auto lock 'never' option is missing

1. Open Settings
2. Tap General
3. Scroll down to the bottom
4. Look just below VPN; do you see Profiles, Device Management, or Profiles & Device Management?
5. If you see any one of these tap on it to open it and look for a company or school security profile.

If you find the profile you can delete it, but if you do, that will disable all apps provided by the company or school and cancel the company or school email account and VPN connection, if any.

The other possibility is if the phone is a company issued phone that is under MDM (Mobile Device Management). If it is then you cannot disable the setting.

@MichaelB2019, Thanks for the tip. You're indeed correct. I did have a "managed device" under General->Device Management (for my company email configs) that disable to Never option under Display&Brightness->Auto-Lock.

After removing that managed device, the Never option finally shows up again, so that I can disable auto-lock of the phone when I'm using google map while driving (which is a royal pain).

Thank you so much.

Hi, I have the same issue as above (auto-lock “never” option not available).

I have a software version 14.7.1 but I haven’t been able to find “Settings  > General > Profiles & Device Management”. Any help?

Hi cate233,

Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help today. It sounds like the Never option is missing on Auto-Lock in Settings > Display & Brightness.

This might be expected if you have a managed device. You can check in Settings  > General > Profiles & Device Management.

You can read more about MDM here: MDM overview for Apple devices.

Have a fantastic day!

I have the same issue. My phone is not managed by a company at all. My own personal device. The “Never” option legit is just not there. This has got to be some sort of bug. Apple needs to become aware of the issue and fix it. Only way this’ll get fixed. Ridiculousness!!

@tiziana211, I think you'll see the option "Profiles & Device Management" only if you have managed device installed. In my case, when I installed and enabled my company emails/apps on my iphone, it created and installed a profile for it, that's why I saw the managed device on my iphone at the time. (The managed device of my company must have security policy to force my phone to auto-lock, for security purpose.) After I removed that managed device, the Never option (for disabling auto-lock in "Display & Brightness" shows up again).

I'm on 14.7.1 as well. I can also confirm that, now that I've deleted the managed device, I no longer see the "Profile & Device Management" option on my phone anymore (since I have no other profiles installed).

If you're still not seeing the Never option (to disable the auto-lock of the phone), it must be due to some other reasons, other than managed device.

Hope this helps.

MiniPennypacker wrote:

I don’t have a business or school account on my iPhone.

Yes, you do. As stated below.

have business/school emails that I’ve signed into through Mail App that have access to my notes, calendar, etc.

But these accounts are strictly email and have no relation to my personal device account.

Your 'personal device account' has nothing to do with it.

When you set up an Exchange account on the device, the administrators can enforce policies on the device via ExchangeActiveSync.

That is what's happening here.

No, on my iPhone I have my work O365 account on it, but not on my iPad. In Display & Brightness I have only 2 minutes and 5 minutes. No Never. When using my iPad for a presentation or public speaking I need my iPad not to lock during my speech. I can speak up to 30 minutes or longer. Having to unlock my tablet several times is very annoying and would rather use paper to use. Not very eco friendly

FedericoV62 wrote:

Lawrence, security and data protection are not in question, but the way they have implemented security is crude and barbaric. My bank apps (I have 5 of them installed) work differently. Instead of taking control of my device, they just close the app. To open the app you need face ID or passwod. In my honest opinion this is a perfect example where the power of Microsoft has forced Apple to accept an holy ****. Now I'm in Santa Marta Colombia, I have rented a motorcycle with a phone holder and I need google map on my screen. To get the "NEVER" on auto-lock I had to delete my company email account. BTW my more sensitive bank apps are still working perfectly.

Except it is not Apple that has implemented this. Your COMPANY has decided that data on your phone must be protected, and by installing a company email account on your phone you have given your employer permission to take control of security features of your phone to protect THEIR data. If Apple did not offer this capability most companies would not permit company accounts on iPhones. It has nothing to do with your “sensitive bank apps”. It is all about your employer protecting their intellectual property and company-private communications.

Since you mention a phone holder on your motorcycle, you should read this→Exposure to vibrations, like those generated by high-powered motorcycle engines, might impact iPhone cameras - Apple Support

Really Apple needs to give us a 30 or 60 minute option. I think that would solve a lot of the time issues and still not have the phone sitting around unlocked for hours on end.

@LawrenceFinch, that's a good point, though when I deleted my "managed device" (previously listed under Device Management), that looks to have removed the profile associated with it, and the VPN configs I previously set are all gone. As a result, there is nothing listed in VPN on my phone anymore.

I don’t have a business or school account on my iPhone. I have business/school emails that I’ve signed into through Mail App that have access to my notes, calendar, etc. But these accounts are strictly email and have no relation to my personal device account. Furthermore, I tested your theory of having screen time enabled. I disabled it, closed out of Settings and restarted the app entirely, went into Auto Lock settings and “Never” was still not an available option. Any other suggestions?

Okay so I went ahead and removed both my School account and Work account (both signed in through Exchange). Restarted the settings application again and still the “Never” option is not available under Auto Lock. Any other suggestions??

You might think the app is "strictly for emails" but when you installed the app, but it has to have security policy configured and set on your phone. It doesn't matter if you "think" this is your personal device. When you expose it to the company or school by installing their app or vpn to access their system, you're allowing them to put restrictions on your device (which is understandable since every access point into their system can be a "weakest link."

You should try removing that app, and see if it helps.

Exchange email accounts for work or school contain proprietary information owned by the business or school. So it is natural that the owner of the Exchange email accounts wants some control over how you use THEIR data, and how exposed to theft it is. There is nothing “silly” about a business protecting its intellectual property or trade secrets; it would be gross negligence not to, and if it’s a publicly traded company it could expose them to shareholder lawsuits. You’re lucky that preventing you from leaving your phone lying around unlocked for hours where anyone could examine its contents is the only restriction on your phone. A lot of businesses also block copy/paste, sharing, updating, texting, other email accounts and other features of the phone that could compromise their data.