Apple acknowledged that a Screen Time bug is affecting its products, allowing kids to use their apps and games after the parentally set time limits have passed. The company acknowledged the bug but didn't provide a timeframe for a fix in a comment that was published by The Wall Street Journal over the weekend.
Through Family Sharing, parents and guardians can set restrictions for their children's use of Apple devices using the Screen Time settings. The adult family member can set up a variety of restrictions, such as time spent on particular app categories, like games, communication time restrictions, and scheduled "downtime," during which only parentally approved apps and phone calls are permitted. The latter is frequently used at bedtime to keep kids from being tempted to check social media or play games when they should be sleeping.
The WSJ reported that an Apple Screen Time bug prevents parents' settings from being applied.
According to an Apple spokeswoman, "We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are unexpectedly reset." We have been making updates to help the situation and will continue to do so because we take these reports very seriously.
Apple announced that it had fixed a bug with Screen Time with the release of iOS 16.5 in which "settings may have reset or not sync across all devices." The new report, however, confirmed that the bug is still causing issues with the iOS 17 beta's public release.
Of course, the issue for parents is that children frequently fail to disclose when they are given extra time on their devices. They'll simply continue to use the apps and games that were previously prohibited or had time restrictions with no complaints. Because of this, many parents aren't even aware that the bug is influencing how their family uses devices.
Apple cracked down on third-party apps that offered a comparable service before releasing its own Screen Time tools with the release of iOS 12 in 2018. The company removed apps from its App Store because it claimed they used technologies that put users' privacy at risk. The apps had used a variety of strategies for controlling screen time because iOS lacked a system for doing so, including the use of background location, VPNs, and MDM-based solutions (mobile device management, a system made to control employee devices in the enterprise).
In 2021, many apps had already been rendered obsolete, the company finally released a Screen Time API for creators of screen time apps to use by building on top of Apple's tools.
Parents who use screen time management tools on their children's devices now frequently use Apple's own tools because there is less competition in the ecosystem of Screen Time apps as a result of Apple's changes. Therefore, when that system fails, it has wider repercussions.
The third-party apps that are still in use today, however, are not free and frequently include extra features for parents to use in order to justify their cost. For instance, the Journal's report mentions the app Qustodoio, which also has a family locator. The content that kids access across dozens of apps and social media platforms is monitored by Bark, a popular app. Others seek to offer more accurate alerting, in-depth reports, or straightforward controls.
When the Screen Time bug will be fixed is unknown, but given the prominent media attention it has recently received, we would anticipate it to be prioritized in the near future, possibly with the release of iOS 17 to the general public in the fall, if not earlier.