On Aug 14, the total at the top (2 hr 29 min) is correct.
Those category numbers you’re looking at aren’t meant to be added together — because they overlap.
Why they overlap
- An app can appear in more than one category in your view, depending on how Screen Time is grouping or sorting the data.
- In the daily summary, Apple shows each category’s total independently, not subtracting time if it was already counted in another category’s display.
- For example:
- If you used WhatsApp for 1 hour, that time might be counted under Social.
- But if you also accessed WhatsApp via a shopping link, it might also be tagged under Shopping & Food in another context.
- You haven’t magically doubled your day — you’ve just double-counted when adding categories yourself.
Key Points:
- The total time at the top is the true screen-on time.
- The category list is just a way to group usage — it’s not additive.
- Adding category times will almost always give a number greater than the actual total, because the same app usage can be credited to multiple categories depending on how Apple classifies it.
In iOS Screen Time, the grey bars you see in the graph are other** usage that doesn’t fit into the colored app categories. Note:
Here’s what they usually include:
Home Screen / App Library time
- When your phone is unlocked and you’re just sitting on the Home Screen or swiping between app pages.
System & built-in features
- Time spent in Settings, Control Center, Notification Center, or Spotlight search.
- These don’t get a category color because they aren’t “apps” in the normal sense.
**Important:
This is not the same as the “Other” category you might see in the category list of Apps.
- The Other category groups certain apps that Apple decided don’t fit into broader themes (like “Education” or “Social”).
- The grey bars are outside that — they’re more like “time the screen was on but not in a category at all.”
