[combyn8tor]

Glad to see someone documenting this. I use the screentime feature to restrict my kid's iPad's and it is so painful. Here are my notes:

- When an iPad is presented to you to enter your parent code to unlock an app, the name of the app isn't shown as the pin prompt is over the top of the app/time to unlock details.

- It's not possible to set screen time restrictions for Safari.

- If apps are not allowed to be installed, app updates stop. I have to allow app installations, install updates, then block app installations again.

- Setting downtime hours just doesn't seem to work. Block apps from 6pm - 11.59pm? Kid gets locked out of their iPad at school for the whole day.

- Most of the syncing between settings on a computer to the target iPads appear to be broken completely. If an iPad is in downtime, and the scheduled downtime time changes, it does not take the iPad out of downtime.

- Downtime doesn't allow multi-day hour settings. For instance, try setting downtime from 8pm - 8am.

- Popups in the screen time settings of MacOS have no visual indication that there is more beneath what can be seen. There is no scrollbar. You have to swipe/scroll on every popup to see if there are more settings hidden out of view.

- No granular downtime controls for websites. You can block Safari, or you can not block Safari.

Edit: Oh I almost forgot this nifty little bug reported back in 2023: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255049918?sortBy=rank

Screentime randomly shows you a warning about being an administrator... no probs you just need to select another account and then re-select the one you want and it'll go away.

[benchess]

> - It's not possible to set screen time restrictions for Safari.

I thought this too. I discovered it actually is possible though, just doesn't appear in the list. Go "Screen Time" -> "App Limits" -> "Add Limit". In the "Choose Apps" dialog, you won't see Safari in the list. But you can type "Safari" in the search bar and it'll appear.

But I agree with the overall sentiment on this thread. iOS Parental Controls aren't where they need to be.

[derefr]

> If apps are not allowed to be installed, app updates stop. I have to allow app installations, install updates, then block app installations again.

Presumably this is because apps could add individual features parents don't approve of between updates.

If you're locking down what apps you want your kids to use (to an individual whitelist of apps, not just by maturity rating), you're essentially stepping into the role of an enterprise MDM IT department, auditing software updates for stability before letting them go out.

What would you propose instead here?

I presume you'd personally just be willing to trust certain apps/developers to update their apps without changing anything fundamental about them. But I think that most people who are app-whitelisting don't feel that level of trust torward apps/developers, and would want updates to be stopped if-and-only-if the update would introduce a new feature.

So now, from the dev's perspective, you're, what, tying automatic update rollout to whether they bump the SemVer minor version or not? Forcing the dev to outline feature changes in a way that can be summarized in a "trust this update" prompt notification that gets pushed to a parent's device?

[combyn8tor]

"you're essentially stepping into the role of an enterprise MDM IT department, auditing software updates for stability before letting them go out."

If my daughter's Spotify app breaks after an update she knows to immediately contact my on-call pager and alert our family CEO and legal department.

Just give me a checkbox that allows updates.

If an app developer changes something fundamental about the app, then the changes will be subject to the app store age guidelines. If the app is recategorised to 18+ it won't be able to install anyway. Billions of devices around the world have auto app updates turned on. The risk of a rogue update is outweighed by the benefit of getting instant access to security updates. I'm managing a kids iPad with a couple of mainstream games and school apps installed, not running a fortune 500.

[thimabi]

> Downtime doesn't allow multi-day hour settings. For instance, try setting downtime from 8pm - 8am.

I’m running iOS 18.7.1 and I can do that just fine. Maybe it wasn’t possible before, but it certainly is now.

[hexbin010]

Wow that's...a lot. Are they bugs...or malicious compliance/checkbox implementation?

[combyn8tor]

They present as bugs. I suspect they don't have the A team working on mechanisms that help reduce the amount of time kids spend on their devices. Do the bare minimum to show they "care" but no more as it hurts the profits.