Screentime/ downtime not working on child’s phone

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Level 1

24 points

Screentime/ downtime not working on child’s phone

My son and I both have iPhones and I’ve tried to set up screentime and downtime as well as some other restrictions. I’ve set up a family group, and requests for App Store purchases come through ok, however I can’t see his screentime on my phone, I can’t engage the downtime or lift it from my phone, and his phone seems to be completely separate and not recognise any sort of sync between mine and his.

i can set restrictions using a passcode on his phone but that’s it - the connection between mine and his seems completely ineffective.

Not sure why this appears to be so badly programmed and why this is so hard to set up. I’ve been working on this for 3 days now and still nothing works.

Any help appreciated.

iPhone 12, iOS 16

Posted on Oct 11, 2022 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

kut2000

Level 1

14 points

Oct 19, 2022 8:25 PM in response to RoskoC85

Since updating to iOS 16 Screentime isn’t working properly. Schedule changes don’t keep. Cannot make time or app adjustments w/out repeating the same action 10+ times. I also don’t understand why this “staple” feature gets broken with the new update. I thought they’d have an update that fixes it by now.

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Answer 2

RoskoC85 Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 13, 2022 5:25 AM in response to LeleN1

Hi thanks for that but unfortunately I’ve already tried all of that plus more. I’ve ensured his phone is marked as my child’s device and mine is marked as parent/guardian. I’ve updated both phones to iOS16 and We’ve also ensured share across devices is on on both devices - nothing works. I get requests for App Store purchases to my phone but I can’t see what his screentime is or engage downtime or change the schedule. It’s just simply doesn’t seem to work.

it’s very frustrating because Android has a system that works very well, and we got my son his first iPhone but so far it seems terrible in comparison and I can’t believe apple has such poorly designed and buggy parental controls! Frustrating isn’t the word!!

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Answer 3

BriantS

Level 1

13 points

Oct 22, 2022 8:07 PM in response to kut2000

I spoke with Apple support today. They said it was likely an issue with my iOS 16 phone not working with the kids iPadOS 15.7. We have 3 kid iPads and all stopped working once my wife and I upgraded to iOS 16 on our phones. Have tried everything; restarting, configuring screen time from Mac, iPad, iPhone and even the kids iPad directly. Nothing works. The controls get removed after about a day. Screentime has worked for these exact same devices for years. We only started having issues once we upgraded to iOS 16 (currently 16.0.3). Extremely frustrating!

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Answer 4

RoskoC85 Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 13, 2022 8:26 AM in response to mingoslkd

Thanks for that, I do understand what it’s meant to do, but it just isn’t working. I’ll consider contacting apple support but I’ve already spent 4 days trying to get it to work and reading every how to guide and help article there is out there. It’s just ridiculous how hard this is to set up when android/ Samsung has a system that is infinitely easier to set up and use. To be honest it’s completely tainted the iPhone altogether as if it isn’t capable of easily implementing so form of parental controls, then it’s worth nothing as a phone for a child. Thanks for the replies and time regardless, it appears that it’s just simply that apples system is very poorly developed in comparison to Androids.

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Answer 5

LeleN1

Community Specialist

Oct 12, 2022 3:25 PM in response to RoskoC85

Hi RoskoC85,

Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities! Since Screen Time doesn't seem to be set up and working correctly, follow this guidance to get started:

"Go to Settings > Screen Time.
Tap Turn On Screen Time, then tap it again.
Select This is My [device] or This is My Child's [device]."

-Use Screen Time on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

This will allow you to schedule downtime, set app limits, and more with Screen Time. If it's still not working as expected, ensure both devices are updated to the latest version of software. Things can misbehave when your device is running outdated software: Update your iPhone or iPad.

If it continues, let us know more about what happens when you try to access information in Screen Time.

Cheers!

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Answer 6

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Oct 13, 2022 6:41 AM in response to RoskoC85

Hey RoskoC85,

Thanks for the additional info, and steps you've done.

This is not expected, as you should be able to view and makes changes for the child iPhone from yours, as shown here: Use Screen Time on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

"After you set up your child’s device, you can also use Family Sharing to see reports and adjust settings from your device."

We'd advise to contact Apple Support, so they can look into why this is happening.

Apple Support

Let them know what's happening, and all of the great troubleshooting you've done so far.

Take care!

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Screentime/ downtime not working on child’s phone

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