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User profile for user: mebbert
mebbert Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Communication Limit: You are not allowed to communicate with during downtime", even though it is NOT downtime

Hello,


Apple's Parental Controls seem ridiculously buggy to me. We're constantly dealing with problems (e.g., settings set on the parent phone not being enforced on the child's phone). Really wish @Apple would fix the reliability.


Current problem: Getting "Communication Limit: You are not allowed to communicate with <contact or random phone number> during downtime", even though it is NOT downtime (it's 2pm during testing). The phone even states it's not downtime under Screen Time.


Here are the settings and details:

  1. I have a child phone that I want to only be used only for phone calls and texting. i.e., a lot of stuff is locked down, but I do not see any settings that would cause the behavior I'm seeing.
  2. Downtime settings:
    1. Set to the default (10pm to 7am; every day)
    2. "Block at Downtime" is ON.
  3. "Communication Limits":
    1. "During Screen Time" is set to "Everyone". This setting says that it will "Allow one-on-one and group conversations with *anyone*, including unknown numbers". This is the behavior I would expect when it is NOT Downtime.
    2. "During Downtime" is set to "Specific Contacts", which has an assortment of allowed contacts (e.g., me).
    3. "Allow Contact Management" is set to ON and permission was granted on the child phone.
    4. "Allow Contact Editing" is set to ON (allowing the child phone to edit contact information, as I understand it, anyway).
  4. Trying to make a phone call to any of the contacts "allowed" during Downtime (Setting 2.2 above) works! Trying to call any other phone number or contact does NOT work. Am I missing something, or is this just more buggy behavior?
  5. I have tried disabling and re-enabling parental controls, and various settings to now avail.
  6. Changing "During Downtime" to "Everyone" lets me make a call. But again, it is NOT Downtime, right now, so this setting should have no effect.
  7. iPhone 8, IOS version 15.4.1 (latest when writing this post).


I would appreciate any help.

iPhone 8

Posted on May 14, 2022 11:58 AM

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User profile for user: mebbert
mebbert Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Posted on May 14, 2022 12:23 PM

Thank you, @user:SravanKrA.


I think, by definition, there must be a bug; it is NOT currently in the "Downtime" timeframe, but the message I'm getting states that the child phone cannot contact that number "during downtime".


I'm going through your suggestions. Here is my follow up:

  1. Other devices with same Apple ID: Good suggestion. I already checked/tried this earlier. There are no longer other devices with this same ID. I temporarily enabled account changes on the child iPhone, entered account settings, and saw three total devices using this Apple ID (including this phone). I removed the other two. I have since tried restarting the phone, with no effect.
  2. Family Sharing: Can you clarify your suggestion? I haven't come across this before. There don't seem to be many options. The Apple ID account is registered under Family Sharing, if that's what you're asking.
  3. Check again on Communication Limit Phone Numbers: Also not sure what precisely you're suggesting. I have checked (yet again), and the settings are exactly as described (see attached image).
  4. Recheck contact list for errors: There are several contacts with red exclamation marks. They also happen to be everyone that's part of the family share. This is additional buggy behavior that I've been dealing with. It wouldn't let the child phone communicate with those contacts. I finally got that working, but the contacts still have red exclamation marks. Are you saying this is related? The child phone *is* able to call those contacts--just not any others. (Side bug: every time I add a contact from my phone to the approved list, it duplicates that contact on the child phone).



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: mebbert
mebbert Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

May 14, 2022 12:23 PM in response to SravanKrA

Thank you, @user:SravanKrA.


I think, by definition, there must be a bug; it is NOT currently in the "Downtime" timeframe, but the message I'm getting states that the child phone cannot contact that number "during downtime".


I'm going through your suggestions. Here is my follow up:

  1. Other devices with same Apple ID: Good suggestion. I already checked/tried this earlier. There are no longer other devices with this same ID. I temporarily enabled account changes on the child iPhone, entered account settings, and saw three total devices using this Apple ID (including this phone). I removed the other two. I have since tried restarting the phone, with no effect.
  2. Family Sharing: Can you clarify your suggestion? I haven't come across this before. There don't seem to be many options. The Apple ID account is registered under Family Sharing, if that's what you're asking.
  3. Check again on Communication Limit Phone Numbers: Also not sure what precisely you're suggesting. I have checked (yet again), and the settings are exactly as described (see attached image).
  4. Recheck contact list for errors: There are several contacts with red exclamation marks. They also happen to be everyone that's part of the family share. This is additional buggy behavior that I've been dealing with. It wouldn't let the child phone communicate with those contacts. I finally got that working, but the contacts still have red exclamation marks. Are you saying this is related? The child phone *is* able to call those contacts--just not any others. (Side bug: every time I add a contact from my phone to the approved list, it duplicates that contact on the child phone).



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Communication Limit: You are not allowed to communicate with during downtime", even though it is NOT downtime

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