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iPhone Screen time keeps auto resetting

I use screen time to set limits on the usage of games and social apps for the kids, but the feature routinely gets reset or disabled.


Suspecting the kids hacked it, I have changed the password repeatedly. The new password they have never seen, they have never been near me, and I have not written it down.


screen time keeps resetting.


I am guessing some iCloud sync fail safe mode is clearing the settings


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Dec 14, 2022 4:52 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 8, 2024 12:39 PM

After nearly two years of watching my kid's phone blow through all the present screen time limits (downtime, app limits, all of them!) and then seeing the dreaded "X failed passcode attempts" box every few days and having to reset it, only to repeat every few days, I have finally figured two possibilities that have corrected this bug once I changed them:

1) I had also had my wife set as a parent/guardian on the 'family' setting, so that she would get the screen time requests. I changed this to 'Adult' instead of 'parent/guardian' for her. Now I am the only 'parent/guardian' in the 'family'.

2) I logged out of my icloud account on my mac since I noticed often times my kids screen time fail would occur after using my mac. I am now only logged in to my icloud on my iphone. This offsets many of the features of the mac, including imessage, but I'm willing to let those go if I don't have to deal with the frustration of not having screen time work as its supposed to.


I'm not sure which of these (or maybe the combination) was causing this screen time issue, but after making these two changes, it has now been over a week without the screen time failing once, the longest in a couple years for me.

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92 replies

Mar 2, 2024 8:55 AM in response to DrConcern

This just means that the accumulated time counter is reset at midnight. Each app can have it's own DAILY time limit and of course it resets daily ;-)


Some have complained that the actual ON/OFF switch for app limits and downtime are being reset to "off" at midnight -- and thit_is a real bug. But that's not the same issue you are reporting here.

Jun 26, 2024 5:56 AM in response to dmacsee

This has been an issue for more than a year now. I have already tried spending hours with apple support. And so far the only solution they could come up was to restore all devices to factory settings. Really? Factory reset is the solution to all issues?And what happens with the user data? I have been apple user since I don’t even know when. And they want me to reset my device and loose all my data to fix screen time issue which used to work perfectly before.


and on top even when screen time is in place, it doesn’t block apps such as TikTok, Snapchat even after allocated time. And then safari stops working even when it is allowed and within usage limit.


can we please have a permanent working solution to keep our kids safe.

Mar 13, 2023 4:42 AM in response to Sls096

I also have the same problem. I have two children, one 11 years old and one 13 years old.

The problem it happened for the first time when the second child joined the Family group. For each request initiated by the 11-year-old, the 13-year-old's Always Allowed list of application is resets.


I haven't found a solution yet.

If someone has solved this problem, please inform me about the solution.


Thanks

Apr 12, 2023 8:08 PM in response to migueldeicaza

I set screen time restrictions during school for my kids and initially I can tell it is working because the first day I get a complaint or two. Then I forget about it for a couple of days and have had no complaints during school so I check the settings and the screen time restrictions I created are gone and it is as if I never set anything.

This has happened for months and I’m ready to give up on setting screen time restrictions. They don’t stay like I set them and it does take a few minutes to create it all over again.

Dec 9, 2023 6:18 PM in response to migueldeicaza

I deleted my kids from the family and added them again to try to address this issue. I had already done the renaming that was recommend. It worked for a few days and is back to resetting every day. This is ridiculous. It’s also resetting the content restrictions we have set up for the kids. This is a long term, ongoing issue and needs to be addressed!!! Ridiculous.

Dec 22, 2023 1:58 PM in response to migueldeicaza

This has been going on for almost a year in different variations. It is incredible that Apple hasn't fixed this, nor committed to a date. I am starting to wonder that this lack of dilligence is actually a way to send a message: don't bother with screen time, it wont be a safe and reliable function ever.


Apple after all lives from selling more hardware. Specifially, new iPhones with newer cameras. Screen time is not great for business in that respect: if people somehow started to user their phones less, there would be less of an incentive to buy a new phone. Screen time is one tool to start using your (or your kids phones) less. Why prioritize something which is bad for business?

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iPhone Screen time keeps auto resetting

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