How is my child bypassing screentime limits?

jocie295 wrote:

Where are you finding where your child can change the passcode on their phone

Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Passcode Changes, and set that to Don't Allow to prevent a child from making Passcode changes.

It’s actually a very simple bypass. My daughter restarts her phone and opens the app upon restart whichever she wants to use and from there it doesn’t turn it offf on her. She restarts with each app she uses I believe. It’s been going on for months after downtime and I havent been able to do anything to change that. The only way I knew was by checking her total screen time and it shows the times and amount they are on them. It’s ridiculous. Hope this helps

Some questions:

1) Did you (or another adult) as Family Organizer create the child’s AppleID as described here:

Create an Apple ID for your child - Apple Support

2) Did the Family Organizer personally setup the child’s device after it had been Factory Reset (or purchased new) … specifically selecting “This is a Child’s Device” during setup?

3) Did the Family Organizer additionally setup Screentime on the child’s device - again selecting “This is a Child’s Device” AND use a unique secret passcode unknown to the child?

Use parental controls on your child's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

4) If the Organizer selected to use their OWN AppleID for Screentime passcode revovery, is the adult’s AppleID password indeed unknown to the child?

5) Within Screentime - specifically within the final group “Other Settings and Features” are restrictions set to prevent child from:

• Changing AppleID
• Changing Device Passcode
• Changing Data Plans

One way I know kids can bypass it if they change the clock to 24hr time because my daughter did it...

and you don't update your time restrictions to match the 24hr time equivalent of what you want it to be.

need to be able to lockdown making ANY system changes at all.

Child bypasses using restart > one more minute > launch youtube in an inset window. The youtube won't show up on screentime as the app isn't considered active. The restrictions won't shut down the app because it isn't considered active.

Apple security is literally being defeated by grade-school children. I'm not being contentious, these are just the facts. Read the threads.

Katana-San wrote:

Hello~ Great advice. One of my grandchildren now has a flip phone and an old one at that for much the same reason. He is mortified that I suggested this as a possibility.

~Katana-San~

That is parenting at its best! Respect is a learned behavior, a child is not born with it.

Hello~ Great advice. One of my grandchildren now has a flip phone and an old one at that for much the same reason. He is mortified that I suggested this as a possibility.

~Katana-San~

I haven’t read the other comments so I’m not sure if anyone has already said this, but when you turn your iPhone off and turn it back up again, it gives you around 30 seconds where all the apps are still loading. In those 30 seconds any app that has a limit on won’t have a limit and will be available to use while the iPhone is still loading everything in the background. Try it yourself: put a limit on an app of 1 minute. Use the app until the limit runs out and when it asks you for 1 more minute, use that minute too to run the app out of time completely. Then turn your phone off and on again. After turning your phone on, quickly go to that same app and try opening it again.

Just like there is an 6 digit and letter password option for screen lock there should be such a thing for screen time password this way it will make it difficult for a kid to bypass this. Any four digit numeric password is so easy for a kid to by pass. Apple should update the seti f and give us a 6 diFor/letter option.

cameleonbora wrote:

Apple should update the seti f and give us a 6 diFor/letter option.

You can let Apple know what you'd like to see here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Some possibilities:

https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-hack-screen-time/

Ensure that the iPad has been updated to iPadOS 16.6.

Change your Screen Time passcode daily (keep it very different each time) & see if it still happens. It may be a PITA but if the unauthorized access still happens, you maybe he DOES know (by whatever means) the Screen Time passcode and may be keeping the access at a minimum (or within certain parameters) to draw attention away from it. It's worth a try anyways, especially if you don't change the Screen Time passcode regularly.

If changing the passcode daily does NOT stop the access, then he is gaining access in some other way (of which you are indeed trying to figure out).

Set up a parallel SSID and lock them to that, and shut that off on a schedule. This can be done with various approaches, including a cheap timer on a cheap router, or a mid-grade router with some scheduling controls.

To be blunt, all of this Parental Controls stuff can be bypassed, and that on an allowance scale budget, if the kid is inclined. Only reliable use I’ve found for these controls is keeping less technical folks locked down and away from random changes to settings. Kids, kids can bypass these, if not directly (password surfing, etc) then through readily available alternatives.