Screen Time, one of the new iOS 12 features that Apple recently rolled out, has turned out to be no match for kids who want to spend more hours on their iPhones and iPads.
Apple created Screen Time primarily to show users if they have been spending too much time on their iOS devices. It was also capable of limiting usage, a feature that kids have already outsmarted.
What Is Screen Time?
The new Screen Time feature, which was released alongside iOS 12, is a detailed collection of in-depth data that shows each person's usage time on iPhones and iPads. It can be accessed through the Settings app, with its main page showing how much time users spend looking at their iPhone or iPad daily and for what purpose.
In addition to providing data, Screen Time also gives users options on how to curb their usage, such as by blocking certain content, scheduling downtimes, and setting time limits for apps. The third one was supposed to help parents limit how much time kids can spend on certain apps, but it did not take long for the kids to figure out how to bypass them.
How Are Kids Bypassing Screen Time Limits?
A popular Reddit thread is serving as a collection of parents' stories on how their children have cheated Screen Time's limit features.
One father revealed that his son deletes the games that have already reached the time limit, then re-downloads them on the App Store. The saves are retrieved through iCloud so that he can continue playing where he left off, but this resets the Screen Time usage limit for the day. However, this could be prevented by setting the Install Apps option to Now Allowed within Screen Time.
Another child uses YouTube's iMessage app to send himself the videos. YouTube may become blocked after a while, but the videos may still be watched within iMessage, which parents would want to keep at unlimited usage for communication purposes with their children.
Meanwhile, on Apple's support forum, one parent claimed that children may outsmart the Screen Time usage limit by resetting the time and date of the iPhone and iPad, which makes the device think that it is a new day.
"There is no app, no operating system, no proxy, scanner or firewall, and no setting that will ever defeat a determined kid," one parent wrote on the forums. Maybe it is time then for parents to stop relying on apps to discipline their children and simply take away the device? Just a suggestion.
