Apple iOS has a feature called 'Screen Time,' which is supposed to help parents control how long their kids use their iPhones or iPads. It's meant to let parents set time limits and decide which apps can be used.
But here's the deal: Screen Time isn't working like it should right now. When parents try to change the settings, it's not applying the changes properly. So, kids can keep using their devices based on the old settings instead of the new ones.
Chanuka Nadun Perera
The Wall Street Journal talked about this issue, and Apple already knew about it before. They tried to fix it in iOS 16.5, but apparently, the problem still hangs around even in the iOS 17 public beta.
Apple's spokesperson said they're aware of the problem and taking it seriously. They're trying to make updates to sort it out.
The main trouble is with a feature in Screen Time called "Downtime." It's meant to limit the hours when the iPhone or iPad can be used or make them practically unusable. But sometimes, the setting goes back to how it was before or doesn't get restricted at all.
The bummer is that there's no easy way to find out if the issue is fixed unless you keep checking the settings all the time or directly observe your kid's device usage.
Here's a little workaround, though. If you change the setting directly on the device itself, it seems to work fine. But that means you'd have to go and change it manually on each device, which can be a pain if you have many devices or they're far away from you.
Sources: wsj.com
