My sister-in-law is trying to regulate the amount of time her child spends on his iPad.
[Please, we acknowledge all the pros/cons of having screen time manage this, as opposed to the parent - so no need to go into that side of things. Let’s just say that in this case, the situation is more complex].
I walked her through what must be done, in terms of setting up total time for games, and he was still bypassing it. So I tried to do the same on our kid’s iPad. When the limit is reached, an option appears that says “ask for more time” - doing that, simply overrides the block??
Is that supposed to happen? If so, can this option be disabled? Any tips/suggestions?
I’ve just tried a quick test and it allows more time with a passcode switched on. However, choosing the option ‘Block at End of Limit’ meant that it would not extend the session without the passcode. Could you ask your sister-in-law to check that that toggle switch is in addition to having set a passcode. Having both on seems to be the only way to prevent this (you cannot add more time without entering the passcode).
Appreciate the detailed reply – I did toggle this, and my checking a while ago, sees it working as expected now.
Possibly my earlier tests were without my having ‘exited’ my changing things in Screentime properly – which is why it was maybe not picking-up/‘saving’ the changes I had made.
I will follow-up with my s-i-l to see if what is switched on that side – but suspect this is the missing piece!
I wasn’t seeing that toggle until I turned on the passcode (at least, I think that’s what did it.) Even then, it seemed to take a second. Just FYI, it might be hidden at first glance.
Do any good people here know how to extend custom time under “Ask for more time?” The default options are 1 min, 15 min, 1 hour or all day. I’d like to set a custom time based on earned time. Thanks in advance.
This isn’t using ScreenTime, but I’m currently using Kidslox. This allows almost everything that ScreenTime did plus added benefits of:
Rewards. They can do chores/tasks and then mark them as done which allow you to approve additional time (ie. get +10 mins for tidying your room, or +5 min for feeding the dog).
Custom time extensions. You can approve in 5 min intervals up to 90 min at a time.
It also has GPS tracking, app blacklist/whitelist, bedtime scheduling, reporting, etc… I don’t personally use the GPS as I find that creepy.
Also one thing I do have to mention is that this app is un-modifyable without an internet connection. So if your kid is playing a downloaded game away from wifi, and you want to increase their time, you can’t if there isn’t an active internet connection. I find this maddening, but the other benefits outweigh this one annoyance.
What a wonderful suggestion. Thanks very much. I will download it on his iPad Air and see how it works. Will follow up with thanks and feedback. You’re awesome!
Another device to look at, although a bit costly, is a Circle Home Plus device which plugs into your home network (and also comes with a VPN profile for your child’s devices when away from home). You assign devices in your home to profiles, and then can filter content to that profile, set time limits, set rewards, etc. We whitelist most devices, so they bypass it, but also can configure the Apple TVs in the house if we so desire, so we can turn off YouTube or Netflix, for example. It also installs a VPN profile on our daughter’s iPad, so when she’s out of the house and at a friend’s house, the same filtering rules apply. I was initially trying to do this with the Eero Secure+, since we have an Eero network, but Circle is a big more fine-grained.
Update on KIDLOX:
Unfortunately, I am not able to get the Profile Settings (KPC) under “downloaded profile” to install. It hangs multiple times after I enter my passcode and install. Deleted the Kidslox app, re-installed, repeated steps, and still stucked at the same place. I have the latest IOS 15.4.1. Will now try Evan’s suggestion below next. Thanks anyway.
Screentime was a complete failure for us. We ended up taking the kids’ iPads away and getting an iMac. It’s not perfect, but it is on a desk in the living room where we can see what they are up to and how long they’ve been up to it.
Honestly this is something Apple could improve and learn from Amazon and Microsoft. Their family offerings here are far superior from what I’ve seen so far.
On MS, my children have an individual shared profile across all MS platforms (Windows, Xbox, Android, etc…). So their limits are enforced wherever they are online. If I give them an hour they can use it on the computer or the Xbox or their tablet or playing a mobile game. It’s all synced and shared across devices.
Screentime should work like that but hasn’t in my experience so far.
