Screen Time and Safari

Seriously fix this issue Apple. Down time is down time right. The entire concept of down time is shut off phone activity. Safari is about as active as you can get on a phone. As parents it’s frustrating when a company decides they will allow certain activity that a parent wishes to restrict. If I want my child using safari during downtime then I can turn it on.... not you Apple! Make down time so the entire phone can be shut down if I want.

Seriously guys the “solution” or reason safari stays active during downtime has been explained several times on this thread. When Downtime is active safari stays accessible. *However* it is restricted from loading any websites by the user. Please see the attached screenshot.

No need to download chrome, or other workarounds. This is how it’s meant to operate.

I have just turned on downtime, clicked on safari and tried to load several websites. As expected nothing loads. I tried google.com, YouTube.com, and even the apple.com site. None of them loaded. So I don’t understand where the problem is?

By the way if you are setting this up for a child and you want to replace the “ignore limit” option with “ask for permission to extend limit” option you need to set up downtime under family sharing.

I was having same issue, but figured it out. Hope this helps...

1. Open“Settings” on IPhone
2. Click on “Screen Time”
3. Scroll to the bottom and Turn off “Screen Time”
4. Now Turn “Screen Time” back on
5. Close Settings and open “Safari” for a few seconds(Like 10-15seconds is fine)
6. Go back to Settings and click on “Screen Time”
7. At the top click on “IPhone”
8. Scroll down to where it says Most Used and to the right it will either say “Show Categories” or “Show Apps & Websites” in blue lettering.
9. Click on either “Show Apps & Websites” or “Show Categories” until you’re reading “Show Categories”
10. Safari should be under one of your most used so click on “Safari”
11. Scroll to bottom where it says “Add Limit” and add whatever limit you want to have set while using the Safari App.
12. Click the “Add” button on the top right

That’s it, hope this was helpful for someone.

My son quickly discovered that 1. Safari is available always and 2. videos opened into full-screen mode from Safari, if left open, will continue indefinitely during downtime and after he has already used up his allotted time for videos for the day. Screen Time is great in concept, but there are so many loop holes that it's useless. I turned Safari off today using this tip and will try installing Chrome, but I'm wondering if the same full-screen video cheat will be a problem.

I was having same issue, but figured it out. Hope this helps...

1. Open“Settings” on IPhone
2. Click on “Screen Time”
3. Scroll to the bottom and Turn off “Screen Time”
4. Now Turn “Screen Time” back on
5. Close Settings and open “Safari” for a few seconds(Like 10-15seconds is fine)
6. Go back to Settings and click on “Screen Time”
7. At the top click on “IPhone”
8. Scroll down to where it says Most Used and to the right it will either say “Show Categories” or “Show Apps & Websites” in blue lettering.
9. Click on either “Show Apps & Websites” or “Show Categories” until you’re reading “Show Categories”
10. Safari should be under one of your most used so click on “Safari”
11. Scroll to bottom where it says “Add Limit” and add whatever limit you want to have set while using the Safari App.
12. Click the “Add” button on the top right

That’s it, hope this was helpful for someone.

I agree that this is a major loophole. Despite having downtime set from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM and a 3 hour limit for all apps I found our son was able to use Safari/YouTube for 5 hours from midnight to 5:00 AM. Despite not being one of the allowed/not allowed apps I found that I am able to set a specific limit for Safari. Hopefully that will work. More importantly hopefully Apple will fix all of the holes in Screentime.

I think I found it! For my case, I wanted to limit Chrome use. This is what I did:

1. Settings
2. Screen Time
3. iPad name (first option on top) click arrow pointing right
4. Under "Most Used", click the app
5. Under "Limits", add time limit

I hope this works for you.

Not being able to limit or restrict browser use by time doesn’t make sense. I also noticed that ScreenTime doesn’t seem to record time using Safari, either. Since it’s where I tend to waste lots of time, I’d like to impose time limits and track time spent. Seems like an oversight...

You can put an app limit on a single app, rather than on a whole class of apps (e.g., Social Networking).

Let's say you want to restrict Snapchat. To do this, you have to go to that devices usage history and see Snapchat listed there. Touch it and you will be taken to a new screen which will include the option to restrict that app only.

It's a rather inconvenient way to set a limit on a single app, but it is available.

Think of Safari as a gateway to many things on the web rather than an app itself.

See "Prevent web content" here.

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

Until Apple sorts out this issue, this is a workaround which basically consists in removing Safari and having Firefox [or other browser] as a web browser on the iPad/iPhone which is considerd then as an App and can be disallowed:

1. Settings -> screen time -> content restrictions -> Apps -> allow all apps or 17+

2. Content restrictions -> Allowed apps -> Switch off Safari

3. In Apple store download Firefox [or other browser] and install

4. In Screen Time -> Always allowed -> make sure Firefox/other browser is amongst the list of applications that are not allowed during downtime

You will have to always allow apps 17+ for Firefox to remain usable, however if you have set up their iPad/iPhone so that the children must ask your approval whenever they download an application this should ensure that they do not download applications that are not suitable for them.

However, if you find any problems with these settings in that they can then access content that they should not, please let me know as I am using these at the moment with my daughter.

Thank you.

Hope this helps!

Laura

General sessitting and accounts passwords also has a back door to browse the web. Safari is not even on the phone as it is hidden by Qustodio but via general, accounts and passwords and then password you can open the link in a saved password. Via change password option will it open the password page for the site

I am having the same issue with Snapchat. It is not listed with my ‘allowed apps’ yet can be used indefinitely when in ‘downtime’ (no other social media can, only Snapchat). I’ve tried restarting etc but to no avail. This is the one app I really want disabled for my teenager during downtime!