Apple Confirms Parental Control Issues on iPhone and iPad

The issue lies in the database, which the company has already promised to fix.

Apple has confirmed issues with "Screen Time," which causes parental controls on iPhone and iPad to not always function correctly. As a result, in some situations, children may use the device longer than parents intended.

"Screen Time" allows parents to monitor app usage on their child's device. The feature enables setting limits on the time spent on specific apps, as well as completely blocking access during certain hours.

Due to a bug, the feature operates with errors: after a parent changes the settings, they are not always correctly applied on the children's devices. Consequently, in some cases, the old schedule continues to operate on the child's iPhone or iPad, even though the new one is displayed to the parents.

To ensure everything is set up correctly, parents will need to track their child's activity data and compare it with the schedule, or set restrictions directly on the child's device.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple previously acknowledged the existence of a bug that caused synchronization issues between devices and reported its resolution in iOS 16.5. However, the publication's authors found that the error is still present in the current firmware versions, including the iOS 17 beta. Apple representatives have already commented on the publication, stating that they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix.