad or a company phone?
Yes, on managed devices. Use your MDM to block or remove the Kick app, add kick.com to the device web content filter, and stop users installing VPN profiles. On personal devices you can only control what your own Wi-Fi resolves.
How does a category database keep a Kick block current?
Mirror sites, re-stream sites and proxy front-ends appear under new names. When new domains are categorized daily as Streaming Media or VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers, a category rule catches them without anyone editing a list by hand.
Build streaming controls on daily category data
For filter vendors, MSPs and edtech makers: 120 million domains in 59 categories, running inside your own systems. Starter database tiers from $999; enterprise and OEM licences are quoted per deployment.
Kick is a trademark of its owner. Google, Chrome and Android are trademarks of Google LLC; Apple, iPhone, iPad and Safari of Apple Inc.; Microsoft, Edge and Intune of Microsoft Corporation; other names belong to their respective owners.
These names are used here only to identify the products discussed. Web Filtering Database is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by any of these companies.