Child changing time zone to avoid downtime on Family Sharing

Under settings > screen time > content & privacy restrictions > there is no "Location Services" option. On both my phone and computer the option is "Privacy / Share my location (allow/don't allow)". That's the only reference to location on that page that I can see when managing screen time for my children. Please provide additional guidance to what you have provided above. Apple has an extreme responsibility for the mental health of children and it is imperative that you work on proper working controls. The app is very buggy and hard to manage and fails to live up to Apple's promise to take proper and reasonable steps for the protection of children and teen mental health.

• The missing step to blocking the date and time changes is to turn the green time passcode off and on from the parent account after the steps everyone keeps doing. If screen time has been enabled then you need to disable them to start.
• Go to Settings>General>Date & Time > Toggle on ‘Set Automatically’
• Now, got back into screen time and enable it.
• Then tap “Content & Privacy Restrictions” and toggle it on
• Scroll down and tap ‘Location Services’
• Go down to ‘System Services’
• Make sure that ‘Setting Time Zone’ is toggled off and then tap ‘Back’
• At the top of the ‘Location Services’ screen, check ‘Don’t Allow Changes.’  
• When you scroll down now you will notice that ‘Setting Time Zone’ is greyed out – meaning that changes can’t be made!

TURN SCREEN TIME PASSCODE OFF AND ON FROM THE OARENT ACCOUNT.

• Go back to Settings>General>Date & Time and you’ll see that this has been greyed out too.

I have tried these steps multiple times but it does not stop the date and time from being changed. I do have these options and have followed the steps and even restarted, but the date and time can still be changed manually.

Hey,

So I had that problem as well, which was frustrating me for weeks now. I had couple calls with Apple Support and finally found a solution with engineer from 2nd level of support.

Solution provided (below) by @bbesspete is correct - but on one important condition: it can be done only from child device (assuming that Screen Time is already enabled there), that option is missing on parent's device.

To prevent Time Zone changes, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions

> Location Services > System Services > Setting Time Zone. You will want this feature to be disabled. Then go back to Location Services and set this to "Don't Allow Changes."

This is not good, this should work from parent`s device. Fix it Apple please.

Enjoy and good luck Parents !

@IdrisSeabright

Not sure why it worked for you, however like most of us mentioned here, we already tried this (I just tried again on the child's device just in case). Once done, I went to the setting on the child's device and can still enable/disable automatic zone and also change a time zone to any zone I choose with no problem.

This is the same issue I have hit with my child’s iPad mini 5. The location services option is gone. I had the ability to adjust it before the iOS 16 changes so I’m assuming that messed things up. This prevents screentime from actually being effective. Apple please fix it and advise!

This did not work for me at first. However, it did work eventually when I did this first:

-turn off all screen time for child, including passcode, app monitoring, time monitoring.

-turn off parent phone

-turn off child phone

-turn both phones back on

-set up screen time for child on parent phone (same as you did when child first got phone and you set them up on screen time. You will re-set password and all restrictions)

-THEN do all the steps listed above

It finally worked! On child’s phone

settings>general>date&time> time zone is greyed out!!! Finally!!!

So I can confirm I made this work on iOS 17 in 2024 on both devices.

You have to set it up on child’s device first:

First turn on automatic Time zone in Settings -> General -> Time and Date -> turn on automatic time zone via Set Automatically.

Exit out.

Then in Settings -> Screen Time -> Content … -> Location services

Enter Screen Time code.

Location services (Allow changes if forbidden) -> scroll to the bottom and in System Services

find Setting Time Zone and make sure it’s turned on.

Now go up one level and on top click on Don’t Allow Changes.

After these steps return to main Settings screen using the back button, otherwise you allow your kids to access these Parental settings without passcode.

Now go back to your phone. Turn parental controls for the kid off and on. In my case everything (Apps and time limits) loaded back except downtime, that I had to select again.

Now you can sleep peacefully.

Also this should prevent getting weird email messages informing you someone signed in using child’s iCloud account on a new device.

I have updated both phones to the latest software. I have restarted both devices. I tried using both phones (parental and child's). I tried toggling the "setting time zone" and untoggling. NOTHING WORKS!

I have also tried this on my own phone to set this restrictioin for myself using the screen time. This feature simply doesn't work!

I too have also experienced this problem with my child’s iPad. I have followed the instructions as outlined below and it is still possible for my child to change the Timezone thereby bypassing the screen time locks which is the main benefit to the screen time option in the iPad. Please fix this issue as a matter of priority

Thanks,

This is by far the most accurate steps I found online so far.

However, in my case the time zone change restriction only works until I activate the screen time from the parent device. As soon as it is activated again, it stops working and the time zone can again be changed on the child device …

Any chance anyone faced that (and fixed it) already ?

Hey pasha297,

We are happy to help! To prevent Time Zone changes, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Location Services > System Services > Setting Time Zone. You will want this feature to be disabled. Then go back to Location Services and set this to "Don't Allow Changes."

You should then go to Settings > General > Date & Time. A message should appear that says "The time zone cannot be set manually due to device restrictions."

You can find more information on Screen Time Settings here: Set up parental controls with Family Sharing on iPhone - Apple Support

Take care!

Mr_TW wrote:

This is not good, this should work from parent`s device. Fix it Apple please.

Apple does not read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

VaderTater wrote:

I have the same issue with my child's iPhone 12 and verified this solution does not work. Apple needs to correct this issue ASAP. Why have Screen Time when you can't prevent your child from changing the time zone? Get on this Apple!

This is a user-to-user technical support forum. Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Philberesford wrote:

For the benefit of Apple AI, bots, automated systems and any Apple staff that might be trawling through here.

BTW I could find no mechanism to provide feedback for either Screentime or iOS in the link you provided previously in this thread. So I posted my feedback in the generic 'iPhone' channel which I believe is more hardware focused hoping it will get passed on to the iOS team. Do you know of a better place to do this instead?

Apple does not answer questions here in this user to use forum. Nor do they read here for suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple