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With the iOS option "Screen Time" on the Apple iPhone you can not only check how often and for how long you have used the smartphone in the past. You can also use the settings time-out, App limits, Communication limits, Always allow… and restrictions determine certain parameters for future use. Setting up the iPhone screen time is not difficult at all - here you will find the instructions for your individual use.
On the Apple iPhone as well as on the Apple iPad or Apple iPod touch, the so-called "screen time" provides an insight into your own usage behavior. The option is also already available on the Apple Mac under macOS. It's very useful if you want to monitor which apps or websites you spend or waste the most time on. You can find the respective data on the mobile devices mentioned under Settings -> Screen time see. If you find that you need to regulate your smartphone use, the following explanations and instructions for setting up restrictions will help you.
The "time out" here means that apps and messages are blocked for a period of time that you specify. Whether in the morning at breakfast, during the lunch break or at the end of the day - you can think of an example period in which you do not want to be disturbed. Maybe also the time when you put your children to bed. To set up a break for this and for other periods of time, proceed as follows:
Whether individual apps, all apps or entire categories such as "games", "entertainment" and "social media" - you can set a time limit for use. This is also possible for apps from the areas of “reading and looking up” or “productivity” so that you don't read and / or work too much on the smartphone display. And this is how you proceed to set the app limits:
Whether certain contacts or all contacts in a certain time - from iOS 13.3 and iPadOS 13.3, incoming contacts can also be blocked on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The communication limits can be set for calls, FaceTime, messages and the like. And so is the procedure for it:
Some apps probably need to be able to get through to you during the selected time-out. For example, emergency calls or important data from contacts can come in via phone call, FaceTime, Messenger or the like. Or you manage social media channels and therefore always have to stay up to date on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For this and other exceptions you proceed as follows:
Some apps have to be allowed to interact even during the time-out and therefore always - that's how it works!
Whether purchases in the iTunes & App Store, certain content in apps or websites, details of data protection (location services, contacts, calendar, etc.), changes (account and code, maximum volume, etc.) or other things - you can do a lot for more security To block. This can be good not only on your own cell phone, but also with the children. If your children are not allowed to use certain things, you proceed as follows:
Tip: If you set up the restrictions for your children, sooner or later they will surely change them. Because children who grow up with the Internet know how to help each other. Therefore, you can set a code that must be entered to change the restrictions. You come to the code option Settings -> Screen time -> Use screen time code.
Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He appears as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with problems of a technical nature. In his free time he drives electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with his iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions for current bugs.
2 comments
Hi Jens,
On our children's iPhone 11 with iOS 14, neither the screen time nor the time-out work properly. If, for example, a time-out from 22 p.m. to 7 a.m. is given and only a few apps have been released for this period, you can still use the blocked apps without any tricks. Approved apps are actually blocked for this. Time limits for apps don't work either - you can see on the display that YouTube is limited to 2 hours and directly above that is the usage diagram with the actual usage time (e.g. 6 hours). How can something like that happen? I've already gone through all of the forums and Apple Support, nothing helps, not even deactivating Screen Time.
Hello Rina! So that apps are blocked, which ones should be enabled and vice versa, sounds like a wrong setting to me. That already works for me. The time-out from ... to also works well for me. When displaying 6h with allowed 2h, it could be that you have not activated the option "Block after the time has elapsed". So you only get a message that the two hours are up, but you can still use the app. But the settings at Apple Screen Time are so complex that it is difficult for me to comment on them from a distance. I don't understand it even when I have my iPhone in front of my nose. : D