What's new in Screen Time API

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Discuss the WWDC22 Session What's new in Screen Time API

Posts under wwdc2022-110336 tag

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Screen time API can be disabled easily
We have developed a Parental/Self control app using Screen time API. We have used individual authentication to authorize the app, using the instructions here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/familycontrols/authorizationcenter The problem is , that individual auth can be disabled easily , by the following steps: enter Settings app. in Settings app, click on the Parental/Self control app. click to disable screen time restriction. show the device owner's face/fingerprint. (or pin code) Why is that a problem: Parental control apps, or self-control apps, are about giving control to the software, To make it hard for the user to disable the restrictions. So using the flow I have introduced above, it's super-easy for a user to disable his Parental control restrictions, which misses the entire point of Parental/Self control idea. Furthermore, not only the user have the means to unlock his screen time restrictions, he also MUST have the means to unlock it. This makes Screen time (with individual auth) useless: I have a code ready to make a great parental control app for my clients, with amazing ideas, but I can't use the Screen time API unless this problem is fixed. Why child-parent auth is not enough: My clients are grownups people between ages of 15-40, that are interested in self-control, so they don't have iCloud child accounts. also, the child-parent auth solution forces my clients to give some control to other person, and my clients prefer their privacy. Some of them prefer self-control and not parental-control. What I suggest as a solution: 1: Give more options to users how to disable the Screen time restrictions. including: a second faceID / FingerPrint (that isn't the same as the one used to unlock the device) a second pin password. a string password 2: Give the users the option to choose to not have the device's owner Face/Finger/Pincode ID , as a method to disable the Screen time restrictions.
16
3
6.5k
Feb ’26
Token Selection from DeviceActivityReport
I'd like to allow users to select apps to shield from a DeviceActivityReport (similar to how Apple's Screen Time Settings activity report allows a user to "add limits" to a selected app in the report. What I need to do is pass an appToken from the DeviceActivityReportExtension to my app. I realize the extension is sandboxed and doesn't allow "private" data to be seen outside of the sandbox. The docs state: To protect the user’s privacy, your extension runs in a sandbox. This sandbox prevents your extension from making network requests or moving sensitive content outside the extension’s address space. However, tokens aren't "sensitive". I want to pass a token set out of the sandboxed extension so users can select certain apps from the report that my app can use for setting limits, etc. I thought using App Groups and saving data with UserDefaults with a suiteName for my app group would do it, but it doesn't appear to allow me to pass the token data. Yes I'm using the same KEY for both as I set a config enum to ensure it's the same and I can pass tokens successfully between other extensions/apps in the app group, but not the report extension. It seems the app and the extension have their own stores as the report extension can write to and read from a store but despite being the same suiteName, other apps in the app group don't get or send data to the Report Extension. I realize this is probably due to the design with the sandbox to protect user privacy, however it seems an exception should be made for passing tokens (or even better allow passing through another method like a callback, etc). Is there ay way to accomplish passing a token from the sandboxed report extension to my app?
1
0
960
Aug ’25
Changing Screen Time Passcode does not protect apps with Screen Time enabled
Hello, The purpose of "Screen Time Passcode" under Settings/Screen Time is to protect Screen Time preferences and it is asked every time the user updates Downtime, App Limits, Content & Privacy Restrictions and so on. But the private passcode is not requested if the user disables Screen Time for a particular app (only Face ID or phone passcode is requested, but not the private Screen Time passcode). I think this is a mistake, I think the purpose of a private Screen Time passcode is to protect all settings, including apps that use this API, right? Is there any solution to this? Thank you.
6
4
4.3k
May ’25
Screen time API can be disabled easily
We have developed a Parental/Self control app using Screen time API. We have used individual authentication to authorize the app, using the instructions here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/familycontrols/authorizationcenter The problem is , that individual auth can be disabled easily , by the following steps: enter Settings app. in Settings app, click on the Parental/Self control app. click to disable screen time restriction. show the device owner's face/fingerprint. (or pin code) Why is that a problem: Parental control apps, or self-control apps, are about giving control to the software, To make it hard for the user to disable the restrictions. So using the flow I have introduced above, it's super-easy for a user to disable his Parental control restrictions, which misses the entire point of Parental/Self control idea. Furthermore, not only the user have the means to unlock his screen time restrictions, he also MUST have the means to unlock it. This makes Screen time (with individual auth) useless: I have a code ready to make a great parental control app for my clients, with amazing ideas, but I can't use the Screen time API unless this problem is fixed. Why child-parent auth is not enough: My clients are grownups people between ages of 15-40, that are interested in self-control, so they don't have iCloud child accounts. also, the child-parent auth solution forces my clients to give some control to other person, and my clients prefer their privacy. Some of them prefer self-control and not parental-control. What I suggest as a solution: 1: Give more options to users how to disable the Screen time restrictions. including: a second faceID / FingerPrint (that isn't the same as the one used to unlock the device) a second pin password. a string password 2: Give the users the option to choose to not have the device's owner Face/Finger/Pincode ID , as a method to disable the Screen time restrictions.
Replies
16
Boosts
3
Views
6.5k
Activity
Feb ’26
Token Selection from DeviceActivityReport
I'd like to allow users to select apps to shield from a DeviceActivityReport (similar to how Apple's Screen Time Settings activity report allows a user to "add limits" to a selected app in the report. What I need to do is pass an appToken from the DeviceActivityReportExtension to my app. I realize the extension is sandboxed and doesn't allow "private" data to be seen outside of the sandbox. The docs state: To protect the user’s privacy, your extension runs in a sandbox. This sandbox prevents your extension from making network requests or moving sensitive content outside the extension’s address space. However, tokens aren't "sensitive". I want to pass a token set out of the sandboxed extension so users can select certain apps from the report that my app can use for setting limits, etc. I thought using App Groups and saving data with UserDefaults with a suiteName for my app group would do it, but it doesn't appear to allow me to pass the token data. Yes I'm using the same KEY for both as I set a config enum to ensure it's the same and I can pass tokens successfully between other extensions/apps in the app group, but not the report extension. It seems the app and the extension have their own stores as the report extension can write to and read from a store but despite being the same suiteName, other apps in the app group don't get or send data to the Report Extension. I realize this is probably due to the design with the sandbox to protect user privacy, however it seems an exception should be made for passing tokens (or even better allow passing through another method like a callback, etc). Is there ay way to accomplish passing a token from the sandboxed report extension to my app?
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
960
Activity
Aug ’25
Changing Screen Time Passcode does not protect apps with Screen Time enabled
Hello, The purpose of "Screen Time Passcode" under Settings/Screen Time is to protect Screen Time preferences and it is asked every time the user updates Downtime, App Limits, Content & Privacy Restrictions and so on. But the private passcode is not requested if the user disables Screen Time for a particular app (only Face ID or phone passcode is requested, but not the private Screen Time passcode). I think this is a mistake, I think the purpose of a private Screen Time passcode is to protect all settings, including apps that use this API, right? Is there any solution to this? Thank you.
Replies
6
Boosts
4
Views
4.3k
Activity
May ’25