Is there a way for kids to bypass the apple screen time restrictions?

[naturelove]

We have a 12 year old that has a time restriction on her phone. It’s for 2 or 3 hours but the kids on her phone for 8 hours a day. Is it possible that she’s bypassing the apple parental controls? She has no restrictions on Spotify or texts. Is it possible she’s just looking at Spotify/messages/her old pics for the other handful of hours a day? I feel like kids are always a step ahead in the tech department.

 

[colwyn]

@naturelove Sneak Tip: Go to Settings.

Select battery.

And see their battery usage and most used apps.

It shows peak hours, and cannot be fibbed.

Take a screenshot. And Airdrop it to yourself. Gently explain that you asked for rules and to partner with them- and it doesn’t appear they are acting in good faith. Ask them to problem solve with you.

Tell them if they tamper with this, reset or turn off… they lose their phone for a week.

 

[words1234]

@naturelove The first thing to check is to make sure that the toggle switch is on for restricting the app after the time
runs out. I didn’t have that on at first and my kids were just getting a warning that they were at the time limit, but it was allowing them to continue using the app after the warning.

Another trick my kids figured out is that they could download TikToks to the camera roll on their phone and once they run out of time on TikTok then can watch them there. So I actually had to put a time limit on the Photos app.

But they honestly are on FaceTime almost every hour that they are awake. They will do their chores with a friend on the screen, watching them and talking to them while they’re doing the dishes or whatever. It’s so weird. So when their screen time is high, I can see that it’s almost always them being on FaceTime. I do have downtime scheduled so that only messages from family can come through after 10pm on school nights.

 

[naturelove]

@words1234 Tha ks for the heads up

 

[canadiancora]

@naturelove Just learned that my son figured out how to access tumblr through the Apple News app.

 

[siskie]

@naturelove Make sure you toggle to block at end of limit. I missed that one for a bit. If you change anything, it always resets back to off. I check on it every once in a while.

 

[justme12345678910]

@naturelove I went here to figure out how my daughter was talking at 1 am. It was Roblox.

https://www.familyorbit.com/blog/bypass-parental-controls-on-iphone/

I also have her devices in one profile on the modem so I have her wifi shut off at a certain time.

 

[deloachhmt]

@justme12345678910 Turning off the Wi-Fi — You’re my hero
My kids always get around it. TikTok YouTube insta - all of them have work arounds for them.

 

[brad4god]

@deloachhmt Not to mention Spotify TikTok “podcasts”. They’re using Spotify like YouTube and TikTok while you think they’re “discovering music”. And Spotify users have been asking for years for a feature to remove videos from the platform for kids / teenagers without any response for the company.

 

[posseng]

@naturelove One way is simply through notifications so say they are out of time for texting and they get a text they will still get the notification and you can click that and use it from there as long as you don’t open the phone. Does that make sense? So for certain ones I turned them off

 

[cps3233]

@naturelove All I can say is good luck. I’m pretty good with technology and apple devices. This proved too be a complicated ordeal. Once thought it was locked down, only to find out using an app with talk features. NOT EVEN COUNTING, the many-many-many-many ways you can bypass the setting. You/they can google how to do. Changing time zone, emergency use, profile retrieve. You will know you have it temporarily when they won’t leave your side. Our close family friend was over other night and their son, now older at Yale to boot. Was telling us how he used to clean his screen and apply slight film of vasoline and then use marks to dial in screen time password, lol

 

[sheryl99]

@naturelove There are tons of ways a kid can get by time restrictions. My son is 15 and I asked him if he knew how to get around these restrictions(he has none currently as he isn't on devices enough for us to feel he needs restricted) and me just laughed and said all his friends joke about their parents thinking they limit their usage but actually can't.

Apparently you can use those Visa cash load cards to sign up for a VPN to get around some of them. Another is to ask to "check something" on a parents phone and toggle the switch off. I mean I'm kind of impressed with some of the stuff kids can figure out. Along with the 2 I listed they just do a factory reset, guess their parents passwords or go into their parents account and look at all the saved passwords, make new accounts, and tons of other things like downloading movies and videos to watch later.

So it seems that without 100% surveillance,tech-ignorant kid, or.just taking away the device it's extremely hard to limit their screen time.

 

[beekay101]

@naturelove With screen time on, you can also see how she’s spending her time. My daughter might look like she’s on for hours but she has Spotify running and headphones in a lot and this “counts” as screen time. Her “messages” and other apps will be in the single digits.

 

[colwyn]

@naturelove Go to Settings, Battery and check.

It’ll show you the usage for off times.

It’s a double check.

 

[incorporeal]

@naturelove I have a 16 year old, and have learned that she will go to any lengths to get around screen time. She must have spent hours researching tricks, and I have figured a few of them out.
1. Delete and redownload the app
2. Sign out of your apple account and have a back up one to login into
3. There is software you can download on your computer to bypass all screen time and app limits, I think she has tried a few of them.

I’ve pretty much given up, teens are hard. My one rule with her is that no matter what, that location sharing better never be turned off, because that will result in no driving privileges and being grounded.

 

[shywaffles]

@incorporeal bruh. shes 16 my guy. ik this is an old comment but shit ur a terrible parent

 

[pika25]

@shywaffles What about that comment makes them a bad parent?

 

[shywaffles]

@pika25 The fact her child is 16.

 

[pika25]

@shywaffles Yep, she is 16 and still not an adult. Good parents care about where their children are. It is the responsibility of any good parent. When she turns 18 that is a different story.