Apple Screen Time app limits not working

I am beyond frustrated at this point. I’m not sure how to bring media attention to the situation. We are going on 4-5 months without parental controls. Sadly, imagine how many parents have NO IDEA their children have full access to their electronics?! My kids have gotten out of control. Every time I think limits are set they are gone again. We’ve had to take devices up at all times bc access is full throttle at this point. Disappointed is an understatement. The fact that Apple isn’t even communicating it’s a problem is even worse.

This has still not been fixed despite multiple IOS updates since it was first flagged. Why is it taking so long? Makes screen time useless. Screen time is important for protecting our kids - Apple needs to get out a fix. Temporarily disabling the “get one more minute” pop up would be one place to start.

This is beyond unacceptable onApple’s side. Have people considered that it is not in Apple’s interest to help limit kids’ screentime? They want kids addicted to screens and tech. Can people start posting successes with third party apps for screen limits?

Talked to Apple Support today and after a lot of hassle they told me to totally reset all the settings on my iPad and iPhone (Settings>General>Transfer or Reset iPhone>Reset>Reset All Settings), and to create a test user on my macbook pro (System Preferences>Users & Groups), and then re-login to my apple id on all of them to see if that fixed it. That didn't work, but I did find a workaround which is really a major pain.

If you create a test user on your computer and log into your apple id from there, you're able to create new/delete old app limits from that screen time interface. Additionally this is the only screen time interface that accurately displays all of the current devices I'm using, without also displaying any of the old devices I no longer own (and that are no longer attached to my Apple ID). I am still unable to create or edit new app limits from my old macbook user profile, from the ipad that I reset all the settings on, or from my iphone that I also reset all the settings on. App limits created or edited on any of these either don't sync across all my devices, or if I shut off screen time on any of them and then turn it back on they disappear, so it's clear the changes aren't being saved to icloud.

I'm not sure what the deal is, but I can't spend any more time on it, so I'm just going to leave that test user profile logged into my apple ID and change it from there if I really need to. Hopefully it'll get fixed at some point in the future, but I'm not holding my breath since I found evidence of this problem popping up online from like at least a decade ago. Maybe it affects too few users for Apple to care. Oh well 🤷🏻‍♂️

I filed a formal complaint today. It is a widespread issue they have known about for months. It feels criminal at this point. I hope you didn’t reset everything. It just isn’t a fix for this. Usually it is helpful, but at this point they know they have a widespread issue. They are choosing not to acknowledge publicly; which is sad, as they’ve sold their product with family settings.

I had them both backed up so that I could restore them, it's more that I put so much time into trying to find a fix only to come back with such a subpar solution. Not to mention that I migrated back from Google Chrome specifically so that I'd have a browser that's compatible with Screen Time.

I filed a complaint with Apple today. I know no one is going to read it or care, but I felt I needed to do something more. My rep was super helpful and was able to link phone calls and emails dating back to October regarding this issue. I just feel Apple should be notifying consumers at this point. It’s egregious not to. Praying for a fix soon.

I'm at the point of starting to look for other options, third party apps. Recommendations are very much appreciated.

My kids even WANT screentime to work again. My oldest hates her habits to grab the phone at any free moment and she wants almost all apps closed during most of the day. My youngest hates the discussions we keep having. No use discussing with a machine, so she prefers less time with a clear automatic shutdown over more time with lots of fights with her parents.

Same here. Screen time is completely glitchy and useless. Sometimes I can’t even turn downtime in and off. I was just looking at the stats and everything started glitching and flashing. Nothing works, I have app limits on games and that is absolutely not working. This has been more than a few months.

You can try MMGuardian, Bark or OurPact. We used to have MMG on Android and it worked great. But then made the mistake of moving our kids to iPhones (because that's what everyone else has at their school). I didn't think it would be that different, but due to iPhone "privacy" policies, MMG was a shell of itself. We ended up getting rid of MMG. You can sync their text messages to your computer, which is a bit glitchy (on Android it syncs right to your phone and it works well). And now Apple set up more privacy policies so the child has to "allow" the computer to get the messages. You can also set web filters, but no app limits. Family Link by Google works well with Android also. That's their 'screen time' app.

At any rate, anyone who seriously wants a good parental control experience should go with Android phones. I'd say that even if Screen Time was working perfectly. I've had an iPhone and now use Google Pixel and I'll never go back. I'd love to switch my kids back, but not ready to die on that hill.

Oh and the reason I'm in this thread at all is because my app limits disappear. Sometimes multiple times per day. I think it's the 'one more minute' request that does it, mostly. But sometimes, I have both of their phones in my possession the limits will disappear.

I've tested it on one of the kid phones. When I tapped one more minute, I was free to use the test app as much as I wanted. It never came back to tell me my time was up.

I'm currently testing the "set the limits on their devices" method. Just set it up this morning. We'll see what happens.

Our daughter can somehow choose to ignore limits, even though it is set up to not allow her to do this. We like to limit TikTok to 1 minute per day (because we can't choose 0 minutes - she always finds a way to re-install the CRapp). Screen Time has turned in to absolute garbage.

With all of the problems I've had with sharing photo albums in the past, and other new problems with Homekit devices not responding at random, I'm starting to think I should have chosen Android and/or Alexa. It doesn't feel like the quality is there anymore.

I hope for your sake it keeps working, kralon20, but I don't believe it will. Or maybe you'll be lucky. I've read above and elsewhere that multiple people tried resetting, restarting, etc... and in most cases the problems got back.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations on third party apps. I did some reading, comparing, etc... and chose to go with OurPact. We've been using it for a few days now with pleasure. It has a some features Apple doesn't have, like setting multiple phone-free periods during one day. Of course some things are less, like not having the option to set multiple limits for groups of apps. It simply has one daily limit. On the other hand, it's very easy to unblock and block again. My kids had to get used to a few things at start (organizing home screen is done in the junior-app and not the old way, because apps literally disappear during blocks), but they are really happy with it now. We've got a premium subscription of 6.99 euro a month. Although I was skeptical at first to pay for features that should be default on iPhone/iPad, I don't mind paying to prevent us from having arguments with the kids every day.

The only reason I got an iphone for my child (way more expensive than all other options) was to stay assured I have some “reliable” tool to manage my child’s time on mobile. Now I am furious her old samsung (which she took from a family member who was updating) worked better with family link.

I'd love to try this technique, but screen time on my phone for child's phone won't turn off! I can't delete any app limits either. I don't have child's phone with me. The entire feature is a total failure now. I've used Apple Screen time for my child for years. The current version is a complete joke. I reset the app limits and not long after, a weird bunch of app limits show up--like ghosts of previous app limits. Even the ability to allow one more minute is ridiculous and always has been. If a kid has 30 apps, even if the time limit worked, the get 30 more sneaking minutes of screen time. Anyone who works on this feature at Apple needs to be a parent with a screen obsessed tween. By the time my child is ready for a new phone, he'll be too old for me to set screen time on an Android. I am so incredibly angry at Apple about this I could scream.

Similar issue for me, and I am usually controlling the kids screen time on my device through the family feature.

Under screen time of family member, the “App Limits” in particular is flaky, and kids suddenly can use all apps on all devices without time limits.

Whenever opening screen time in settings on iOS, Apple tries to sync the screen time settings and app activities, which is slow and can take up to a few mins to complete.

It’s becoming more frequent that the “App Limits” got reset and stopped working after the sync, even though other settings like “downtime” continue to work.

How does Apple deal with these issues reported by parents, is there a way to get hold of an Apple technical member to show the problematic user experience?