Screen time app limits keep disappearing on my kids’ devices

I went through a long process with Apple support, it's been mainly not working intermittently for over a year. Been though several support sessions escalated to senior support engineers. The last step we removed all limits and added one limit for 1 minute then left it for 24 hours. I'm assuming it's some kind of reset process. Worked for me a couple of months ago and the problem hasn't happened again.

I went through a long process with Apple support, it's been mainly not working intermittently for over a year. Been though several support sessions escalated to senior support engineers. The last step we removed all limits and added one limit for 1 minute then left it for 24 hours. I'm assuming it's some kind of reset process. Worked for me a couple of months ago and the problem hasn't happened again.

My son's phone does this too and I finally figured it out. They can reset their phone by going to settings, general, and all the way at the bottom is a reset button. This clears all your screen time and parental settings off their phone without changing anything else. I'm trying to get apple on the phone to figure this out.

My child revealed her hack…if she turns the iPad on before the downtime schedule turns off each morning, then she has the option to turn off the app limits for the day.

Mine is doing the same thing. Turning off or my kids are able to bypass screen time when they get a 5 minute warning. They can apparently just choose to ignore it, which is incredibly frustrating. The only thing that I have come up with that works is to go into screen time - content and privacy restrictions -content restrictions - under apps click don’t allow. This shuts off the apps on my kids phone and there appears no way of getting around it. May be helpful.

Hello matijafromljubljana,

We'd like to share the following user guide for parental controls with Family Sharing. We recommend reviewing these steps to ensure restrictions are set up correctly and cannot be easily removed or altered: Set up parental controls with Family Sharing on iPhone - Apple Support

You'll find additional details specific to Screen Time here: Set up Screen Time for a family member on iPhone - Apple Support

Cheers!

Same. We were having issues with family screen time and updated to 16.3.1 on all devices and now app limits and content restrictions turn on and off. I’ve started changing the screen passcode for this setting regularly, as of course the support response is “your kid has the passcode and is doing it” is there default answer. But nope. It shuts off daily, regardless of passcodes and I’ve even wiped the device. They needs this fixed ASAP.

I’ve also got senior tech support on this but they’ve not offered a solution. 16.3.1 broke it even further. I can set up screen time on my sons iPad for me as the user but then contacts are not allowed due to downtime even though there is no downtime on.

We’ve been using Screen Time limits on our kids’ devices for months with no problem and are very familiar with the whole thing. Since updating to 16.3.1, however, none of the limits I put in place stick. I go through the whole process to set downtime, turn on and customize app limits, and create the list of “always allowed” apps as normal, then the next time I check (minutes or hours later) everything has been reset and my kids are getting way more screen time than intended. This function is critical to letting my two pre-teens be online. Please resolve these new glitches, Apple.

This is maddening. I set the limits, it randomly turns them off and I have to set them again. I see others have had this problem with no update to fix it. Seriously considering having this be my last iPhone at this point.

It is ridiculous that it’s taken this long with no attempt from Apple to communicate on this problem. We haven’t been able to use screen time successfully for at least four months. We’ve ended up just taking our oldest’s phone for large chunks of the day and won’t be purchasing an iPhone for our younger child when he’s old enough. Being able to set safe limits was a major factor in our decision to go with Apple but this complete disregard for child online safety is unacceptable.

This has been happening to me for several years, even through changes to all phones involved. Now I have to check screen time every day or I’ll find the app limits gone and my daughter has had hours on social. I’ve been through extensive contact with Apple support, recreated the problem, send videos and details but Apple still hasn’t fixed. The third part options are obviously limited because most use screentime, and from what I can see they’re not good enough to use. I haven’t moved from Apple yet as I’ve been buying the devices for years, will be a tough transition. I just can believe they can’t or won’t fix it.

i have an iPhone 14 pro max. Completely frustrating how screen time limits reset ALL the time. Sometimes they last a week, most often a day or 2. They always reset to “games” only. Everything else is gone No idea how to fix this

Apple could fix it but does not. Most egregious is allowing kids to turn off content and privacy restrictions we set up as parents to protect them. It’s one thing to enable kids to be on their phones more and feed the addiction apple is selling them. Quite another to expose them to inappropriate material. Fix this apple. I have already contacted my US representatives about it. I encourage parents and thoughtful people to do the same.