Hi everyone, I’m the developer of one sec, an app used by a large number of users globally to reduce time spent on social media and to build healthier digital habits. Because of this, we rely heavily on Apple’s Screen Time / DeviceActivity / FamilyControls, ManagedSettings APIs – and unfortunately, we’re seeing increasingly severe issues in production that directly impact hundreds of thousands of real iOS users. During the past years, we have been busy filing dozens of feedback requests for different Screen Time issues – and there has been no response from Apple at all. Developer Relations might be able to "confirm" that the bugs are present and that they ended up with the right team – but they are never addressed, neither are workarounds provided. Instead, the situation gets worse and worse. iOS 26 introduced a series of heavy regressions (which have been reported via Apple’s official bug report tool "Feedback Assistant" on iOS 26 beta 1 in June 2025 – and have not been addressed 10 Months later). This is very frustrating for us as developers, but also for our end-users who run into these issues every day. In the end this impacts our ability to build an amazing product and hurts revenue (which affects both us and Apple). 1. DeviceActivity thresholds are not firing at all This affects both: our app’s usage of the API and Apple’s own Screen Time limits Radars: FB22304617, FB20526837, FB15491936, FB12195437, FB15663329, FB18198691, FB18289475, FB19827144 2. Screen Time usage data is clearly corrupted Websites showing hundreds of hours per week Up to ~20 hours per day of usage reported for a single domain Radars: FB22304617, FB17777429, FB18464235 3. DeviceActivity thresholds reaching threshold immediately Newly introduced with iOS 26 Reported on iOS 26 beta 1 in June No response so far / no workaround DeviceActivity calls didReachThreshold immediately after creating the DeviceActivityEvent – instead of waiting till the defined threshold is actually reached. Radars: FB13696022, FB18351583, FB21320644, FB18927456, FB18061981 4. Randomly Randomizing ApplicationTokens From time to time, and without consistency, Screen Time suddenly provides new, random, unknown tokens to my app in the ShieldConfigurationDataSource and ShieldActionDelegate. This has been reported on many times before here on the dev forms, many many years back already: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756440 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325?answerId=793267022#793267022 Radars: FB14082790 and FB18764644 5. Moving Tokens from one ManagedSettingsStore to Another Removing an ApplicationToken from one SettingsStore and then adding it to another while the target app remains in foreground leads to the re-use of the ShieldConfiguration. Which can be wrong in many scenarios. It is not possible to request a re-request of the ShieldConfiguration in that scenario. Radar: FB14237883 6. Unable to Open Parent App (one sec) from Shield Many times, when a target app is blocked by a shield, the user wants to perform some action (e.g. to unlock more time for the target app via an intervention). That means, that somehow I have to forward the user from a ShieldActionDelegate back into my target app. Unfortunately, there’s no API for that. Many apps on the App Store rely on private API to achieve that, but that’s too risky for a popular app like one sec. Radar: FB15079668 7. Unable to Open Target App from an ApplicationToken When a user has completed an intervention within one sec, and they indend to to continue to the target app, there is no way that one sec can open the target app just from the token alone. Sure, there are URL schemes, but that means the user has to manually assign URL schemes to each ApplicationToken. That is not a very user friendly process (and in many cases impossible, because not every app registers URL schemes). It would be better if there was a way that my app could open a target app directly from an ApplicationToken, e.g. via an AppIntent that can be run on a button press. This way, the selected apps would remain fully private while still offering advanced functionality: struct OpenTargetAppIntent: AppIntent, OpenAppFromApplicationTokenIntent { func perform() { return .result(openAppFromApplicationToken: applicationToken) } } Radar: FB15500695 Summary Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me any time. I’m always happy to provide more details, logs, and steps to reproduce in my radars / feedback requests or in-person in Cupertino. It would be extremely helpful if someone from the Screen Time / DeviceActivity engineering team could: Take a look at the listed radars. Work on bug fixes and be transparent about when fixes will be shipped. Provide workarounds in the meantime. We genuinely want to build great, reliable experiences on top of Screen Time – but in its current state, it’s becoming very difficult to depend on. – Frederik

Hello, I am the developer of an app called one sec which helps users to spend less time on social media: https://one-sec.app Therefore, we make heavy use of the Screen Time API, and thus ManagedSettings and ShieldActionDelegate. One feature of one sec is the so-called “Doom Scroll Emergency Brake”. This blocks a target app after a certain usage threshold (e.g. 5 minutes) and requires going through an intervention (e.g. breathing exercise) to unlock more time. That added friction makes it very effective in reducing time spent on apps. One thing that is confusing for our users is the way they are prompted to unlock more time, if they want to. They have to: Have Push Notifications enabled for one sec Exempt one sec’s notifications from being delayed by AI prioritization (otherwise they are delayed by ca. 10s) Ensure that push notifications can be delivered during foci. Understand that they have to tap on the notification, which is not very straight-forward because it does not make sense from the user’s UX perspective. This is an artificial limitation of Apple’s screen time framework which has no reason (no security / privacy implications here…). Screenshots of the current flow attached. If would be much more reasonable if there was a new ShieldActionResponse.openParentApp value that can be returned from the completion handler of the ShieldActionDelegate.handle(…) callback. We have seen different apps use private API to achieve this, but we are afraid to do the same to avoid getting banned from the App Store. It would be fair if Apple would level the playground for all apps and offer such an API officially. – Frederik PS: Tracked under FB22347946, FB18846650, FB15500681, FB15079668, FB10393561 (all without responses so far…)

I’m building an iOS app that uses FamilyControls + ManagedSettings + DeviceActivity. Goal: temporarily “unlock” a shielded app for N minutes, then automatically re-apply the shield when the timer expires. What I do: In the main app, when user picks an expiry (e.g. 15 min, 30 min). I start a non-repeating DeviceActivity schedule and remove the app’s ApplicationToken from ManagedSettingsStore().shield.applications. I also store activeUnlockBundleID etc. in an App Group so the DeviceActivityMonitor extension can re-lock at the end. Expected: DeviceActivityMonitor.intervalDidEnd(for:) is invoked when the non-repeating interval ends, and I re-add the token to the shield set. Actual: The app does not re-lock when the interval expires. I added OS logs as well as “debug local notifications” from the DeviceActivityMonitor extension in: init() intervalDidStart intervalDidEnd eventDidReachThreshold None of these logs or notifications ever appear, which suggests the extension is never invoked (or cannot schedule local notifications or OS logs). Environment: Device: iPhone 17 Pro iOS 26.3.1 Xcode 26.4 Running on a physical device Notification permissions for the app: granted App + extensions are in the same App Group entitlement. Extension Info.plist has: NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor NSExtensionPrincipalClass = $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).DeviceActivityMonitorExtension Questions: Are there known limitations/requirements for DeviceActivityMonitor callbacks where intervalDidEnd doesn't to fire? Is posting local notifications / OS Logs from a DeviceActivityMonitor extension supported/reliable? If not, what’s the recommended way to verify the extension is invoked? If this looks like a platform bug, should I file Feedback Assistant? If so, what logs/artifacts are most useful?

Hello, I am facing a critical technical blocker regarding the Family Controls (Screen Time API) entitlement for my app extensions. Current Situation: My parent app (com.hayashikento.FocusPact) is already approved for the Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement. However, the associated DeviceActivityMonitorExtension (com.hayashikento.FocusPact.FocusPActMonitor) and ReportExtension (com.hayashikento.FocusPact.ReportExtension) are still pending entitlement approval. Technical Issue: Because the extensions lack the Distribution entitlement, ManagedSettings and DeviceActivity triggers (like intervalWillEndWarning) are ignored by the system when testing via TestFlight or in a non-development environment. As a result, I am unable to verify the core "automatic re-blocking" logic and "usage reporting" features in a real-world scenario. This has completely halted the final QA and TestFlight phase of my project. Requests: Could an Apple engineer verify if these extension IDs can be linked to my existing approved parent app entitlement? Is there a specific process to expedite the "linking" of extensions when the main app is already authorized? App Details: Parent App Bundle ID: com.hayashikento.FocusPact Extension IDs: com.hayashikento.FocusPact.FocusPActMonitor, com.hayashikento.FocusPact.ReportExtension Apple ID (App)6759132649 I have already submitted the web request forms, but the lack of synchronization between the parent app and extensions is preventing my MVP launch. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hello, I am facing a critical technical blocker regarding the Family Controls (Screen Time API) entitlement for my app extensions. Current Situation: My parent app (com.hayashikento.FocusPact) is already approved for the Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement. However, the associated DeviceActivityMonitorExtension (com.hayashikento.FocusPact.FocusPActMonitor) and ReportExtension (com.hayashikento.FocusPact.ReportExtension) are still pending entitlement approval. Technical Issue: Because the extensions lack the Distribution entitlement, ManagedSettings and DeviceActivity triggers (like intervalWillEndWarning) are ignored by the system when testing via TestFlight or in a non-development environment. As a result, I am unable to verify the core "automatic re-blocking" logic and "usage reporting" features in a real-world scenario. This has completely halted the final QA and TestFlight phase of my project. Requests: Could an Apple engineer verify if these extension IDs can be linked to my existing approved parent app entitlement? Is there a specific process to expedite the "linking" of extensions when the main app is already authorized? App Details: Parent App Bundle ID: com.hayashikento.FocusPact Extension IDs: com.hayashikento.FocusPact.FocusPActMonitor, com.hayashikento.FocusPact.ReportExtension Apple ID (App)6759132649 I have already submitted the web request forms, but the lack of synchronization between the parent app and extensions is preventing my MVP launch. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I've been stuck on Guideline 2.3 for two weeks now and I'm running out of ideas. My app is iPhone-only (UIDeviceFamily = [1]) and has been on the App Store since January. Version 2.1.9 passed review fine. The only change in 2.1.10 is adding two DeviceActivity extensions — a DeviceActivityMonitor and a DeviceActivityReport — for screen time-based stress detection. Every build since then gets rejected with the same message: "The UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities key in the Info.plist is set up in such a way that the app will not install on the device used in review." Review devices: iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPad Air M3. Here's what I've tried across 13+ submissions: UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities as ["arm64"] (array) — rejected Empty array [] — rejected Removed the key entirely — upload validation fails, Xcode re-injects arm64 anyway Post-build script to force ["arm64"] — rejected Dictionary format {"arm64": true} — rejected Added com.apple.developer.family-controls to extension entitlements — rejected Enabled Family Controls (Distribution) on extension bundle IDs — rejected Fixed CFBundleVersion mismatch between host app and extensions — rejected Set TARGETED_DEVICE_FAMILY=1 on all targets including extensions — rejected Tried GENERATE_INFOPLIST_FILE=YES with minimal plists — rejected Tried ExtensionKit type for the report extension — rejected In the exported IPA, every target has UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities = ["arm64"] and UIDeviceFamily = [1]. The entitlements, provisioning profiles, and code signing all look correct. arm64 is supported on every review device they listed. The previous version (2.1.9) without DeviceActivity extensions passes review with the exact same UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities and signing configuration. Has anyone shipped an app with DeviceActivityMonitor + DeviceActivityReport extensions successfully? Is there something specific about these extension types that affects device capability validation? Or is there a known issue with the review system and FamilyControls extensions? I've replied to the review team multiple times asking which specific capability is causing the failure, but the response is always the same generic template. Any guidance would be really appreciated — I'm completely blocked on shipping this update.

Device: iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 26.4 Xcode: Latest version, development signing with "Automatically manage signing" Team: Registered Apple Developer Program (Organization) Problem DeviceActivityReport SwiftUI view renders completely blank. The Report Extension's makeConfiguration(representing:) is never called (confirmed via App Group counter that stays at 0). The DeviceActivityMonitorExtension callbacks (intervalDidStart, eventDidReachThreshold) also never fire. What works AuthorizationCenter.shared.requestAuthorization(for: .individual) → .approved DeviceActivityCenter().startMonitoring() → registers schedules successfully, center.activities returns them ManagedSettingsStore.shield.applications → blocks apps correctly from the main app process Screen Time is enabled and actively collecting data (Settings > Screen Time shows per-app usage: Clash Royale 2h 35m, etc.) App Group UserDefaults(suiteName:) read/write works from the main app What doesn't work DeviceActivityReportExtension.makeConfiguration() is never called (callCount stays 0 in App Group) DeviceActivityMonitorExtension.intervalDidStart() is never called No extension callbacks fire at all — the extension process is never launched by iOS Confirmed it's NOT our app's issue We created a brand new Xcode project from Apple's template: File > New > Project > App File > New > Target > Device Activity Report Extension Added Family Controls capability to both targets Embedded DeviceActivityReport view in ContentView with daily filter Built and ran on the same device Result: Same blank screen. The template project's Report Extension also never renders any data. Console errors Failed to locate container app bundle record. The process may not be entitled to access the LaunchServices database or the app may have moved. (501) personaAttributesForPersonaType for type:0 failed with error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.mobile.usermanagerd.xpc was invalidated: Connection init failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction." LaunchServices: store (null) or url (null) was nil: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" Attempt to map database failed: permission was denied. This attempt will not be retried. Failed to initialize client context with error Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" What we've tried Deleting app, rebooting device, reinstalling Re-requesting FamilyControls authorization on every launch Embedding extensions with "Embed & Sign" (not just "Embed Without Signing") Verified all 3 .appex files are in PlugIns/ directory at runtime Verified App Group (group.com.parentguard.app) is accessible Verified all App IDs and capabilities registered in Apple Developer portal Tried different DeviceActivityFilter configurations (daily, hourly) Placed DeviceActivityReport view at root of view hierarchy Clean build, new provisioning profiles Extensions embedded [Diagnose] Found extension: DeviceActivityReportExtension.appex [Diagnose] Found extension: DeviceActivityMonitorExtension.appex [Diagnose] Found extension: ShieldConfigurationExtension.appex Question Has anyone gotten DeviceActivityReport or DeviceActivityMonitorExtension to work on iOS 26.4 with a development-signed build from Xcode? Is there a specific configuration or workaround that makes the extension process launch? The Sandbox restriction error (159) on usermanagerd.xpc seems to be the root cause — is there an entitlement or device setting we're missing?

Dear Screen Time Team! The current 6 MB memory limit for the DeviceActivityMonitor extension no longer reflects the reality of modern iOS devices or the complexity of apps built on top of the Screen Time framework. When Screen Time APIs were introduced with iOS 15, hardware constraints were very different. Since then, iPhone performance and available RAM have increased significantly…but the extension memory limit has remained unchanged. My name is Frederik Riedel, and I’m the developer of the screen time app “one sec.” Our app relies heavily on FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, and DeviceActivity to provide real-time interventions that help users reduce social media usage. In practice, the 6 MB limit has become a critical bottleneck: The DeviceActivityMonitor extension frequently crashes due to memory pressure, often unpredictably. Even highly optimized implementations struggle to stay within this constraint when using Swift and multiple ManagedSettings stores. The limit makes it disproportionately difficult to build stable, maintainable, and scalable architectures on top of these frameworks. This is not just an edge case…it directly impacts reliability in production apps that depend on Screen Time APIs for core functionality. Modern system integrations like Screen Time are incredibly powerful, but they also require a reasonable amount of memory headroom to function reliably. The current limit forces developers into fragile workarounds and undermines the robustness of apps that aim to improve users’ digital wellbeing. We would greatly appreciate if you could revisit and update this restriction to better align with today’s device capabilities and developer needs. Thank you for your continued work on Screen Time and for supporting developers building meaningful experiences on top of it. Feedback: FB22279215 Best regards, Frederik Riedel (one sec app)

Is there a way for me to persist my app usage that I can see 30 days worth under Screen Time indefinitely? I'd like to roll up monthly, quarterly, annual usage for mine and my kids devices.

Hi I am trying to implement a minimal DeviceActivityReport extension. Setup: iOS app with FamilyControls authorization (status = approved) DeviceActivityReport displayed in SwiftUI Report extension embedded in PlugIns Correct NSExtensionPointIdentifier: com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension No NSExtensionPrincipalClass or storyboard Entitlements: com.apple.developer.family-controls com.apple.developer.family-controls.app-and-website-usage The app installs and runs correctly. Authorization is granted. However, the extension is never loaded: No logs from the extension (init/body/makeConfiguration never called) Console shows: "Failed to discover the client's extension: DeviceActivityReportService... ClientError Code=2" Environment: Xcode 16.2 iOS device running iOS 18.x (latest available) The .appex is correctly embedded and signed. Question: Is there a known issue with DeviceActivityReport extensions not being discovered at runtime with this setup? Is additional configuration required beyond NSExtensionPointIdentifier? Thanks

Hello, I have submitted multiple requests for the Family Controls Distribution Entitlement through this form: https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/family-controls-distribution After submitting my requests, I waited for about 1 week but did not receive any response. Since I heard nothing, I contacted Apple Developer Support by email. After that, I finally received a response from an advisor asking for additional information, including my follow-up number. I replied with all the requested information immediately, but it has now been 5 more days and I still have not received any further response. In total, I have been waiting for about 2 weeks for this entitlement request. My app is a Screen Time control / digital wellbeing application that helps users reduce screen time through exercise-based challenges and healthy habits. My app uses the FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, and DeviceActivity frameworks and requires the Distribution Entitlement for App Store release. Here are my details: Case Number: 102866460896 Request Type: Family Controls Distribution Entitlement I understand the team may be busy, but I would appreciate any help checking the status of my request or escalating it if possible. Thank you very much.

Hi all, Our team (D36U48VRGM) holds approved Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement on three bundles, all live on the App Store as part of the same app: com.strategieayoub.quranfocus (main app) com.strategieayoub.quranfocus.ShieldAction com.strategieayoub.quranfocus.ShieldConfiguration We've added a fourth target — a DeviceActivityMonitor extension at com.strategieayoub.quranfocus.DeviceActivityMonitor — to replace our current BGProcessingTaskRequest re-shield path. The BGTaskScheduler approach is unreliable for our use case: iOS routinely runs the task hours late or skips it entirely, leaving users' apps unblocked far past the unlock window we promised. DeviceActivityMonitor's intervalDidEnd callback is the only mechanism Apple provides that fires reliably regardless of app state. The new bundle ID is registered, has Family Controls (Development) provisioned, and intervalDidEnd works correctly during local on-device testing. The blocker is Distribution — Xcode's Signing pane shows: "Bundle identifier is using development only version of Family Controls (Development) capability. Please request access to Family Controls (Distribution) to avoid issues when distributing." Two questions: The previous per-asset Family Controls request form has been replaced with a single account-level form that contains no free-text field where I can specify a bundle ID. How does Apple now expect developers with already-approved teams to attach an additional child bundle to that approval? Phone Developer Support said they cannot make entitlement attachments and pointed me back to the form. Is there a documented escalation path? Thanks for any pointers.

We came across reports on Medium and Apple Developer Forums suggesting that ApplicationToken and ActivityCategoryToken values issued by the FamilyControls framework are not guaranteed to be stable, that iOS may silently re-issue new tokens for the same apps after OS or app updates, making any previously stored tokens invalid. We are storing FamilyActivitySelection tokens encoded via JSONEncoder to a backend for long-term use, and relying on them inside a DeviceActivityMonitorExtension to restore and apply shields when a schedule fires. What we're trying to understand is: is this token instability still an active problem in iOS 16/17/18/26, and when a token does become invalid, does JSONDecoder actually throw a DecodingError giving us a clear signal, or does it decode successfully and ManagedSettingsStore just silently ignore the stale tokens with no error at all? On Medium, We Found That The Token Mutation Problem One of the more painful bugs in real production apps: application tokens are not guaranteed to be stable forever. iOS can silently issue new, different tokens for the same app. If your store contains the old token and the Shield delegate receives a new one, the delegate has no way to match them — it doesn’t know which store is responsible for the shield, or which blocking “profile” caused it. This has been reported by multiple developers of real Screen Time apps and confirmed across several Apple Developer Forum threads. There is no official fix yet. The workaround is defensive: when the ShieldConfigurationDataSource or ShieldActionDelegate receives a token you don't recognise, fall back to a generic shield UI rather than crashing or returning empty data. And never rely on token identity as a long-term stable key in your persistence layer — always re-derive from a fresh FamilyActivityPicker selection when the user re-activates a profile.