Screen Time app limits for Roblox not working on MacBook Air

I have been struggling with this issue for a long time on Mac. It seems Roblox app is using RobloxPlayer which is not getting restricted by the screen time. Go to ~/Applications -> Right Click Roblox -> Show Package Contents, look inside Contents/MacOS. RobloxPlayer doesn't have the Screen Time hourglass icon. I couldn't find RobloxPlayer in my child's activity monitor and Apple doesn't have a way to add manually.

With no other options, I have blocked Roblox at the router level. Added the following in Blocked Sites list, which seems to be working.

roblox.com

rbxcdn.com

clientsettings.roblox.com

api.roblox.com

I still want to allow my child a 30 minutes play and I unblock when he wants to play but it is a hassle. Apple should fix this and allow manually adding apps which are not appearing in the list, or add RobloxPlayer along with Roblox in the list.

As seen, Screen Time can only offer controls for apps that are downloaded from the App Store. When you download and install Roblox from their website, you will see a warning on your Mac that it was downloaded from the internet. Not only will Screen Time not be affected with the app, it may also install other files on your computer that would not be the case with an App Store app. That is why in Settings, you can block apps from being downloaded from the internet.

In any case, now that you have the app, to use Parental Controls with it, you will need to rely on what Roblox offers for any account that uses their app. You can find more details about those controls here:

Roblox Parental Controls

iPads don't have that screen time problem with the app, as it is not possible to download an app from a website to a device. Screen Time can be used there for control over the app, but kids sometimes look to avoid using the app and will access Roblox on the web instead. This means additional parental controls are required to prevent access to the Roblox website. A child that is looking to ignore your wishes and intentionally wants disobey your rules can find "portals" on the internet that are intended to bypass controls to prevent access to a website. These portals would have to be blocked too since they just act as a gateway to the Roblox website and your device thinks you are just accessing the Portal page.

A determined child who does not respect your wishes can also find other ways to avoid Screen Time restrictions, such as having a friend screen share their device where they can play the game and since the child is not actually playing the app on their phone, any screen time limit would not help. You would have to add a Communication Limit to prevent contact with that person. At some point you just have to say enough is enough and take a device away until they can prove that they are will to abide by your rules.

I noticed this happened on my child’s iPad. Time limits used to work with Roblox until this month. Roblox also updated parental controls this month. If my child opens Roblox even when time is reached they can play games but if I click settings it says time reached. So there s something Roblox did where games are accessible despite time limits. I know have to access parent controls through Roblox and set a time limit there. This is only way I have gotten it to work.

You can change the DNS settings on either the Mac itself or your broader network to a service like Cloudflare for Families (1.1.1.3) or OpenDNS, which do let you block specific content categories (like gaming or gambling) via their web dashboards.

The only solution for now is to download the Roblox app, set up a parent account, and set up time limits through the app.

I am sorry Mac Jim ID is totally wrong here.

3rd party downloads like vscode totally respects the limits.

What seems to be happening is that Roblox authors have found away around the Apple parental controls. With config of downtime plus block apps at downtime I can see the dock showing Roblox as time limit reached, as mentioned by the original poster. When clicking through though I notice a second app for Roblox appear in the dock. This one allows you to play games, and as said before should never have been allowed to

launch. More curious still, if you attempt to check your Roblox balance (top right) then the app time restriction kicks in.

Apple should definitely look into how this is happening. Taking a shared MacBook away each night is not a solution imo

In Screen Time, block access to these 2 websites:

• https://www.roblox.com/download/client?os=mac&renderingPlatform=nextjs
• https://www.roblox.com/download

This will prevent them from downloading the app again, so the next time they delete it to download again they will be without Roblox. Go to  > System Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > App Store, Media, Web & Games > Access to Web Content. Change that to Limit Adult Websites, then click Customize. In the Restricted section, add both of those URL's.

Hi folks, I have the same issue with my kids - somewhy the Roblox became ignorant to "gray" icon status and screen lime limits. I am a software developer and I don't understand how come this remain longer than few days. Feels like Apple developers don't use their own products. Previous issue I faced was also incredible - my minor daughter somehow managed to buy a paid app from the appstore several times, while she has a restriction on that action that in particular must request parent's approval for any purchase. Happy that Apple at least resolved all cases and returned the funds, but I still don't understand how do such lacks live longer than a week. I don't believe no one of the Apple development team has minors using iOS/macOS-devices. However, maybe they prefer Android LOL))

Hey guys, just an update - nothing worked so far. I have two kids with same MacBooks and for one of them the time limit does not react on reinstallation of the Roblox. I.e. my kid can download and reinstall Roblox over and that resets the limit. Even the icon on the dock can be shown grey (inactive) it anyway lets starting the App. It is crazy that Apple doesn't see this glitch. Any ideas on how to stop that?

Maybe the second Mac also allows that (not sure, the second kid didn't try that :))

Willstar77 wrote:

Any chance of a fix Apple? Also why are the only controls on a "per app basis". I want to limit on a "global time basis" as well.. sure you can play 1 hour of something, but you can't play 1 hour of that game AND 1 hour of another game. Perhaps I've missed an obvious setting... even if I have, I'm not convinced that it would work given my previous experience.

Are all devices in your Family Group updated to OS 27? That is exactly what you can now do by setting a Global Time Limit across all Categories.

• Your child can use apps within each category until they reach either the category’s allowance or the shared allowance across these categories.

About Time Allowances - Apple Support (LB)

So will downloading just the app work? Or do you have to download outside of the App Store?