Critical Bug: Children Can Disable Screen Time Apps Like Choreio Without Parental ApprovalI

Dear Apple Support,

I am reporting a critical issue affecting parental control apps like my app, Choreio, which is live on the App Store.

When Screen Time settings are configured to require a parent’s password for changes, parents must log in on their child’s device to make any adjustments. This restriction is expected to extend to apps using the Screen Time API, such as Choreio.

However, I’ve discovered a significant bug: children can bypass this restriction by simply toggling off Choreio in the Screen Time settings—without needing the parent’s password. This effectively disables the app and defeats its purpose as a parental control tool.

Please address this issue as soon as possible to ensure the intended functionality of parental controls. Let me know if you need any additional information to assist with resolving this.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Best regards, Jeff Houston

STEPS TO REPRODUCE Here are the steps to reproduce the issue clearly:

  1. Install Choreio from the App Store on the child’s phone.
  2. Enable parental controls in Screen Time and set it to require the parent’s password for any changes to Screen Time settings.
  3. Go to the Screen Time settings on the child’s phone.
  4. Observe that the child can simply toggle off Choreio, effectively deactivating the app, without needing the parent’s password.

Expected behavior: Toggling off Choreio should require the parent’s password, just like it does for other Screen Time settings.

Let me know if additional details are needed!

Have you raised a Feedback report? If not, please do so at https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/ then post the FB number here.

Thanks darkpaw!

Apple Developer Technical Support (DTS) emailed and instructed me to ask this question here in the forums and they'll review this thread.

"In general, we provide support on the forums when:

•    The answer could be helpful to other developers, and can be found by searching.
•    There is no private or sensitive information in the question."

Our engineering teams need to investigate this issue, as resolution may involve changes to Apple's software. I'd greatly appreciate it if you could open a bug report and post the FB number here once you do. Bug Reporting: How and Why? has tips on creating your bug report.

Thanks for looking into it. Here is the FB number: FB16448276

Critical Bug: Children Can Disable Screen Time Apps Like Choreio Without Parental ApprovalI
 
 
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