Screen Time - Old App Limits Reappearing

I have been having this same issue for some time now. It is just like you describe it. I can not pin it to a specific time or OS version when I first noticed it, but it is here for sure.

My wife and I have parental devices to administer the kids iPads. We put on screen time limits and noticed that when we take them off or try to delete them they re-appear. They re-appear regardless of where we remove them, parental device or child device. Sometimes (most of the time they pop backup right away) they re-appear instantly and other times it can be a day or two before they make their appearance. I first noticed this about 2-3 OS updates ago and so the last 2-3 updates have not resolved the issue.

All of the devices are fully updated. I have tried turning limits off for a day and then back on and they come right back. I have turned screen time off and back on after a day and the come right back. I even shutdown all but one device, removed all the screen time app limits, powered on one device, and then proceeded to delete or make sure that I removed all of the screen time app limits from the devices. I then brought up the next device and continued like that. A couple of days later the limits were back.

I contacted Apple today and they let me know that someone called them about this and they are actively working on it for a fix. He said it would come in a future update but had no eta for that. For now I shut off app limits. Not great but better than the random app limit time outs.

Hey puckcat6,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

Since the issue is happening with multiple devices, make sure they are all up-to-date. Updates not only include new features and security updates, they also include fixes. If you need steps on how to update the devices, review the articles below.

Update your iPhone or iPad

Update macOS on Mac

Update your Apple Watch

If the issue continues with multiple devices, we recommend contacting Apple Support here: Contact - Official Apple Support They will be able to investigate and work towards a resolution.

Take care.

I can surely say that the iPhones are all at 16.5 and nothing has changed.

• Apps show hourglass and still keep running
• Limits I delete will reappear
• I have to close and re-open settings to have the data refresh
• Screentime on my phone still shows an exclamation mark that my second daughters iPad wasn’t online in 7 days - we sold and deleted it from her account 3 years ago…

Nothing to be done. I've tried removing returning app limits using my iPhone, my son's iPad and from my MacBook - they cannot be deleted. However, I've found a workaround to keep the app limits I want and to disable the ones I don't, by removing everything from the list and just add a webpage to block, in my example tralala.com. That takes care of any extra time or blocking the app limits I want. Seems to work.

I have been through the exact same thing you both have. I cannot count the number of hours I have lost either in the Genius bar, on the phone or just sitting in front of all the devices systematically logging out, turning off the screen time functions and then logging back in etc. I keep hoping they will fix it soon....but the people in the Genius bar had not even hear about the problem before, so I don't have much hope. It looks like this has been a problem for quite some time. Good luck!

I would encourage anyone who is having this issue to call Apple. The more people who call will register this as an emerging issue and not a one off from one person. The more folk who weigh in on this discussion will help also.

I have not found any or heard of any. I have tried turning limits off and so now the limit shows off but they are still getting locked out after time. What makes it worse is sometimes I can get it fixed so they limits are gone. For a day or two it will work and then the same limits pop back up.

I seem to have fixed the problem on my devices for more than a couple of days....though I hesitate to say that for fear I will jinx it.

I think it was a problem with my apple ID being associated with a device that I was actually logged out of. What I found is that my apple ID was, for unknown reasons, showing as being attached to my son's iPad. I must have logged in to his device at some point, but when I logged out and he logged in, his iPad was still showing on the list of devices using my ID (go to settings > [name]. At the bottom of that page there is a list of all the devices using apple your apple ID). I first removed his device from the list. I then logged out of my phone and his iPad. Then I turned both devices off and on again . Since then, the screen time issue seems to be gone. This was about a week ago. I'll keep you posted if it comes back. Good luck!

OMG! I did jinx it. When I got up this morning, my son's app limits were all back. He rebooted his phone this morning to try to fix an issue with his alarm and that brought back all of his old app limits. We are back to square one I am afraid....

Though strangely, this did not affect my daughter's app limits, which appear to be holding still. I am so confused!!! I suppose it could still indicate an issue with my ID being shared with my son's devices, but I now have no idea how to fix it. Apple, please help!

I’ve been having the same problem for about a year. Any app limit I’ve ever set up for my kids reappears after I delete them—sometimes instantly, sometimes within a few minutes. All devices are on the latest versions. I’ve tried removing screen time for their accounts and setting it up again, only to have the app limits reappear.

iOS/iPadOS 16.5 was released. The bug fix list has this included in it. I have installed it and so far it does seem to have fixed this issue. It also seems to fix another issue I had where ask to buy would never ask. It has only been half a day but so far it appears that this resolved this bug.

I have the same issue and - what is maybe worse - sometimes the limits don't apply.

Screen time will show the hour glass but my daughter scrolls Tiktok nonetheless... No locking!

Screen time is the buggiest of all iOS apps I have ever used. And it has always been unreliable and a pain to use/administer. :(

I would check your devices to make sure that each one is running the most recent OS. Check that none of them show any old devices. If all devices are on the newest OS then it should work that I know of. Mine started working once I updated all of the devices. Initially it showed the older settings but once I deleted them they disappeared and stayed gone. But if you have a device that was removed 3 years ago showing up in the list of devices I would say that there may be something else going on.

Maybe once all devices are updated, check your icloud profiles on each device and see if there are any errors, remove any old devices, turn screen time off, then reboot the devices. Once they come up check again for errors, old devices, and try turning screen time back on again.

I too have had this with iPad mini on both my kids devices. We are all up to date on all devices on iOS. Totally random when things return. Makes the app limit feature practically unusable. Apple please fix!

I was having this same issue until the 16.5 update I think it was. I applied that to the (i) devices, phone, pad, and also the corresponding 13.4 to my MacBook. I rebooted and the issues went away. I first deleted all of the old ones, waited for a day and they never came back.