Hi all, For context, the Family Controls entitlement request (for the Personal Device Management category/individual use case) includes the question: Will your app share device or usage data beyond the individual for the individual use case, or Family Sharing for the parent/guardian use case, including through means such as screenshots, screen recordings, or server logging? I'm looking for clarification on how to interpret this. I originally answered Yes and was rejected, then later answered No and was accepted. Ideally, I would like my screen time management app to allow users to opt-in to social features. One simple example is opting into a leaderboard with your friends for who has the lowest screen time. If the user installed this app for themself and chooses to share this basic data with their friends, it sounds like an ethical and unproblematic feature but I suppose storing that data would fall under "server logging"? If anyone has any experience with this, I would appreciate a more explicit description of the requirement above. Is what I described allowed? Thanks for reading!

Bonjour le temps d’écran de mon enfant dans le partage familial ne fonctionne plus. Quand est ce qu’on aura une correction ?

Our app monitors device usage and applies a shield when the set time limit is reached. Multiple DeviceActivitySchedules can be present, each with different time limits. To display notifications at 50% of the total limit for each DeviceActivitySchedule, we set a warning time at half of the total time. However, we occasionally receive premature event callbacks. For example, consider a schedule from 13:00 to 13:30 with a single event threshold at 10 minutes and a warning time of 5 minutes. The 'eventDidReachThreshold' callback is delivered prematurely, along with the 'eventWillReachThresholdWarning' callback, at 13:10. Additionally, in some cases, when one DeviceActivitySchedule ends and the next begins immediately, DeviceActivityEvents registered for the new DeviceActivitySchedule are delivered prematurely along with the schedule start callback. For example, consider there are two DeviceActivitySchedules from 12:00 to 13:00 and from 13:00 to 14:00, each with a limit of 10 minutes and a warning time of 5 minutes. When the first schedule ends and the next begins at 13:00, the 'eventDidReachThreshold' callbacks for the events registered in the second schedule are delivered prematurely, along with the 'intervalDidStart' callback.

/Users/varunashokbhaisidpara/Desktop/Screenshot 2024-11-15 at 5.43.44 PM.png This error occurs When I try to upload an app on the test flight or App Store. I checked "Automatically manage signing" in the main target. and i have added extensions DeviceActivityMonitorExtension, ShieldConfigurationExtension, ShieldActionExtension, DeviceActivityReport. and all have selected "Automatically manage signing" in the target > signing and capability. pls provide me with an exact solution set by step. Thank you

Hello community: Is there any way to change the button color of the screen time permission to match app style?

I've been using DeviceActivityMonitor for 2 years, and recently noticed the following issue, starting in iOS 17.5 (another user also reported here). For a sizable percentage of my users, device activity event thresholds get triggered together. My app sends notifications for every hour of screen time during the DeviceActivitySchedule using event thresholds. Often users will get, for example, the 1, 2, and 3 hour screen time notifications all at the same time. I have a hypothesis for why this is happening: the system sometimes terminates the app extension for various reasons, one being if the 6MB memory limit is reached. It seems as though the retry policy is to retry the failed threshold at the next event threshold. And if the following threshold also fails, they can pile up until the next one succeeds. I think this is a new retry policy since iOS 17, and I believe this because: There used to be a bug where the same threshold was triggered multiple times in a row, indicating that the failed threshold was retried immediately. This bug is no longer around and it's been replaced by the one I am reporting. According to my logs, thresholds that get triggered together are also called earlier when they are supposed to be called - but the callback function does not complete. So this indicates that the threshold isn't just called late, but that it is called once and then retried again later. If anyone could answer the following questions I'd be super grateful: Is there ANY way to log when the system terminates the app extension and for what reason? And not just on my own device, but for all our users in production (because it's hard to reproduce this issue, as it only happens for some portion of our users). Maybe some kind of crash report or failure callback that will allow my to ping my server? Could anyone at Apple could confirm my hypothesis about the new retry policy causing this issue?

When I upgraded to iOS 18 beta, I don’t recall setting a screen time passcode, however one is set. I am locked out from changing the passcode. I have clicked “forgot passcode” down at bottom but it doesn’t do anything. I am the only user on this phone. I am currently running iOS iOS 18.2 (22C5125e). Please advise, as screen time is locked and cannot be viewed nor change passcode

Hello fellow Screen Time developers! I have bee experimenting with the ActivityCategoryPolicy.all(except: allowList) API of the ManagedSettings framework in order to provide a digital detox feature to my app, where ALL apps would be blocked, except some important ones (phone, messages, maps). The apps to be exempted can be configured by the user via the FamilyActivitySelection(). However, I am experiencing a strange bug, where all apps are restricted / blocked, even the ones that are set to be exempted and are part of the allowList Set. Instead of not restricting allowed apps at all, these apps are restricted with a generic shield (screenshot below) – a concrete shield is not requested for them from my ShieldConfigurationDataSource. I have also filed a radar under this number, attached is a minimalistic sample project and video that shows how to reproduce this: FB15500605 (no response so far) I have also seen other people report on this issue, but couldn't find any useful information there: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/750988 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/762287 Thanks a lot for your help, and have a nice day!

The data displayed about a child’s apps can be outdated (DeviceActivityReport), leading to misinformation for the user. When I access the “Screen Time” section (for child in the parent device) in the iPhone settings, I see there is an update functionality to force load the actual data. I have tried various workarounds, such as attempting to force an update on the child’s device to call DeviceActivityReport and opening system settings, but none of these have been successful :( How can I implement something similar? Is there a way to force update this data ?

A few weeks ago, I submitted a request for the Family Controls & Personal Device Usage Entitlement to enable my app to access the Managed Settings and Device Activity frameworks in the Screen Time API. The app is nearly complete, with the only remaining component being the Family Controls capability. As of now, I haven’t received a response regarding the request. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar situation or can provide insight into the following: • How long does it typically take to receive feedback on this type of entitlement request? • Is there a way to check if a request is still active and under review? • Is a finished website required for the entitlement to be granted? Any information or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

I've submitted several requests for Family Controls Distribution access for all of my app targets over two weeks ago and have not gotten any response. The app I've been working on for over a year is finally ready to beta test to 200+ waitlisted users but this final roadblock is killing me! Anyone know what to do? Is there anyone else I could reach out to other than the apple request form to get help with this? Thank you!

Hello! I'm currently making an app that requires the ability to activate a screenlock for a point in the future. I currently have my project setup so that I can set a screenlock through a DeviceActivityMonitorExtension (DAM) but regardless of the time interval I use for intervalDidStart and intervalDidEnd the screenlock just seems to apply instantly. I'm under the impression that I'm missing something outside of just passing the interval to the DAM functions. Has anyone accomplished this? Thank you!

I have recently noticed that ever since I downloaded iOS 18 Public Beta 1, I have been unable to get to the screen time settings, after clicking the tab, the app just freezes. Although after a while I did get to the Screen Time tab, but all of the previous changes to my screen time were voided. App limits, Downtime, you name it, all gone. While my app limits do not work, I noticed that downtime still functioned, but when my parent changed the downtime settings on their phone (running iOS 17 no betas), it did nothing on my end. I am currently submitting feedback to apple and am trying to find workarounds. On an unrelated note to this issue, I noticed that “One More Minute” and “Request More Time” aren‘t there anymore, does anybody have any ideas or workarounds on any of these?

"Hi everyone! We've encountered an issue with uploading our app to the App Store. We received the Family Controls Distribution permission, updated the certificates and profiles, submitted it for review, but received feedback that the request simply doesn't appear for the moderators. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Our request is: try await center.requestAuthorization(for: .individual). We also confirmed that the device must have TouchID or FaceID installed."

Family activity picker looses icon and incudes parent apps after 20 seconds...and you never see the kids icons again until you reboot. Any ideas? family controls authorized on both apps Share across devices activated Web & activity activated. Before... ...and after 22 seconds.

Hi, so, we grabbed a couple of nice new watches the other week (Ultra for dad, SE for teenage son). Mostly cool and working together (calls, messages, maps, walkie talkies, etc, etc). All good. But then son said, "Dad, why can't I see my sleep stuff like you can..?". He was right, it wasn't working. Looking around a bit, it turns out that there are a bunch of things that are turned off or not available when pairing a kids watch with dad's phone. From the Apple page: "The following features and apps are not available: Medications, respiratory rate, irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG, AF History, Cycle Tracking, Sleep, Wrist Temperature, Blood Oxygen, Walking Steadiness, Audiobooks, Remote, News, Shortcuts and the double-tap gesture". Now dev-me reacts to this situation with: "Ok, so let's just build a little standalone sleep app for son's watch. There must be lots of parents out there who would like the same thing". And there are also a bunch of other "family sharing" enabled apps that when you try and use them on kid's phone, say "iPhone requireed", i.e, they don't apparently work with just a watch hooked up to mum or dad's phone. So before I dive into that kind of project, which seems like an obvious fix path from a dev and a parents' point of view: does anybody know if this from Apple's point of view is a hardware, a software or a legal/age limitation? What's the basic framework/dev/design issue here? Is it something on the device(s) that prevents sleep data from even being collected on family/kids paired watches? (Therefore don't bother trying to build an app); I assume not becauses it's just a normal SE used by a kid; or Is it "just" that Apple hasn't wanted to make that available without a kids iPhone too (Therefore you could certainly build a standalone app to do what Apple hasn't wanted to do); or Netiher 1 nor 2, but Apple won't even allow Sleep data collection for kids for some legal/health data reason (Therefore don't bother trying to build the app).

I'd like to block the apps selected in FamilyActivityPicker individually when a certain threshold is met. For example, let's say the threshold is 15 minutes, and I want to block both Photos and Freeform. If I spend 15 minutes on Photos, Photos should be blocked. Then, if I spend 15 minutes on Freeform, Freeform should also be blocked. Currently, only Photos gets blocked after 15 minutes, but Freeform does not. How can I fix this problem so that each app is blocked individually when its respective 15-minute threshold is met? Thank you in advance File 1 : class GlobalSelection { static let shared = GlobalSelection() var selection = FamilyActivitySelection() private init() {} } extension DeviceActivityName{ static let daily = Self("daily") } @objc(DeviceActivityMonitorModule) class DeviceActivityMonitorModule: NSObject { private let store = ManagedSettingsStore() @objc func startMonitoring(_ limitInMinutes: Int) { let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule( intervalStart: DateComponents(hour: 0, minute: 0), intervalEnd: DateComponents(hour: 23, minute: 59), repeats: true ) let threshold = DateComponents(minute: limitInMinutes) var events: [DeviceActivityEvent.Name: DeviceActivityEvent] = [:] // Iterate over each selected application's token for token in GlobalSelection.shared.selection.applicationTokens { // Create a unique event name for each application let eventName = DeviceActivityEvent.Name("dailyLimitEvent_\(token)") // Create an event for this specific application let event = DeviceActivityEvent( applications: [token], // Single app token threshold: threshold ) // Add the event to the dictionary events[eventName] = event } // Register the monitor with the activity name and schedule do { try DeviceActivityCenter().startMonitoring(.daily, during: schedule, events: events) print("24/7 Monitoring started with time limit : \(limitInMinutes) m") } catch { print("Failed to start monitoring: \(error)") } } @objc static func requiresMainQueueSetup() -> Bool { return true } } FIle 2 : class DeviceActivityMonitorExtension: DeviceActivityMonitor { let store = ManagedSettingsStore() var blockedApps: Set<ApplicationToken> = [] func scheduleNotification(with title: String) { let center = UNUserNotificationCenter.current() center.requestAuthorization(options: [.alert, .sound, .badge]) { granted, error in if granted { let content = UNMutableNotificationContent() content.title = "Notification" // Using the custom title here content.body = title content.sound = UNNotificationSound.default let trigger = UNTimeIntervalNotificationTrigger(timeInterval: 5, repeats: false) // 5 seconds from now let request = UNNotificationRequest(identifier: "MyNotification", content: content, trigger: trigger) center.add(request) { error in if let error = error { print("Error scheduling notification: \(error)") } } } else { print("Permission denied. \(error?.localizedDescription ?? "")") } } } // Function to retrieve selected apps func retrieveSelectedApps() -> FamilyActivitySelection? { if let sharedDefaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.timelimit.com.zerodistract") { // Retrieve the encoded data if let data = sharedDefaults.data(forKey: "selectedAppsTimeLimit") { // Decode the data back into FamilyActivitySelection let decoder = JSONDecoder() if let selection = try? decoder.decode(FamilyActivitySelection.self, from: data) { return selection } } } return nil // Return nil if there was an error } override func intervalDidStart(for activity: DeviceActivityName){ super.intervalDidStart(for: activity) scheduleNotification(with: "Interval did start") scheduleNotification(with: "\(retrieveSelectedApps())") } override func intervalDidEnd(for activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.intervalDidEnd(for: activity) } override func eventDidReachThreshold(_ event: DeviceActivityEvent.Name, activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.eventDidReachThreshold(event, activity: activity) // Notify that the threshold is met scheduleNotification(with: "Threshold met") // Retrieve the selected apps if let selectedApps = retrieveSelectedApps() { // Extract the app token identifier from the event name let appTokenIdentifier = event.rawValue.replacingOccurrences(of: "dailyLimitEvent_", with: "") // Iterate over the selected application tokens for appToken in selectedApps.applicationTokens { // Convert the app token to a string representation (or use its debugDescription) let tokenString = "\(appToken)" // Check if the app token matches the token identifier in the event name if tokenString == appTokenIdentifier { blockedApps.insert(appToken) // Block only the app associated with this event store.shield.applications = blockedApps scheduleNotification(with: "store.shield.applications = blockedApps is reached") break } } } else { scheduleNotification(with: "No stored data for selectedAppsTimeLimit") } } override func intervalWillStartWarning(for activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.intervalWillStartWarning(for: activity) // Handle the warning before the interval starts. } override func intervalWillEndWarning(for activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.intervalWillEndWarning(for: activity) // Handle the warning before the interval ends. } override func eventWillReachThresholdWarning(_ event: DeviceActivityEvent.Name, activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.eventWillReachThresholdWarning(event, activity: activity) // Handle the warning before the event reaches its threshold. } }

Hi everyone, I’m using Core Data in several extensions (DeviceActivityMonitor, ShieldAction, and ShieldConfiguration). It works perfectly in DeviceActivityMonitor and ShieldAction. I’m able to successfully fetch data and log the correct count using a fetch request. However, when I try the same setup in the ShieldConfiguration extension, the fetch request always returns 0 results. The CoreData and App Group setup appears to be correct since the first two extensions fetch the expected data. I’ve also previously tested storing the CoreData objects separately in a JSON-FIle using FileManager and it worked without issues—though I’d prefer not to handle manual encoding/decoding if possible. The documentation mentions that the extension runs in a sandbox, restricting network requests or moving sensitive content. But shouldn’t reading data (from a shared App Group, for instance) still be possible within the sandbox, as it is the case with the Files, what is the difference there? In my case, I only need to read the data, as modifications can be handled via ShieldActionExtension. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello fellow Screen Time Fans! I am encountering a strange problem since I started working with the Screen Time framework, and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong: Imagine the app has two ManagedSettingsStores: one to block apps during work hours (let’s say from 9am to 5pm) and one to block apps in the evening (let’s say from 5:30pm till midnight). Imagine, the user has blocked Instagram in both. When the user has Instagram open at 4:59pm it shows the Block during Work Hours Shield (so far, so good). At 5pm, the shield is removed, and the user can use Instagram. Then, at 5:30 the a shield is activated again: this time, the Instagram token is added to the evening store. However, there is no new ShieldConfiguration requested from the ShieldConfigurationDataSource. Instead, the previous shield from the work hour block is re-used and shown. To me, it appears that the Framework does not request new shields, when the token is moved from one store to another while the app remains in foreground. The Shield is only re-rendered when the user closes the shielded app and re-opens it. This is really confusing behavior and I would like to fix it. Did anyone here encounter something similar, and has a suggestion or workaround? My feedback is also documented in FB14237883.

Hi guys, I’m writing an app that integrates Screen Time API more specifically one that has only DeviceActivityReport. The app runs as expected but I have an issue when pushing it to AppStoreConnect: Provisioning profile failed qualification: Profile doesn't support Family Controls (Development). Provisioning profile failed qualification: Profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement. Provisioning profile failed qualification: Profile doesn't support Family Controls (Development). Provisioning profile failed qualification: Profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement. My app has Family Controls (Development) set in Capabilities, entitlement file, provisioning profile and distribution certificates. I have already requested Apple for the entitlement key for Family Controls (I’m waiting for them to reply). So, I have few questions now: Can I distribute a build for internal testers via TestFlight without waiting for Apple’s reply to my request? Do I need to wait Apple’s reply to distribute the app to internal tester under Family Controls (Development) ? Has anybody had the same issue and solved it without waiting for Apple to approve the request during development (no distribution)? I have done a deep search about this topic but it is still not clear to me if an internal build could be distributed under Family Controls (Development) or if it is mandatory to wait for the distribution one