How to set effective Screen Time limits on iOS?

There are 2 other ways Screen Time limits can be ignored.

1. If allowed, they can delete an app and then redownload from the App Store to reset the limit. The solution is to not all App downloads or deletions. Go to Content & Privacy Restrictions > iTunes & App Store Purchases. Don't allow "Installing Apps" or "Deleting Apps".
2. If allowed, then can change the time zone to give them more time. The solution is to first go to Settings > General > Data & Time and make sure it is set to "Set Automatically", then go back into Screen Time and Contents & Privacy Restrictions > Location Services > System Services and make sure "Setting Time Zone" is toggled off. Now tap the Back button and go to the top of the "Locations Services" page and choose "Don't Allow Changes"

Another thing kids are doing is getting your Screen Time Passcode by setting the screen to start recording, then having you put in your PassCode. If you see a flashing red icon in the upper left, then the screen is being recorded. Of course this can be disable in Screen Time too by going to Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions and shut off "Screen Recording".

There is also the case of kids resetting their devices to Factory Settings. Currently the best solution to this is to change their Apple ID password and not give it to them. With Find My turned on they would have to enter the password when reset and you would know what they did.

This will not solve all Screen Time problems and there is still more work that needs done.

Hey there. I had a same problem and I think I might have found a solution.

Go to:

Settings->

Family->

Childs Name/Phone->

Screen Time->

App Limits->

All Apps And Categories

Here make sure you enter in "TIME" 1 minute, every day and make sure the "BLOCK AT END OF LIMIT" option is ON!

The Block at end of limit option was Off after the latest updates amd that.is why kids were able to ignore basically everything.

Hope this helps.

The only other thing I can think of is the toggle on the limit that says “block at end of limit. Make sure that is toggled on. I’ve done that before where I didn’t realize. It’s kind of a silly feature because if you are adding a limit then you would think it’s to block the rest but worth a try.

It isn’t just a case of toggling the “block at downtime” option in ‘downtime’. If you’ve you’ve also set app limits for specific apps, you need to go to ‘app limits’, select each app and toggle the “block at end of limit” option.

With newer iOS go into app limits click on the app limit you want to require a passcode for to ignore the limit and click the “block limit” option to on. Now in order to ignore the limit it will require your screen time password

I realize that when I turned off the passcode that unlocks the iPad for my kid that that seemed to screw up the screen time settings I had set up using my iPhone. I turned the passcode back on and restart the iPad then make sure that the Screen Time passcode itself was working again… And then I made sure that “block at downtime” was checked back on. It’s the switch that says block at downtime that you really have to look at. When that’s checked then theoretically the kid can’t ignore the downtime setting. But again, I realize that everything started to go screwy after I turned off the iPads screen lock password. In other words, I thought at first it didn’t matter if my kid locked his iPad in order to pick it up and use it so I turned it off… But that’s when my problem started.

‼️SOLUTION‼️➡️➡️ ADD/ACTIVATE “SCREEN TIME PASSWORD”… THEN… go into the time setting area .. then select “BLOCK AT END OF LIMIT”.

It does work. It’s a bit of a maze

Go into your child’s screen time, select app limits and within that function there is an option to ‘block at end of limit’ that should solve it.

This is what fixed the issue with my son’s downtime. It’s always worked until today. I had turned scheduled downtime off for the school holidays and manually blocked at at different times but when I turned it back on yesterday he was able to ignore the downtime request. I’ve just checked after reading this reply and ‘block at downtime’ was toggled off so I’ve turned it back on and now it’s working correctly again! Thanks for the tip!

Hello, i had the same problem, but i discover the fix! Before you ad the apps or the limit you should set the screen time passcode and then go to apps limit! This will fix it!✌️

Hello.

Have peeps checked settings on parent and child phone they need to mirror each other. I had same problem checked child’s phone her ‘block at downtime’ wasn’t swiped, however on my phone it was

hope this helps

This solution was offered on a previous support page. I have not had to do it myself, but it may help:

1. Turn off screen time for the device that is needing to be blocked for downtime (childs device)
2. Make sure all pictures have synced with iCloud or they will be lost (scroll to bottom of photos app to check if any pending) sign out of iCloud on all devices that can either approve screen time requests or have screen time limitations (child and parents)
3. reset the same devices (not erase content, just reset all settings by going to settings > transfer or reset iPhone > reset > reset all settings)
4. sign back in to iCloud on all devices
5. turn screen time back on and set downtime limits
6. everything should be working normally now and stay as is

I've had this same problem for over a month. My son's phone is tracking screen time of apps and show they should be timed out from the limit I set, but he still has access. I tried the things mentioned in this string and none work. This is so frustrating since the problem has been hapening for years according to other posts.

Turn on 'Block at Downtime'.

If it's already 'on', then turn it off and then on again. It would work.

Are you using the latest iOS 16.5, the update says "Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices"

About iOS 16 Updates - Apple Support