Many parents are reporting that Screen Time is broken, with restrictions silently canceling on devices in their Family Sharing group without alerting them.
This is a problem previously reported, but which Apple claimed to have fixed in iOS 16.5. The company now admits that the problem persists even into the latest public beta of iOS 17 …
How parents can use Screen Time
With Family Sharing enabled, parents or guardians can enable Screen Time on devices used by their kids. This allows four types of restrictions to be applied:
Downtime
Downtime lets parents set a curfew on screen time, by automatically disabling use of children’s devices between certain times. This might be at bedtime, for example, or during designated times for homework or other activities.
App Limits
You can set daily time limits for certain apps, or categories of apps, like games.
Communication Limits
This feature allows you to limit communication to approved contacts, either permanently, or during downtime.
Content Restrictions
Parents can block access to adult content, purchases, and downloads.
Screen Time is broken for many
Many parents are reporting that Screen Time limits applied to their kids’ devices simply switch themselves off randomly, without informing them. Despite Apple claiming to have fixed this in iOS 16.5, it has persisted for many users, even those using the public beta of iOS 17.
The WSJ reports that Apple has now acknowledged that the fix didn’t work for all.
“We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are unexpectedly reset,” an Apple spokeswoman said. “We take these reports very seriously and we have been, and will continue, making updates to improve the situation.”
Parents say that the problem is not just the bug that cancels restrictions, but the fact that they aren’t alerted. Kids, of course, are keeping quiet when the restrictions aren’t applied.
One father said that he only grew suspicious because his kids were no longer using one feature of the restrictions: the ability to send a request to parents for more time.
Tim Baker, a marketing executive in Nutley, N.J., discovered the problem late last year, after the release of iOS 16. He typically got requests from his two kids for extra time, and thought it was odd that he wasn’t hearing from them. He checked the kids’ Screen Time settings and saw the Downtime limits he had established were gone.
Top comment by DvdV
If you read the posts here you actually see that most people do not understand the reason for screentime. It is not only for small children that stay at home but also for 10 years and older.
I often feel like Apple has the same problem. They have people working on screentime who most likely do not have kids. The idea of the tool is great but the tool itself is full of bugs since day one. Allowing kids to download an App or buy a book seldom works. When a kid is asking for screentime you often need 3-4 attempts.
In most cases Apple gives us consumers what we want. OK: „It just works" is for history books but most things work directly or after 1-2 updates. It just feels like people at Apple can‘t relate to families. Not only with screentime, I just had the following issue. I took my kids to my bank and opened accounts for them because I want them to learn how to handle money. I made sure that my bank's debit card supports ApplePay. The only problem is that people under 16 can't add a debit card to their wallet.
The WSJ was able to verify that the issue persists in the iOS 17 public beta.
Apple has so far only been able to suggest resetting devices, which typically only works for a few days to a week or two.
Until the issue is fixed, if you’re relying on Screen Time to limit devices by your kids, you might want to make periodic checks that it’s still functioning.
Photo: Hessam Nabavi/Unsplash
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments