Apple Screen Time app limits not working

Imagine my disgust having to spend an hour and half last night with some trying to “fix” this issue only to find out on here they were imaging dumb the whole time And know this is a problem! In and out, in an out, phone reset. “I don’t know why this isn’t working” the whole time. I see limits, she’s right back on. Are you telling me a billion dollar company can’t figure this out but they can lock down security that tight? Please. Looks like I’ll have to pay for an app to override this pathetic “screen time” To actually do the job.

Hey there Drmorin,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities.

Based on the information you've provided, and the troubleshooting steps you've gone through, we'd recommend reaching out to Apple Support directly from this link here: Get Support - Apple

They'll be the best option to take a closer look into this issue from here.

Best regards.

I just posted a similar question without knowing it has already been asked(sorry, but hey, maybe more noise will get Apple to listen), I left a list of actions that seem to trigger it for me, can someone check this to see if at least there are common triggers across different devices?

How to fix massive and constant breaking … - Apple Community

I can confirm that after one week, the steps followed from the post - Not all apps locked during downtime in Fa… - Apple Community are still holding on all the devices my kid uses (iPhone, iPad, and iPod).

Hi Everybody. I am not a frequent (ever?) poster but...as an extremely heavy user of screen time, and for a long time, and for 4 children who are about to age out - I know how frustrating screen time can be. This issue has vexed me for a very long time...years and over multiple accounts.

It's frustrating because the "app limits" become useless as you never really know which one is turned on, which one was deleted, etc. (don't even get me started on the new approval system for screen time requests...). I LOVE that Apple installed screen time but it is just falling short of Apple's standards right now. Best example: the fact that screen time stops working when a device needs updating. Ummm, what? Do you know how many times, over the years, my children have resisted an update because they know this? I can only imagine there is a problem with syncing, over multiple devices, over multiple accounts, interconnected with a family account, and with additional restrictions because it is a "child" account.

So, I felt I had to write at 10 pm on a Tuesday so if you are frustrated by this problem and want a solution that worked tonight for a guy who thought he tried everything over the last 3 years - to no avail - I've got one.

I know others have posted they tried this but, since it worked for me, you could still give it a shot. Here is what I did:

1) Signed out of Apple on all devices on my child's account.

2) Went to my child's apple account on alternative device and deleted all devices from my child's account.

3) Reset Network Settings on my child's devices.

3) Disinvited my account from our "family sharing" account (managed by my spouse).

4) Invited my child to my individual account's "family sharing". (If the child is under 13, this is the only way to remove them from the initial account's "family sharing" - by inviting them to another adult's "family sharing". See here for instructions).

5) Signed back in to Apple on my child's device.

All of the suddenly disappearing app limits, or suddenly reappearing app limits, are eliminated. To be clear, I believe the act of removing my child's account from the family account, as well as the reassigning to another adult's account, is the reason for the fix - but I am not 100% sure.

My next step is to invite my child back into the main family account (managed by my spouse) and see if the app limit issue continues to be fixed. Fingers crossed.

Hope this helps. If you have questions about the process, I'll try to answer.

tjag-gb wrote:

I don’t understand why so many posts are getting scrubbed from this discussion?

Refer to Apple Support Communities Use Agreement - Apple Community

This is a technical Q&A forum. If a post is just complaining about Apple then it isn't really contributing to finding a solution and may be removed.

I feel bad that I’ve been taking my kid’s phone because I thought she was repeatedly overriding screen time somehow (there are lots if ways). 🤦‍♀️

She puts up a fight when I take it.

1. I let her know that she can hand it to me and get it back when I’m done or I will physically take it from her and she won’t get it back for x # days.
2. I take it when she’s asleep.
3. She has the option of giving me the phone or paying for her own service.

Good luck! It’s near panic attack response when I take it away. So dramatic, but

For disappearing or ignored app limits, I found a workaround that seems to be working.

1. Turn off screen time on all devices.
2. Restart all devices.
3. Set up screen time on the kids' devices.

This has held up for about five days. 1 minute app seems to work. The downside is that I have no way to adjust settings remotely from my phone. So I have to have their phones in hand to change any settings or extend any times for them.

And I can't see their screen time until they turn in their phones at night. But that's better than resetting the app limits multiple times per day.

I started controlling the Screen Time settings for our daughter from the Mac, and noticed that I always had 10-12 different (apparently old) versions of App Limits in the list that kept coming back, no matter how ofter I deleted them on the Mac.

Yesterday I tried resetting all devices that could change Screen Time settings for my daughter as well as her iPhone and iPad. That didn't help for us, and then I tried the following which finally worked:

1. got all parent devices out within view (2x iPhone, 2x iPad), switched them on and entered Screen Time, also on the Mac
2. changed to App Limits on the Mac, deleted the limits I didn't need/changed them as required and checked that they were deleted/changed on all devices (might take a while until updated everywhere)

My problem was that I had never made sure the new limits where actually valid on all devices, so the old ones kept creeping back.

Since I did this, only the limits I want are in the list.

Hope this helps for some of the issues reported.

iOS 17.1 change notes:

They should be made fix it across all devices to be honest.

I have reset all settings on my phone and my kids’ iPads and it has not resolved the issue.

I saw this information somewhere in this thread and now can’t find it. I followed these steps and 2 nights without screen time going wonky. 🤞 it was a hassle resetting all devices but if it continues to work it’ll be so worth it. Huge thank you to whomever posted it initially!

16.3 didn’t fix this issue. Screen Time remains close to useless, looking at third party options.

Why is iPhone app smart than apps on other devices

This has been such an issue it’s creating dysfunction throughout our household. Can’t believe apple hasn’t fixed this or even commented on it.