Apple promises to fix a bug that could affect screen time limits for children
Apple has promised to fix a bug in its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices that may affect parental screen time controls for children, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The bug impacts a feature called Downtime, which allows parents to remotely set hours when children cannot use their devices.
“We are aware that some users may experience an issue where screen time settings are unexpectedly reset,” said a company spokesperson. “We take these reports very seriously, and we have made, and will continue to make, updates to remedy the situation.”
Parents who tested the feature found that the scheduled time either reverted to the old settings or was removed altogether. This allowed children to use their devices at will. One user changed his password but found that he needed to reset the feature several times a week.
Apple knew about the problem before, but said it was fixed with the release of iOS 16.5 in May. However, journalists found the issue in subsequent releases and even in the beta version of iOS 17.
Screen Time was introduced in 2018 at Apple’s developer conference, allowing parents to remotely check their child’s activity report and manage app usage time. They can also set a certain amount of time for each app.