Screen time “Allowed websites only” setting restricts URLs used by other apps

Hey,

I share your frustration.

I have a MacBook Air M2, and I've had exactly the same problem when I updated to Sonoma. I've used "allowed only" web content restrictions with Monterey and Ventura OS without ever seeing this pop window, and all third party apps worked without a hitch.

I've spoken with Apple support for hours, during which we run all kinds of tests, and gathered data, even reinstalled Sonoma, to no avail. I was told that the engineers say it's "expected behavior" and they didn't know why specifically Sonoma would have triggered it. They were trying to blame it on third party apps, but I'll even get pop ups for Apple apps like Weather.

This really doesn't seem right; apps shouldn't be affected by a "web content" restriction whitelist. What's more, is that I've searched in Community for this issue and a number of people have talked about it, but I'm yet to see anyone offer a real solution or actually explain how this Screen Time pop window works.

I hope we can get to the bottom of this.

Sammy.

HaelStegaria wrote:

I own a 15-inch M2 Macbook and after I updated to Sonoma 14.1 (up from 13.x), the Allowed Websites Only Screen Time filter now blocks URLs and IP addresses used by applications like Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office and Spotify. A window opens every time one of these URLs is prevented from running—anywhere from every twenty seconds to every two seconds—to inform you that “Screen Time restricted these secure websites”.

How do I fix this? I want to keep Allowed Sites Only on, but this inescapable pop up box that grays out whatever window I’m working in every few seconds has made the laptop almost unusable.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/4fb42904-9ee2-4940-a7bf-7c72dfe4531d

Try turn off Screen time and compare your results.

To be proactive if Screen Time is not working as expected you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

ref: Set up Screen Time for a child on Mac - Apple Support

The current stable release of Sonoma including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 14.1.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

I was able to resolve this by deleting my son's account on my wife's computer (whose MacOS was recently upgraded to Sonoma), and then recreating it.

I recommend using the option to backup the contents of the account into a backups directory rather than just reusing the same directory immediately.

I ran into this thread while I was dealing with this issue. I did turn off the service in the settings, however before I did that I killed the Office application that was throwing the prompts in activity monitor and I noticed the prompts stop then.

little late but I also have this issue now on an administrator account, any ideas on how to fix that?