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App Store disappears when allowed via Screen Time

I have Screen Time controls set up on my daughter’s 9th generation iPad. She is running the latest iPadOS 17.5.1. The App Store is hidden on her iPad because I have the installation of apps “Not Allowed”. I “Allowed” the installation of apps so that the App Store app would appear and after 1-2 seconds it disappeared again, so we can’t access the App Store. Has anyone else encountered this bug? Is there a fix or proposed fix?

iPad (9th generation)

Posted on May 27, 2024 6:09 AM

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Posted on Jun 6, 2024 6:13 PM

I found the solution on reddit: Disable content & privacy restrictions entirely. Not the install/delete options.


Go to Setting > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Then set the Content & Privacy Restrictions toggle to off. Wait several seconds.

76 replies

Jun 21, 2024 4:28 PM in response to josh0034

Good evening. Just to update everyone on this. I keep pretty comprehensive security & privacy settings on my device so I’ve had the same issue.


I spoke with a senior member of Apples support team and provided them with a screen capture of the issue in action.


We could see that some aspect of the Screen Time features is conflicting with the App Store and causing it to suppress whenever ANY privacy settings are active.


I also gave the team member this forum to demonstrate others are having this issue. We both feel that the recent iOS update may be the cause.


Apple states they’re forwarding the information and feedback upstream for correction with an update hopefully in the near future.

Jun 13, 2024 5:32 AM in response to josh0034

I have privacy restrictions set on my children's iPads, and suddenly, the App Store disappeared. No matter how much I searched, it was nowhere to be found. I tried everything: multiple times, I allowed and disallowed access on screen time, restarted the iPad, and so on.


The ONLY way I was able to update my children's apps was to toggle Content & Privacy Restrictions off, wait a few seconds, and then quickly go to the App Store to update the apps. The App Store quickly disappeared again, but thankfully, it did update all the apps. If you do this, you must do it quickly, though.


Unfortunately, I still do NOT have the App Store, even when I have "Allow Installing Apps" toggled on. Hopefully, Apple fixes this soon, as I have the most recent version (17.5.1).

Jun 11, 2024 2:16 PM in response to mattthew

That’s not helpful; on the contrary, it sounds dangerous. There’s an obvious reason why we enabled content and privacy restrictions for our kids. Disabling it entirely means they can not only install any apps but also access explicit content on the web, in books, music, and videos, bypassing age restriction settings.

Jun 23, 2024 1:02 PM in response to josh0034

Found a solution!! Choose “Stop Managing Screen Time” on my device for the individual. And then set up Screen Time again, like you’re setting it up for the first time. This was the only thing that worked for me and will hopefully work for others!


I had the same problem as others stated: I had stopped allowing App Store purchases, but after allowing again, the App Store wouldn’t show up on my child’s phone. Or, it would show up for a second and then disappear. I tried turning off Content and Privacy Restrictions, and toggling it back on again, but this didn’t help. We backed up her phone, reset it and erased all settings, then set up up again from the backup, and the problem persisted. We even erased/reset it again, this time not using her backup, and once I connected her to iCloud and had my screen time controls connected to her phone, the App Store disappeared again. Finically I chose “Stop Managing ___ Screen Time” and set up the screen time controls fresh and it worked! So it must have been some glitch that was embedded in the way the controls were set up and those controls needed to be reset by stopping management of them and then starting again.

May 28, 2024 3:43 PM in response to josh0034

I had it disappear too, despite allowing app installation under screen time. I was able to get it back (but it then disappeared again).


To get it back, I did this:


Settings>General>Transfer or Reset iPad>Reset All Settings


Didn't lose any personal stuff, but had to spend a half hour resetting all my app and device settings. To test it, I set it to "Do Not Allow Changes" for installing app and it disappeared. Then set it back to "Allow Changes" for installing apps and App Store came back as it should, but then five seconds later it disappeared again before I could open it up. Note, disabling screen time restrictions altogether doesn't bring it back at all. Resetting "all settings" does; if you try this and it works for you too, open the app store right away and just leave it open, see if it sticks around that way. It may crash out and disappear? I'm not spending another half hour resetting everythng again to find out; I'll just wait until Apple patches this up (like other posters, I just did the full OS update four days ago and that's when it disappeared the first time).

Jun 14, 2024 12:44 AM in response to josh0034

For your iPad with Home button.

  1. Finalize your screen time settings when you enable Content and Privacy Restictions. App Store disappears.
  2. Then Disable Content and Privacy Restictions and wait for the App Store to appear.
  3. When the App Store appears, go back to screen time and enable Content and Privacy Restictions again.
  4. This next step should be immediate and before the App Store disappears. Restart the iPad by pressing and holding the top button and the Home button at the same time. Only release the buttons after the apple logo appears.


For iphone

Just make sure to disable Share Across Devices in Screen Time on all your apple devices.


App Store disappears when allowed via Screen Time

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