General: Forums topic: Family Controls Forums tag: Family Controls Configuring Family Controls documentation Requesting the Family Controls entitlement documentation Screen Time Technology Frameworks documentation FamilyControls documentation What's new in Screen Time API video Meet the Screen Time API video

Hello, I submitted a request for Family Controls (Distribution) approval, and it has now been over 4 days without any update on the status. I understand that review times can vary, but I wanted to check if this delay is expected or if there’s anything I might need to do on my end to help move the process forward. Could anyone from the Apple team or the community provide insight into: Typical processing times for Family Controls distribution requests Whether delays beyond a few days are common Any steps I should take to follow up or expedite the review For reference: Status: Submitted Submission time: April 21, 2026 Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

It has been five days since we applied for Family Controls (Distribution) permission, but the status still shows as Submitted. Is there any way to expedite the review process?

Hi, I have an approved com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement for my main app bundle (com.maxflame.prove-it) and submitted a request on April 18, 2026 to extend it to an embedded extension: com.maxflame.prove-it.DeviceActivityMonitorExtension Request ID: 65CKJZ7DQ4 — status still shows "Submitted" with no further response. The extension uses DeviceActivity callbacks and needs to decode FamilyActivitySelection, which requires the entitlement on the extension bundle as well. In my experience, Family Controls entitlement approvals for the main app bundle have come through within 24 hours. It's now been 5 days with no response for this extension request, which seems unusual. Has anyone else gone through this for extension bundle IDs? Did you need to submit a separate request per bundle, or did Apple extend the approval to your extensions automatically once the main app was approved? And has anyone else experienced longer wait times specifically for extension bundles? Any guidance appreciated.

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

I'm writing this post out of genuine desperation after exhausting every official support channel available to me. The situation: I've built a screen time / focus app for students called SınavKilidi, specifically designed for Turkish high school students preparing for the YKS university entrance exam — one of the most high-stakes exams in Turkey, taken by hundreds of thousands of students every year. The exam window is approximately 2 months away. This app is inherently seasonal: if it doesn't reach users before the exam season, an entire year of development becomes irrelevant. The main app binary was approved and is live. Everything on the App Store Connect side is fully ready — metadata, screenshots, pricing, in-app purchases, the works. The blocker: My app uses App Extensions that require the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement. The main app target received distribution entitlement approval. However, the extensions — which are architecturally inseparable from the core functionality — have not received the same entitlement. Without this, I cannot submit a working build. The app is literally unshippable in its current state despite the main entitlement being granted. This is not a configuration issue on my end. The entitlement is correctly set up in my provisioning profiles. The gap is purely on Apple's approval side for the extension targets. The support experience: I opened Case #102855522321 on March 29, 2026. Since then: I had a call with Apple Developer Support on April 1 I sent follow-up emails on April 1, April 2, April 3, and April 7 Not a single substantive response. Only automated acknowledgements. That is 10+ days, 4 follow-up emails, 1 phone call, and complete silence on an issue that is actively costing me my launch window. What I'm asking: I'm not asking for special treatment. I understand Apple receives thousands of requests. But this entitlement request is for a legitimate, already-partially-approved app, with a documented real-world deadline, in an educational category that Apple actively promotes. Can anyone from the App Review or Developer Relations team look into Case #102855522321 and provide an actual update? Or can anyone here share whether there's a known delay affecting FamilyControls entitlement approvals for extensions specifically? Any guidance would be deeply appreciated. Every day that passes without a resolution is a day closer to this app missing its entire reason for existing.

Hi, I have an approved com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement for my main app bundle (com.maxflame.prove-it) and submitted a request on April 18, 2026 to extend it to an embedded extension: com.maxflame.prove-it.DeviceActivityMonitorExtension Request ID: 65CKJZ7DQ4 — status still shows "Submitted" with no further response. The extension uses DeviceActivity callbacks and needs to decode FamilyActivitySelection, which requires the entitlement on the extension bundle as well. In my experience, Family Controls entitlement approvals for the main app bundle have come through within 24 hours. It's now been 5 days with no response for this extension request, which seems unusual. Has anyone else gone through this for extension bundle IDs? Did you need to submit a separate request per bundle, or did Apple extend the approval to your extensions automatically once the main app was approved? And has anyone else experienced longer wait times specifically for extension bundles? Any guidance appreciated.

I've already submitted multiple cases about this issue. My Family Controls Distribution request was apparently approved (or I was told via Developer Support) for my Shield Action & Shield Configuration extensions, but the Distribution option still does not appear in the identifiers. This is blocking my ability to distribute via TestFlight. I need someone who can update the identifier capabilities or explain why the approved capability is not showing.

My Family Controls (Distribution) capability request (C4N7962252) was approved March 15, 2026 for bundle ID com.jedsiegel.unplugtogether. All three Family Controls capabilities are enabled on the App ID. When I generate a provisioning profile (manual or automatic), Xcode reports: "Provisioning profile doesn't match the entitlements file's value for the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement." I decoded the profile using security cms -D and found: com.apple.developer.family-controls.app-and-website-usage → present com.apple.developer.family-controls → missing entirely My entitlements file requires com.apple.developer.family-controls with value ["individual"] for AuthorizationCenter. I've tried toggling capabilities off/on, deleting and recreating profiles, switching between automatic and manual signing, and clearing provisioning profile caches. Nothing works because the profile generation itself is not including the entitlement. Team ID: Q4RA4WMD6K Xcode 26.3, targeting iOS 26.2 Has anyone encountered this? Is there a way to get the provisioning system to include this entitlement?

Some of our users encounter an issue after updating their iPhone/iPad to iOS 17.5.1. The tokens passed in the Shield Configuration extension don't match the tokens they selected in my app using the FamilyPicker before updating to iOS 17.5.1. It seems the tokens changed for no reason. My app can't match the token from the ShieldConfigurationDataSource to any tokens stored on my end, causing my shield screens to turn blank. The same applies to tokens in the Device Activity Report extension. The only workaround I've found is to tell affected users to unselect and reselect apps and websites to block in my app. This gets them new tokens from the FamilyActivityPicker, which solves the issue. However, for some users, the bug reoccurs a few days later. Tokens seem to change again, causing the same issue in the Shield Configuration extension. I am not able to reproduce the issue on my test devices so I have no sysdiagnose to attach. However, this issue is affecting other screen time apps: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/732845 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756440 FB14082790 FB14111223 A change in iOS 17.5.1 must have triggered this behaviour. Could an Apple engineer give us any updates on this?

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)

⬇️ ANYONE ON APPLE'S SCREEN TIME TEAM, PLEASE READ THIS ⬇️ Let's summarize the situation. 3rd-party apps with screen time access can be disabled by going to Settings > Screen Time > Apps with Screen Time Access. That's fine. Now, if I want to make it harder to remove my restrictions, I can ask a friend to enter a Screen Time Passcode for me. Great idea! The problem is my Screen Time Passcode isn't requested when disabling permissions for a third-party app. It's required for modifying any other Screen Time setting EXCEPT permissions for 3rd party apps. This is frustrating. The Screen Time passcode is a great feature. Making it compatible with permissions granted through the Family Controls framework is our NUMBER ONE REQUEST from tens of thousands of users. This feature has been requested for a long time (iOS 16, iOS 17, …): https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/714651 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/727291 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255421819 FB13548526
 If you're a developer working on Screen Time, share your feedback below or file one using Feedback Assistant. It is very disappointing to see it wasn't implemented for iOS 18. I can't believe this would require tremendous work from the Screen Time team to make it happen, but it would be a significant improvement for the Family Controls Framework and a ray of sunshine for all the developers who have worked really hard to deliver high-quality apps using the Screen Time API. Could an Apple engineer or a Screen Time team member give us any updates? Implementing this before the public release of iOS 18 would make A LOT of developers happy.

Just curious if there is anyway to expedite the FamilyControl entitlement. I have seen few people stuck in this step for few days. I submit mine on the 4/18, and my Case ID: 102874096254 Just want to see if I can see any estimate time for my request. Thanks, Jing

Dear Screen Time Team! The Screen Time passcode can be brute-forced without rate limiting by repeatedly attempting guesses through the "Erase All Content and Settings" flow. This allows unlimited passcode attempts with no delay, lockout, or escalation, effectively defeating the purpose of the Screen Time passcode as a parental control mechanism. Impact: Children can bypass Screen Time protections by guessing the passcode No rate limiting enables trivial brute-force attacks (especially for 4-digit codes) Undermines trust in Screen Time as a parental control system Creates real-world safety risks for families relying on Screen Time restrictions Publicly shared methods (e.g. on TikTok) increase likelihood of widespread abuse Steps to Reproduce: Enable Screen Time and set a passcode Open Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings When prompted for the Screen Time passcode, enter an incorrect code Repeat the process with different guesses Expected Result: After a small number of incorrect attempts, the system should: enforce exponential backoff delays, or temporarily lock further attempts, or require Apple ID authentication Attempts should be rate-limited across system flows Actual Result: Unlimited passcode attempts are allowed No delay, lockout, or penalty is applied Enables rapid brute-force guessing of the Screen Time passcode Notes: This appears to bypass standard passcode protections that exist in other parts of iOS The issue is especially severe for 4-digit Screen Time passcodes (10,000 combinations) The attack surface is exposed through a system-level reset flow Suggested Fix: Introduce global rate limiting for Screen Time passcode attempts across all entry points Apply exponential backoff after failed attempts Require Apple ID authentication after multiple failures Consider enforcing 6-digit minimum passcodes for Screen Time Log and unify attempt counters across system components Severity: Critical (Security vulnerability enabling brute-force of parental control passcode) See TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aldanaisthebest12170/video/7615053429500644621 Feedback request: FB22263276 – Frederik (one sec app)

Hello! I am experiencing some strange bugs around DeviceActivityEvents: When creating a DeviceActivityEvent we can assign a threshold and applicationTokens. The idea is, that after the user has spent said threshold on said apps, eventDidReachThreshold is called. includesPastActivity is set to false. On iOS 26 however, it happens (quite reliably after updating to a new beta seed) quite often that eventDidReachThreshold is called immediately (after a couple of seconds) instead of waiting for the threshold to be met. Is anyone else seeing similar issues on iOS 26? Only workaround I have found is to ask users to re-grant Screen Time permissions. This only holds for about two weeks though or at most until the next iOS 26 beta update is installed. Feedback filed under: FB18061981 FB18927456

Hello, I submitted a request for the Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement, but haven't received status update regarding approval/rejection etc. I submitted a previous contact support ticket as well. I'm wondering the timeline and also if my request went through - currently it says 'submitted' but it's remained this way for a while... I've had other developers in communities saying they were approved earlier, so curious if it's an app issue. Thank you

I’m submitting an iOS app that uses Family Controls / DeviceActivity APIs, and App Store Connect rejects the archive during distribution with this error: Invalid Info.plist value. The value of the NSExtensionPointIdentifier key, com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor, in the Info.plist of “activity-tracking.app/PlugIns/ScheduleMonitorExtension.appex” is invalid. What I’ve already verified: Family Controls capability is approved for our team App IDs and distribution provisioning profiles were regenerated The source Info.plist for the extension contains: NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor The archived .appex inside the .xcarchive also contains the same exact value Signed entitlements in the archived .appex include: com.apple.developer.family-controls = true app group entitlement Main app archive is signed correctly as well Latest stable Xcode used This makes it look like the archive is configured correctly, but App Store Connect still rejects the Device Activity Monitor extension point itself. Has anyone successfully distributed a third-party app containing a Device Activity Monitor Extension to App Store Connect recently? Is there an additional Apple-side approval required beyond visible Family Controls entitlement approval?

Hi everyone, I'm building an iOS app that uses a DeviceActivityMonitor app extension as part of the Screen Time / Family Controls API. Every time I try to upload my IPA to App Store Connect, the validation fails with this error: "Invalid Info.plist value. The value of the NSExtensionPointIdentifier key, com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor, in the Info.plist of 'Alexandria.app/PlugIns/AlexandriaActivityMonitor.appex' is invalid." Error Domain=IrisAPI Code=-19241, iris-code=STATE_ERROR.VALIDATION_ERROR What I have verified (everything looks correct): NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor NSExtensionPrincipalClass = AlexandriaActivityMonitor.AlexandriaActivityMonitorExtension (correctly resolved in the compiled binary, verified with plutil -p) The Swift class correctly subclasses DeviceActivityMonitor CFBundleShortVersionString matches the main app Both the main app and extension provisioning profiles explicitly contain com.apple.developer.family-controls = true (verified by inspecting embedded.mobileprovision inside the IPA) The binary code signature itself contains com.apple.developer.family-controls = true (verified with codesign -d --entitlements :-) Family Controls entitlement was requested and approved in the Developer Portal for both App IDs Tested with both Xcode 26.2 (iOS 26 SDK) and Xcode 16.4 (iOS 18 SDK) — same error in both cases The IPA is structurally correct. The error comes purely from Apple's server-side IrisAPI validator and does not correspond to anything I can identify or fix in the code or configuration. Has anyone successfully submitted an app with a DeviceActivityMonitor extension to App Store Connect recently? Is there a backend approval requirement for com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor beyond the standard Family Controls entitlement approval? Could this be a known validator bug for this specific extension type? Any help appreciated.

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding the intended privacy limits of the DeviceActivityReportExtension. According to the documentation and the WWDC21 session "Meet the Screen Time API", this extension was created specifically to prevent the host application from accessing the user's underlying activity data (websites visited, app usage, screen time, etc). But I have found that my host app is actually able to reconstruct this raw activity data from the activity report. I am able to extract specific visited websites and app usage durations back into the main app. I reported this to Apple Security (Case ID: OE1100504480881 ), assuming it was a sandbox bypass. However, they closed the ticket stating that this is "expected behavior" and requires no fix. My question for Screen Time Engineers: Is the documentation incorrect? If my host app is expected to be able to read this data, is there a formal API we should be using instead of extracting it from the report extension? The current behavior contradicts the privacy limits described in the documentation, so I am confused if I should rely on this data access for my app features or if it will be patched later. Thanks.

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?

Hi, we are developing a screen time management app. The app locks the device after it was used for specified amount of time. After updating to iOS 26.2, we noticed a huge issue: the events started to fire (reach the threshold) in the DeviceActivityMonitorExtension prematurely, almost immediately after scheduling. The only solution we've found is to delete the app and reboot the device, but the effect is not lasting long and this does not always help. Before updating to iOS 26, events also used to sometimes fire prematurely, but rescheduling the event often helped. Now the rescheduling happens almost every second and the events keep reaching the threshold prematurely. Can you suggest any workarounds for this issue?