I'm looking at the list of "always allowed" apps to include for the Downtime feature but Safari is not listed there and when downtime is enabled Safari is still able to be used (my allowed apps are phone, messages, FaceTime, maps - the default). Anyone else seeing this issue?
iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)
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.
Not only is Snapchat unaffected by downtime, this has extended to Instagram too! I have tried adding an ‘app limit’ to social networking apps but it’s as though these apps aren’t included. There is just no way to control them at all. (Incidentally, on my phone, Messenger is unaffected by downtime). Something is not working like it should.
Go to Settings>Screen Time>Content & Privacy Restrictions>Content Restrictions>Web Content and choose "Allowed Websites Only"
Then you can just swipe left to delete any items from the stock list that shows up, or add sites that you wish to allow access to.
Yes, this is what is meant to happen. I am all over how to adjust settings. The problem is it simply does not work consistently. Everything is set (through all sorts of ways - downtime, blocked app, time limits etc) to ensure the app is blocked but the app remains ‘open’. Some days it works correctly. It is very frustrating. Have tried restarting phones, completing settings changes from both my and the child’s phone but to no avail.
After using Screen Time, it does appear that even though Safari itself is not able to be "blocked", when you go to load a web page on it, the screen time feature will kick in if the "All app" limit or downtime period is active. So it works, but not in the way that would be intuitive.
For me, both Snapchat and Instagram respond to Screen Time limits.
I have the same problem. My child got notice that Snapchat would be shut off in 5 minutes, yet 35 minutes later she was still video chatting away with multiple friends. Same with Instagram, FaceTime, and messages. Sometimes it works, but more often it doesn’t. I’ve read posts about how some kids get around Screentime, but I’ve verified that’s not happening here. Screen time just doesn’t work consistently.
Make sure you have
Settings -> Screen Time -> App Limits -> Your chosen categories -> then the slider for "block at end of limit" is green and set on, otherwise they just get a notice that their time is up but are able to continue to use the various apps.
Do I need to block the category if I’ve blocked the app? Sometimes I just want to block Snapchat, not the whole category. The settings for Snapchat are as you describe above. This morning, everything was off, so at some point it worked... perhaps when everything resets at midnight. I’m wondering if you “approve for all day, “ which I did, and then impose a block or a time limit, it doesn’t work until reset at midnight. I really wish Apple would provide a custom time limit. All day is too much. One hour is not enough. I thought I got around this by imposing a time limit on Snapchat after Ivhad approved all day. She got the notice time was up, but Snapchat did not stop working.
I think this is only with Safari, since they don't have a way to block "Safari" by itself. You have to approve each new website when the time is up. One solution is to download another browser like Chrome and then it will either be turned on or off. And then you can disable Safari if you need to so that Chrome is the only available browser.
If Screen Time is on and you have either gone over your allotted time for general category apps or the time block for the day, if you launch Safari or try to access an open Safari page, you will hit the Screen Time block screen. So effectively Safari IS turned off via Screen Time. It just doesn't LOOK like it is because the icon is still active; the pages themselves are NOT active inside the app.
I couldn't get Screen Time to work on my daughter's phone (I couldn't block Safari or YouTube app). But then I turned off Screen Time, cycled the power on the phone, and then re-did all the Screen Time settings. Now it works fine. YMMV. Obviously the software is pretty buggy.
Glad I’m not the only one, I was starting to think I am a complete moron trying to sort out how to downtime safari the past few weeks. It appears there’s no “category” to the Safari app, thus it won’t fall in line with any catagory shut down OR the “all apps & categories” like it should. Using a separate limit specific to Safari seems to work (besides the webpage(s) already running), except it’s an additional time added to the limit set for everything else. Back to nightly celly confiscations, defeating the downtime features’ purpose. Not cool Apple. How do we go about getting this addressed?
Hi guys,
Fear not even though when downtime kicks in and the safari app doesn’t grey out, when you open safari and actually try to load a website it won’t let you. For example if you try opening www.facebook.com or any website it just comes up with a little egg timer saying downtime is enabled. It’s actually working fine.
That hasn't always been true for me. Sometimes Safari will let me visit any site even if it's supposedly blocked.
I have a somewhat related question. In the App Limits section it says, for example, "Creativity" apps include Google photos, Photos, and 8 more apps. Is there a way to see what those other 8 apps are?
I don’t know why you are having a different experience to me, i have it set up for my daughter and when downtime kicks in she can only go onto messenger and FaceTime. To check catagories go onto settings>Screen time>Tap “your iPhone” at top of screen>then tap show categories> then click a catagory
For my sons phone with all apps blocked after 3 hours and no apps but phone allowed safari just keeps working. Very stupid if apple is serious about protecting from over use of the phone.
it was worse before iOS 12.1.2, but there is still some work to be done on this screetime implementation.
Screen Time and Safari
