We have been using screen time successfully for several years to manage our kids devices. Recently, I upgraded to the iPhone 14 pro and now all their screen time settings keep resetting and turn off almost daily. Downtime, content restrictions and time limits - all off. 4 kids - two iPhones and two iPads. Each has a different screen time passcode that were all reset. Software has been updated on each device. Still keeps happening. Please advise!
iPhone 14 Pro
This has been driving me crazy since I purchased an iPhone 14 Pro. Earlier today, I did some testing and am wondering if this is what the rest of you are seeing.
TLDR: In my case, Screen Time on the Child iPhone is never off, it just shows a default position of off (on the Parent phone) while the Child phones are syncing with iCloud. If I start making changes (on the Parent phone) before the sync is complete, it causes a ton of problems and everything gets out of sync for hours or days.
Longer version....
3 devices, all running 16.4.
Scenario 1: About 50% of the time on the Parent iPhone, I open Screen Time and select one of the Child accounts. The 'Daily Average' chart is trying to load (ie, no chart is not visible and the 'updated' section is spinning)
Scenario 2: About 50% of the time. On the Parent iPhone, I open Screen Time and select one of the Child accounts. The 'Daily Average' chart is already loaded and visible. The 'updated' section may be spinning, but you can see the bar chart.
Under Scenario 1, if I go into Downtime, Content & Privacy, etc. (on the Parent iPhone) it will show Screen Time settings are OFF. However, if I pick up the same Child's iPhone in my hand and open up Screen Time directly on the child iPhone, the Screen Time show ON. Under this scenario, in the past I was getting anxious and would panic and start turning Screen Time settings back ON via the parent iPhone. However, if I did this, before 'Daily Activity' had fully loaded, it seems as if iCloud gets really confused and the settings get out of sync - sometimes they stay on, other times they stay off. Then later in the night, the settings may flip again (assuming they try to sync with iCloud again) and turn on/off - its a huge mess.
Under Scenario 2, the Parent iPhone will show the Screen Time settings are ON and Child iPhone shows the settings are On.
In the end, I was the source of my own problem as I nervously kept turning things back on when I would see them as off on my phone. If I had been more patient and either checked the Child phone or waited for the sync to complete, it would have shown the settings are still in place and everything is as I want it to be. Once I started waiting for the chart to load before changing things, I never had the issue happen again - it took about 48 hours for everything to sync and 'settle'.
Apple needs to fix this as it never used to be a problem. Parents shouldn't have to blindly trust that the Child phone is secure, the Parent phone should always indicate the right status of the Child's phone.
Maybe I'm the only one with this specific scenario, just wanted to share.
Side note... over the past few months I have been getting a somewhat regular notification on my iPhone in Settings right under my name at the top to re-enter my passcode for some kind of sync to iCloud. Ever since I stopped messing with the Screen Time settings pre-sync, iCloud has stopped asking for this. I'm wondering if this was coincidental or a symptom of iCloud just being super confused by what settings were the correct ones.
This has been driving me crazy since I purchased an iPhone 14 Pro. Earlier today, I did some testing and am wondering if this is what the rest of you are seeing.
TLDR: In my case, Screen Time on the Child iPhone is never off, it just shows a default position of off (on the Parent phone) while the Child phones are syncing with iCloud. If I start making changes (on the Parent phone) before the sync is complete, it causes a ton of problems and everything gets out of sync for hours or days.
Longer version....
3 devices, all running 16.4.
Scenario 1: About 50% of the time on the Parent iPhone, I open Screen Time and select one of the Child accounts. The 'Daily Average' chart is trying to load (ie, no chart is not visible and the 'updated' section is spinning)
Scenario 2: About 50% of the time. On the Parent iPhone, I open Screen Time and select one of the Child accounts. The 'Daily Average' chart is already loaded and visible. The 'updated' section may be spinning, but you can see the bar chart.
Under Scenario 1, if I go into Downtime, Content & Privacy, etc. (on the Parent iPhone) it will show Screen Time settings are OFF. However, if I pick up the same Child's iPhone in my hand and open up Screen Time directly on the child iPhone, the Screen Time show ON. Under this scenario, in the past I was getting anxious and would panic and start turning Screen Time settings back ON via the parent iPhone. However, if I did this, before 'Daily Activity' had fully loaded, it seems as if iCloud gets really confused and the settings get out of sync - sometimes they stay on, other times they stay off. Then later in the night, the settings may flip again (assuming they try to sync with iCloud again) and turn on/off - its a huge mess.
Under Scenario 2, the Parent iPhone will show the Screen Time settings are ON and Child iPhone shows the settings are On.
In the end, I was the source of my own problem as I nervously kept turning things back on when I would see them as off on my phone. If I had been more patient and either checked the Child phone or waited for the sync to complete, it would have shown the settings are still in place and everything is as I want it to be. Once I started waiting for the chart to load before changing things, I never had the issue happen again - it took about 48 hours for everything to sync and 'settle'.
Apple needs to fix this as it never used to be a problem. Parents shouldn't have to blindly trust that the Child phone is secure, the Parent phone should always indicate the right status of the Child's phone.
Maybe I'm the only one with this specific scenario, just wanted to share.
Side note... over the past few months I have been getting a somewhat regular notification on my iPhone in Settings right under my name at the top to re-enter my passcode for some kind of sync to iCloud. Ever since I stopped messing with the Screen Time settings pre-sync, iCloud has stopped asking for this. I'm wondering if this was coincidental or a symptom of iCloud just being super confused by what settings were the correct ones.
A screen time related update!!!!
About this Update:
This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:
Apple security updates - Apple Support
Apple Senior advisor did tell me Apple is aware of this issue and is having engineers work on it. Hopefully a software update soon. Advisor did share a workaround which has been successful: "RESET ALL SETTINGS" on all of the kids devices (not erase device and not on parent's devices). Kid's alarms, wifi, (re-enter apple password), wallpapers, etc will need to be start from scratch, but it will keep all of it's data. Fingers crossed.
She said not to do on computers, imacs, macbooks, etc. it'll erase it. Ipads and phones only.
Lots of people on here mentioning the iOS 16.4 as a fix, but I’m not sure…. I think more likely is that when updating devices to anything, this anction acts like a hard reset to what appears to be a very flakey sync process - especially when used across multiple devices. This supports my screen time experience so far; as I turned off screen time on all devices, signed out of all devices (nightmare - avoid if possible), ensured all devices at same update status, and then reapplied all screen time settings - but careful to ensure they sync’s across on each device. It has been six weeks now and tbf it’s been stable (🤞🏻)… However, not confident it will last - Apple really need to acknowledge this issue and provide a robust fix, AND in the interim offer a tested workaround!
For our family the iOS 16.4 update seemed to fix the most critical screen time problems. I turned off screen time on all off our Apple devices (and rebooted them) prior to updating to iOS 16.4 though. Then I re-enabled them on my iPhone. Now the restrictions work.
But still there are some issues:
1) I can't accept screen time requests on my Apple Watch (child doesn't get screen time even though I give it)
2) Screen time report shows only current day and I can't see history
3) One screen time restriction comes back even though I remove it
Finally, I have found a workaround. The case with Apple is still ongoing and they have not provided any solution yet.
However, I discovered this workaround myself, and so far it is working on my devices to control my kids' screen time, as well as on my brother's device to control his kids' screen time.
To implement the workaround, completely turn off Screen Time for yourself and your kids' devices. Make sure to do this on all of your devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad) and confirm that it is not configured anywhere.
Then, set up Screen Time again for your kids' devices from scratch, and it should work properly.
Looks like 16.4 fixed the problem for us.
I’ve got a 14 pro and the problems started as soon as I received it. My daughter has a 12 pro and my wife, who also adjusts screen time, has a new SE.
Nothing we did made any difference at all until I updated. Now it has been holding steady for the last four days or so. 🤞
(By the way, I’m the only one who updated so far.)
To everyone experiencing this issue:
Please make sure all devices are updated, connected to the same WiFi network, and charging. Then, go on each device you want to set up the limits. Do not set the limits up from the parent's phone. This seems to be the issue, and us developers have repeatedly sent this through Apple's beta Feedback. It's been years, and we still haven't received a notice of it being fixed.
Hope this helps.
Why isn't Apple acknowledging this?
One website recommends that you turn off "Share Across Devices" toggle under Screen Time on the adult devices and then just limit it to just 2 or less. We all have phones, Ipads, Imacs, notebooks etc. switch it all off and limit it to 2 or less.
this is the article and so far it has worked for us: https://www.droidwin.com/screen-time-not-working-on-ios-16-2-fix/
Just reposting a reply for maximum visibility. This work around worked for me:
Turn screentime off on all devices, including parents’ devices. Then on the child’s device turn on screentime and set it up. Doing it this way the child will NOT be able to request more time by sending the parent a request. The parent will have to enter the passcode directly on the child’s device to allot more time after downtime. I’ve been doing this for over a week now with no glitches.
I have sorted it over a week ago with solution given few posts above. I’ve struggled for months. But this solution not being perfect but works.
turn off screen time on all devices. Your own and kids so it’s off everywhere.
Turn it on only on kids devices then. Set up all for kids devices. Leave it off on parents devices.
this way they can not ask for more time and instead must come down to you and ask for more by putting screen time passcode. It works over a week now and won’t reset anymore.
hope that helps.
Its not perfect as I can’t control it via my iPhone or see what they do but at least I can control them and limit what they do.
I have now updated to iOS 16.4 and (the fact I’m putting it in writing might jinx it..) I’ve had NO problem since updating. I am so relieved! Had the problem with my children’s (3) iPhones since updating to iOS 15.3 in October 2022, when I got my new iPhone. It has wasted so much of my time resetting the screenlimits and restrictions 2-3 times a day and I actually noticed it even became worse in Feb/March! Been in contact with Swedish Apple support at several occasions and no solution has been presented, getting the same pointless suggestions and tips as everyone else here seem to have gotten during these very frustrating 5 (!) months! The whole reason for getting a new iPhone in October was the ability to control screen time/restrictions for my children!
Happy for now and I really hope it’ll stay in place.
Upgrading all devices to 16.4.1 corrected the reset issue, however it was replaced on child device by ignore time limit at downtime and the Turn off Screen Time Family sharing still appeared on her phone. I had to remove her device from the family and add it back in. There were some bugs the remained like the location sharing resetting, so not only did I have to do a couple times, I also had to sign myself out of my device and it seemed to have done the trick. For now. Might stay away from OS17…
For us this has been a constant, for years, and was very frustrating to setup Screen Time almost daily. What we found out, and tested, that when our son runs out of time and selects the "One More Minute" it either resets all of the Screen Time settings or parts of the Screen Time settings. Not saying this is a magical fix-all but for us, it went from resetting his Screen Time settings daily to maybe once a month.
i was having this problem for months and then found that if i selected ‘Turn Off Screen Time’ for each child (and the bottom of the initial screen time screen), turning it back on and then resetting each of the restrictions they remained in place.
Screen time keeps turning off
