Apple Screen Time app limits not working

I called in to apple support and actually spoke to a person, and got escalated to a supervisor. First they acted like this was new news to them, I’m sure not everyone that answers the phone knows all the problems, but I advised them to read their own support site, that there are thousands of us with the same problems. Essentially the support team just tried to walk me through how to create screen time and app limits which I assured them at this point I am a pro at, it’s not user error.

iPhones aren't built for kids - even with working screen time functionality. There are too many loopholes, workarounds, and yes - bugs. iPhones are built for adults who prioritize privacy. I've opted to go with a smartphone that was built for kids for my son. Apple won't do that. They won't sacrifice their privacy stance and they won't work with third-party parental controls/monitoring software that can actually help parents protect their kids. Much better to go with a smartphone that arrives safe and has parental controls built into the operating system - vs. one you have to keep checking and tweaking with every update. I love all of my Apple devices. Just not for my kids.

I've already accepted that this will never work. It won't be fixed. It's also a warning and a wake-up call that we should not trust Apple even in such crucial cases as protecting our children. Mobile phone addiction is a serious thing. This is not a minor bug. This is huge. We'll step by step leave Apple ecosystem and warn everyone not to burn money as we did.

Wiping all devices did not solve the problem for our household, fyi. I avoided this step for a long time so naturally made it my last option (nuclear, if you will).

Seemed to work for a couple days then app limits began disappearing again. Might be a worthwhile step for you but it was a waste of a Saturday for me.

Check your child’s calendar. My daughter changed her phones calendar date a day behind which in turned canceled out her screen time limit for the day. She had unlimited time on all her apps.

Ok so that's exactly what's happening here. It's a convenient software glitch that will solidify the next generation of customers by having them addicted as **** to iOS at a young age. Great.

Like thousands of others! Apple is doing us no favor. Addicting our kids when responsible parents are trying to monitor screen time. They’re horribly irresponsible, and should be brought publicly!

This was so frustrating that I changed my sons phone to Android.

Apple is not working in sustainable way and making kids dependent on devices when they ignore their accountability.

It’s a serious issue right now. I am struggling here with my kids screen time.

Another IPhone user chiming in, I (the parent) have an IPhone 13 Pro max, on iOS 16.5. I have two children using IPhones one using IPhone 8 Plus which uses the latest iOS and works perfectly fine with screen time, never had any issues with this one. However my daughters mobile which is an IPhone 6s which just recently had an update to 15.7.6 which I hoped would fix the screen time reset issue but it did not. The IPhone 6s resets the screen time setting that were set up at random intervals, and have been onto Apple support since April about this issue. I will update when I have any further information, as I am disappointed that Apple has such bugs in their system especially when it comes to protecting our children with parental controls.

Same! It's been about a month. Used to work great. I loved the feature and it's why I got my son and iPhone and not something else. I thought I was going crazy. I kept resetting the restrictions, and I still seem them but he is honest and says nothing is popping up telling him his time is up and he can just continue on. Grrrrr. I also can no longer see the daily usage.

With the screentime restriction in place, this is not preventing kids from the in-app purchases and kids quietly subscribing to many unintended purchases. They must fix this. Appstore app not disappearing. It suddenly stopped working :(

I bought my kids theirs for Xmas and to start with downtime worked but after a week they just seemed to have time all the time. Googled it and so updated all software still doesn’t work. Sat here this morning and he is sat playing on it despite it telling me on family downtime is on as I have up on the schedule and just tried to turn it off permanently and then give an hour as and when but can’t get them off it. I’m not happy. Have they said they are doing anything about it ??

I have the same issue, I set screen time limits for my kid, it works for a few minutes and then it stops working. My kid is developing attention deficit disorder and his grades have lowered because of this! This issue is serious Apple and needs to be fixed !

Same issues as others - forever. Deleted rules re-appear. Limits don't seem to work reliably.

I have updated software, turned screentime off and back on, etc. I refuse to do a reset of my family's DOZENS of apple devices. Especially since that may or may not work. It would take a weekend.

Now there's an even worse issue that just started a week ago or so. The "lock screen time settings with passcode" option keeps resetting. Every day this is being reset to being unlocked. NOTHING else matters if screen time can't be locked with a passcode.

So screen time is not just frustratingly buggy, unreliable, and difficult (as it has been for a while). It is now totally, completely worthless.