Apple Screen Time app limits not working

Here not only does all screen time settings vanish after a day or two, but they are totally buggy when they are on.

I typically put an app limit on Youtube but not on Spotify, yet both of them are blocked.

I experience the same issue. I followed all the steps from my Apple Support call, but 24hrs later it went back to wacky and remains broken after a week. Called Apple a second time, and again it seemed fixed for a day then returned to broken. This feature was legitimately broken by iOS 16. Apple, please patch this obvious error in your code or disable the feature altogether. Pretending that its a user issue is irresponsible. Waiting patiently for a fix🙏🏼

Thank you, I appreciate some of the workarounds offered by fellow parents here, but @AppleSupport needs to provide a legitimate, reliable fix for this. We all use the feature to focus less on the actual tech and instead we are spending way more time than needed beta-testing for Apple, SMH.

Before I go to reset all of my kids’ phones and mine I just wanted to make sure this reset solution is working for everyone? I was so relieved to see that I wasn’t the only one going through this issue. And unfortunately, a lot of time had passed before I realized it and then it was something I was having to monitor almost every other day to stay on top of. Needless to say, none of us needs to be doing that if Apple is saying they will take care of it!

So, if someone could let me know if this reset option works that would be fantastic. Thank you

Words couldn’t be more true. I’ve been rather shocked by the lack of urgency on Apple’s part. It’s a critical issue for parents who have bought into the Apple ecosystem for their children. It says a lot. I’ve been on the phone more hours than I can count since Sept/Oct with Apple reps. I think they only just acknowledged it in Jan. I don’t think there will be a true fix until they patch it though.

I am grateful to see sustained good conversation around this topic and we are influencing improvement by being here. Glad to know I am not the only one.

Apple will eventually patch this issue and recalibrate their attempt to "improve" parental controls across devices in the household ecosystem. Its awful at the moment, but I will wait it out, albeit not quietly. For those that prefer to leave the Apple ecosystem, the competing system is FamilyLink:

https://families.google/familylink/

This is very helpful, thank you. However, shame on Apple for this workaround. It reminds me of Windows not Apple. Screen time is a fundamental tool on IOS. They need to do better with their $30B 4th qtr profit. Apple's brand used to represent "it just works." That is no longer part and parcel with Apple. It is sad.

I just switched over to Apple because android options for my kids screen time were ridiculous! I was so excited to have a system that would actually work for us! Well that lasted not even a month! Now the screen times just keep getting wiped clean. I am so frustrated about this especially after seeing all the comments from everyone else. I agree with the others Apple doesn’t really care about our children’s safety and the fact they aren’t warning people about this issue just proves it. It makes me want to trash it all and be done with electronics. If I knew it wouldn’t handicap my children in the world they are growing up in I would!

Screen time has not been working for us too, despite resetting the phones several times. It started with the phones resetting its screen time settings and turning off all screen time limits, and now we even have problems trying to turn on their screen time, it’s taking forever to log

Unfortunately we spent the time frustration to reset the devices, like Apple suggested above. The app limits worked for about two weeks and now we’re back to the same problem. This is NOT a fix. It has to be fixed on their end

The exact thing has been happening to me for my kids and this is extremely disappointing given Apple’s reputation. Although Steve Jobs is gone so Apple is not the same. That said, this is a glitch that should be fixed immediately with a patch not resetting devices, logging off and back in, etc. Fix this issue Apple!!

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?

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.