Apple Admits Screen Time Bug, Fix Coming Soon

Apple has acknowledged a bug with its parental controls feature Screen Time on the iPhone and iPad

A bug in Apple's Screen Time parental controls is allowing kids to bypass the daily time restrictions that their parents set on their iPhone handsets, reported by Wall Street Journal. The problem is that when parents are setting time restrictions for their kids, the changes are not being picked up by Screen Time. Apple was supposed to fix the issue back in May, but apparently the problem has persisted.

Some parents figured out that something was up when they stopped receiving requests from their kids for additional usage time. The Journal reports finding that a specific setting known as Downtime, which blocks access to the entire device, has been failing to save correctly; in one case, someone had to set Downtime limits three times before the limit was properly saved. The Journal counted more than 2,300 posts about this issue on the Apple Community website.

Apple confirmed the ongoing bug to the Journal and said that it's working on solutions, but it didn't offer any kind of timeline. "We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are unexpectedly reset," an Apple spokeswoman said in a statement from The Wall Street Journal. "We take these reports very seriously, and we will continue to make updates to improve the situation," the company said in a statement. Screen Time, which is found in an iPhone's Settings menu, measures how long someone uses their iPhone every day and will send out weekly notifications that tell you whether your iPhone usage has risen or declined.

Apple already fixed an issue with Screen Time settings failing to stick with iOS 16.5, released in May, the company was able to fix a problem with Screen Time settings not being retained. According to the report, some parents have continued to experience the issue on devices updated to iOS 16.6 and the iOS 17 public beta. It's unclear when Apple plans to roll out additional improvements to Screen Time.

Screen Time launched in 2018 as part of iOS 12, providing parents with a built-in option for controls previously only available in third-party applications.