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Can Family Sharing be used to control Screen Time on remote devices?

I am trying to see whether Family Share can manage Screen Time remotely, like Microsoft Family Safety.


The child devices, an ipad and an iphone, have device-level Screen Time configured.


The parental Family Sharing on a Mac shows the child, but not their devices.

If the parent turns Screen Time on inside Family Sharing, it seems to impact the Mac, for the parent, but not the iphone or ipad.


And even if this did affect the devices, I cannot figure out if it will override the device Screen Time settings, whether it is ignored by the devices because the devices have their own Screen Time settings, or whether there is some sort of combination of settings.








Posted on Feb 26, 2023 8:50 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 27, 2023 9:17 AM

Finally contacted Apple Support via Chat. Two gave up and sent me up the chain. Finally got my answer.


NO.


So, I am not alone being baffled by Apple docs on Family Sharing + Screen Time. Friends have said the same.


This means that if I have 4 kids and each has 3 devices and I want to make the same Screen Time change to all devices for all kids, I get to repeat it 12 times.


There is no need to point out how, uhmm, er, inane this is. And so, I will give Apple the benefit of the doubt and assume they are already working on copying yet another page from Microsoft and get Screen Time working from the web, like Microsoft Family Safety does. With Microsoft Family Safety, if I get a new device, I merely logon with existing credentials and "wala!", done, literally.



2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 27, 2023 9:17 AM in response to screen_time_rocks

Finally contacted Apple Support via Chat. Two gave up and sent me up the chain. Finally got my answer.


NO.


So, I am not alone being baffled by Apple docs on Family Sharing + Screen Time. Friends have said the same.


This means that if I have 4 kids and each has 3 devices and I want to make the same Screen Time change to all devices for all kids, I get to repeat it 12 times.


There is no need to point out how, uhmm, er, inane this is. And so, I will give Apple the benefit of the doubt and assume they are already working on copying yet another page from Microsoft and get Screen Time working from the web, like Microsoft Family Safety does. With Microsoft Family Safety, if I get a new device, I merely logon with existing credentials and "wala!", done, literally.



Can Family Sharing be used to control Screen Time on remote devices?

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