7 solutions for when iPhone Screen Time is not working

Screen Time is a powerful iPhone tool that allows you to enable restrictions, view real-time reports on time spent on devices, and more.

However, some users they have faced issues with Screen Time, such as bad reports, inability to monitor or limit apps on their children’s phone, set privacy restrictions, view weekly reports, and more. Let’s go ahead and learn how to fix Screen Time not working on iPhone and iPad.

How to fix Screen Time not working on your iPhone?

Restart your iPhone

Screen Time may show incorrect reports due to anomalies your iPhone may detect during regular use. An easy way to fix this is to restart your iPhone.

• On your iPhone X or later, long press the side button from the right side of the device and the volume up or down button.
• On your iPhone SE 2020, 8 Plus or earlier, long press the side button from the right side of the device until you see the slider.
• Then, slide to turn off.
• After a minute, reboot using the same process you followed for shutting down.

Check the Apple server status for Screen Time

If you use Screen Time with Family Sharing to lock apps on your child’s iPhone or monitor usage, it’s essential to check Apple’s server status and make sure everything is running smoothly.

Visit the official system status page and make sure you see a green dot next to Screen Time. If it’s yellow or red, you’ll have to wait for Apple to fix the problem.

Update your iPhone

Problems like Screen Time not working are often successfully resolved by a software update. When an error like this is shared by people on forums and social media, Apple takes note and fixes the problems quickly. For have the latest version of iOS on your iPhone, open the app Settings, touch General and look for the latest version in Software update.

If you don’t have any pending software updates, move on to the next method.

Set the correct date and time

An easy way to get the correct date and time is to let your iPhone set them automatically. For this, open the app Settings, touch General, touch Date and time and enable ” Set automatically “.

In seconds, your iPhone will have the correct date and time. If not, restart the device. Once this is done, Screen Time related issues may no longer be present.

Disable Screen Time and re-enable it on iPhone

If none of the above work for you, it’s time to turn off Screen Time and turn it back on. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open the app Settings and touch Screen Time.
2. At the bottom, tap Turn off screen time.
3. Enter the Screen Time passcode if required.
4. Touch Turn off screen time from the slide upwards.
5. Restart your iPhone.
6. Open the app again Settings. Touch Screen Time and turn it on.

Sign out of Apple ID and sign in again

If turning Screen Time off and on again does not bring luck, the next solution is to log out of Apple ID and log in again.

1. Open the app Settings and touch the Your name from above.
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Go out.
3. Enter your Apple ID password and proceed. You can choose to keep a copy of your essential data.
4. Restart the your iPhone.
5. Open the app Settings and touch Login in alto.

Reset all settings on iPhone

Finally, when nothing helps, go ahead and reset all your iPhone settings. This will erase any settings you have changed or added, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, VPN, location settings, notifications, etc. However, apps, music, photos, videos and other personal data will remain where they are. Before proceeding, consider to perform a backup of your iPhone to iCloud or to your computer.

1. Open the app Settings and touch General.
2. Touch Reset from below.
3. Touch Reset all settings.
4. Enter your iPhone passcode and proceed.

Why does iPhone Screen Time not work with Family Sharing?

“In family” allows you to share purchases such as music, movies, apps, subscriptions and so on with your family members. They don’t need to pay for the same. Family Sharing also works with Screen Time which allows you to manage children’s iPhones, set content restrictions, and view reports from your device.

If you are having trouble with Screen Time when sharing as a family, the solutions listed above are worth trying. How to make sure the date and time on your kids’ iPhone is correct and so on.

Also, here are the solutions to fix the problem:

• Make sure you and your children (added to family sharing) are using the same latest version of iOS on their respective devices.
• Restart your and your children’s iPhone and iPad.
• Enable the sharing on devices in the usage time settings, if it isn’t already.
• Remove the device that is no longer used: If your child has used a different iPhone before and now a different one, removing the previous device from family sharing may help.
  For this, open the app Settings → on Your name from above → tap on the old unused device and “Remove from account“.
• Make sure the child has been successfully added to the family share. You can watch them in the app Settings of the your iPhone → the Your name from above → Family sharing. If the child isn’t added, tap Screen Time → Create an account for a child and proceed with the on-screen instructions.

These are the solutions to fix Screen Time issues on your iPhone and iPad. Apart from these, some users have also said that turning off the low power mode has worked for them. Give it a go.

If you have any further questions, please use the comments section below to contact me.