Apple Screen Time app limits not working

Anyone have any updates on this. I’ve been battling with screen time and the settings for months, thinking I was doing something wrong. But I seem to be having the same issues as everyone posted about below. Any resolutions from apple?

First point of attack might be to try get the various news outlets that covered this in Aug to follow up. Most articles claimed Apple had stated it would be fixed next patch.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2023/08/05/apple-ios-16-ipados-16-iphone-ipad-bug-screentime-bug-new-iphone-problem/?sh=3bd411cf30f4

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-parental-controls-are-broken-55a2aa52

https://9to5mac.com/2023/07/31/screen-time-is-broken/

Our solution was to remove a parent / guardian in family settings so that there’s only the organiser in control of the screen time settings.

Go to Settings / Family (it’s at the top below Apple ID) .. then select the user and turn off parent / guardian.

Not ideal but we were pulling our hair out trying to solve this using all the recommended online solutions but two weeks in and this finally seems to be doing it. No idea why Apple hasn’t addressed this though. It’s such a big big issue for parents these days.

Our solution was to remove a parent / guardian in family settings so that there’s only the organiser in control of the screen time settings.

Go to Settings / Family (it’s at the top below Apple ID) .. then select the user and turn off parent / guardian.

Not ideal but we were pulling our hair out trying to solve this using all the recommended online solutions but two weeks in and this finally seems to be doing it. No idea why Apple hasn’t addressed this though. It’s such a big big issue for parents these days.

Not sure this is relevant or not but I should also point out that my wife logged off and on to her Apple ID on her laptop (as she had bought a new computer). When she did it suddenly about 40 historic ‘app limit’ settings appeared which we had been adding repeatedly because they kept disappearing. They were back!

To clarify the issue seemed to be that having two parents controlling the screen time was causing conflicts. Solution was to go into family settings and remove the user designated as 'Parent / Guardian' and keep the user designated as 'Organiser'. Would love to know if this works for anyone else.

Mine appears to be working as of the other evening. I changed a few settings and I’m not sure if that made made difference. Initially I had set time limits for individual apps but I think that might have been causing some conflict. Instead I just set a overall time limit for “all apps and categories”, I retoggled all the switches on and off. When I set a time limit, I made sure to select the greyed area above where it shown the time selected rather than just exit the page. I have no idea if any of these changes were what did it for me but so far it appears to be working. Just FYI, you can also set individual time limits on your child’s phone for specific apps. I did that too.

The screen time app is defective. And apple is aware of this since a long time.

Uncountable parents struggling, tensions within families, too much time spent trying to fix it. Frustrations.

And apple doesn't comment or admit this, unless you call apple support.

The app isn't even included on the list off apps, programs and products which one can select to provide feedback.

I’m with the other users- it has been a known issue for over a year! This has caused SO many unnecessary arguments in my house and HOURS of wasted time updating, researching, trying to find work arounds, etc.

Apple!! Please find a fix!!!!!

Yes!! So glad I am not alone! What seems to be happening now for us anyway…I have two kids when I update one it seems to turn it off for the other…then they start getting mad how come she gets more time than me, blah blah! This is really annoying! Come on Apple!

I thought Apple's Screen Time was protecting my daughter, but little did I know that for a while she was sneakily snapchatting with friends and boys way past her bedtime because Screen Time, and every protective measure within, had quietly failed. 😡

Nothing I've tried has fixed the issue and it's driven me insane fiddling around for hours. I began to think she had hacked her way through the security! The family safety side of iOS is completely broken. On top of that, the "Find my device" tracking is really slow to update. She wants a new iPhone for her birthday but at this rate it's going to be a Samsung.

There have been many iOS updates since the issue was first reported in this thread and not one of them has fixed it. Is this the end of child safety on iPhones or will Apple roll out a fix soon?

SOLUTION

Apple support provided a solution that seems to be working. All I had to do was change the screen time passcode on my phone. I have no idea why something as illogical as this would be the solution as there was nothing wrong with my old passcode. Anyway, I hope this helps some other parents.

I’ve tried this (changing the screen time passcode on my phone) and it didn’t help. I’ve also tried changing the passcode on my son’s phone, nether change the buggy behavior of App Limits constantly disappearing.

Nope. Just changed all the device names and its still allowing half the games i tried to block with app limits🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ pointless controls. May as well let the preschooler have the credit card too.

Does anybody have seen improved screen time behaviour with an update to iOS 17.1? The release notes of this update say that screen time syncing should have been improved. But for the devices of my kids it is still not working. I have updated their and my devices to iOS 17.1.2.

I just got a new ipad 10th gen, and it is on the 17.1… so i updated the 7th gen ipad my grand is on and it’s hit and miss. Sometimes the apps I set a limit on block at the right time, and sometimes all but one go off….🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ dont ask me why. When i reboot they seem to be blocked… but i dont know what is triggering it. I set the facetime to stay on so she can call her mom, but sometimes its blocked when it shouldnt be. 🙄 very buggy still