Forgot screen time passcode

So the answer is to set up the iPhone as new without restoring from backup? For only the screen time feature is absurd. What if said device belongs to the guardian of a family account? Will the children’s devices with screen time managed by said device need to be set up as new, also? If so, this procedure fix is horribly inconvenient.

Inconvenient? Maybe, but if there were a way around it, then it would serve very little purpose.

The manager of the family account should have use a passcode they could remember, or written it down somewhere.

@ Tim and Larry,

Naturally.

However, as simple as it is to save a 4-digit passcode, I failed. This coming from a 5 year 1Password user. Now the steps to remedy are beyond what’s needed for a feature. Forget your AppleID and it’s retrievable. Screen time passcode should be retrievable via AppleID and/or authorization via secondary device as AppleID now uses.

I spoke at length with Apple Support just now about it. Erase and setup as new is the only way right now. It’s a bad solution.

Your Apple ID is not the same thing at all. Your Apple ID and password are saved on Apple's servers, when the password can be reset. The screentime passcode is NOT saved on Apple's servers. The only place it is stored is on your iOS device. Nowhere else. So there is nowhere else to retrieve it from or reset it from. Your phone unlock passcode is also saved in only one place, on your iPhone in the secure enclave. That's why you need to restore your phone if you forget it, as there is no other place to retrieve it from.

What you can do is go to Settings/<your name>/icloud and turn on all of the switches. Anything saved to iCloud this way will be restored to the phone after it is set up as new and you log in. And any 3rd party app that saves your status on the provider's servers will also be restored when you log in to the app (e.g., Words with Friends and all multiplayer games). So restoring as New is not the end of the world, it's just inconvenient.

It's not a bad solution, unless you want your kids to be able to reset it at will.

I hear you.

Apple are great at making things easy in the most secure fashion. Sorry, but this solution isn’t very “Apple”. There should be a method of resetting or changing the screen time passcode. I understand Secure Enclave but screen time itself has nothing to warrant complete protection.

Of course, any kid who’s so intent on circumventing their screen time privileges now may find this thread and reset their guardian’s device for the win.

I’m not worried.

Now off to reset my phone. 😣

You'll have to erase the device and set it up as new. Do NOT restore a backup. That setting is contained in the backup.

Indeed, but if there were a way around it every kid in the world would know it, long before their parents did.

Before you go, hang around for a few minutes. I'm checking for a way I've used in the past.

Ironically, I’m manually taking my kids’ devices for control at the moment.

OK, there was a way to recover it in iOS 12 and earlier, but Apple has closed that back door.

Thank you anyway.