Prevent access to the Screen Time API without guardian approval and provide opaque tokens that represent apps and websites.

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iOS 26.2 (23C55): DeviceActivity eventDidReachThreshold fires with 0 Screen Time minutes
On iOS 26.2 (23C55), DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold fires intermittently for a daily schedule (00:00–23:59) even when iOS Screen Time shows 0 minutes for the selected apps that day. This causes premature shielding via ManagedSettings. Environment: iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 26.2 (23C55). Event selection: 2 apps. Threshold: 30 minutes. Multiple TestFlight users report the same behavior across various app selections and thresholds. Intermittent (~50% of days); sometimes multiple days in a row. Not observed in testing prior to iOS 26.2. Evidence: sysdiagnose + Screen Time screenshots (with 0 screen time on selected apps) + unified logs show UsageTrackingAgent notifying the extension that “unproductive from activity daily reached its threshold,” followed immediately by ManagedSettings shield being applied (extension reacting to the callback). Filed Feedback Assistant: FB21450954. Questions: Are others seeing this on 26.2? Does it correlate with restarting monitoring at interval boundaries or includesPastActivity settings?
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FamilyActivityPicker Crashing / Freezing
Our users report frequent crashes with the FamilyActivityPicker. Since this is a screen controlled by Apple, I'm assuming that there's nothing I can do to prevent these crashes. I'm wondering, though, if there's any way to gracefully handle these crashes? When this happens, the following is printed to the console: [com.apple.FamilyControls.ActivityPickerExtension(1121)] Connection to plugin invalidated while in use. Does anyone know how to handle/catch this error?
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Aug ’25
Test my app without ADP membership
Hello community, I'm new here, so please excuse my blunt question. I'm trying to understand how everything works and the logic behind it. I have an idea for an app which requires the FamilyControl entitlement. Now I am not sure if the idea even works, so I wanted to test it on my own device. Am I correct, that I cannot even test an App with such entitlements without paying for the ADP? Not even on my own device? I completely understand I need to be a member in the ADP if I want to distribute my app, but I'm not there, yet, and I just want to do a proof-of-concept. I thought I can't be the first one with that question, but couldn't find a past topic on this, so I'm posting it. Regards, Niklas
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Jul ’25
Family Controls + Device Activity Entitlement Missing from Provisioning Profiles (Xcode, iOS App Extensions)
Hello everyone, I’ve been stuck for weeks on an issue with Family Controls + Device Activity entitlements in my iOS app, and Apple Developer Support has not provided a solution so far. I’m hoping someone here who has successfully implemented Family Controls + Device Activity can point me in the right direction. About the App • The app is a Digital Wellbeing app called Breakloop. • It lets users select apps they want to block, requires them to complete a positive affirmation before opening those apps, and can re-block apps after a set time (e.g., 10 minutes). • This functionality exactly matches the purpose of Family Controls and Device Activity APIs. What Works So Far • Family Controls capability is enabled in the main app target in Xcode. • We have valid Apple Developer certificates (Apple Development) and a team account. • The main app builds and runs fine when using Family Controls alone. • We have App IDs for: • bl.Breakloop (main app) • bl.Breakloop.BreakloopMonitorExtension • bl.Breakloop.BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension The Problem The provisioning profiles for the extension targets (BreakloopMonitorExtension and BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension) do not include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement even though: • The App IDs in the Developer Portal have Family Controls (Development) enabled. • The extensions have the correct entitlements file with both: com.apple.developer.family-controls com.apple.developer.device-activity • Xcode Signing & Capabilities points to the correct provisioning profile + certificate. Because the provisioning profiles don’t include the entitlement, the build fails with: Provisioning profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement. What Apple Support Said Apple Support told me: • “Family Controls grants access to Device Activity.” • They cannot enable it manually or guarantee that profiles will include the entitlement. • They sent links to the documentation but no further assistance. What I Need Help With 1. Has anyone successfully built extensions using Family Controls + Device Activity? 2. Do I need to request any additional approval for Device Activity, or should it appear automatically once Family Controls is enabled? 3. Is there a known Xcode or Apple Developer Portal configuration issue that causes the entitlement to be missing in provisioning profiles? 4. Any working example of a project setup that uses Family Controls + Device Activity in extensions would be extremely helpful. Extra Info • We use the latest Xcode + iOS SDK. • Tried recreating certificates, profiles, and App IDs multiple times. • Followed Apple’s docs for Family Controls + Device Activity exactly. I would greatly appreciate any guidance, especially from someone who has this working with iOS app extensions. Thank you!
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Sep ’25
app to restriction student phone use in schools
I work at a school in NYC and have a software idea that could better support the new NYC phone ban law than current market options (i.e. Yondr pouches). Right now at my school, students and staff scan a QR code upon entering the building to indicate that they are in the building. They scan again on the way out to indicate they've left the building. This is super helpful for attendance, particularly in emergency situations (fire drills, etc). Imagine if when students scanned their QR code, it also activated an app similar to Opal or ScreenZen, but with an admin preset whitelisted apps. The idea is that this app would default deny access to all apps on students' phones except the admin preset whitelisted ones such as Phone, Calculator, etc. Depending on the age/needs of the student, other apps like Spotify, or medical apps could also be whitelisted. My question is -- is this idea possible to create? We would need admin preset controls to create the preset whitelist. We can't have students picking their own restrictions, as we know most would opt to not restrict at all. We would need an admin dashboard so teachers/admin can see which students have activated the app in the building, and which may be trying to sneakily avoid it. We would ideally need to be able to whitelist both system apps like Phone and Calculator, as well as non-system apps such as Spotify (and medical apps -- we have some students who manage/monitor their Diabetes with an app). I don't have a background in software. I'm a math and health teacher. I've experimented with trying to have friends who majored in CS to create this app for me, but they've all either struggled/lost interest. So I'm also looking for a business partner in this venture. If anyone has any guidance here, it would be so helpful! My boss (Head of School) is super interested in this idea and significantly prefers it to every other alternative that he has encountered. The problem is this idea does not exist yet! Note: I know this is a super similar idea to the app and product "Brick". Notably, though, Brick does not have the ability for admin preset controls, or the admin dashboard. We reached out to the company to see if they're create this for us and they said it's a back burner idea that they're aware of, but it's not a priority for them right now. Thank you for any guidance!
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Oct ’25
Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement — typical review timeline?
Hello! I recently submitted a request for the Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement for my app, and I’m trying to understand what kind of timeline to expect. I’ve seen posts suggesting anywhere from a few days to over a month for approval. Is there a typical review window for this entitlement? And is there anything I can do on my end to help the process move more smoothly? Thanks in advance!
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Feb ’26
eventDeviceActivityThreshold from DeviceActivity will fire early and block apps after downloading iOS 26.2
A screen time app I'm making has started telling users that their limit was reached even when they're far below their limit for the day (sometimes even at 0 minutes for the day). This issue only started happening after upgrading my software to iOS 26.2. Is this happening to anyone else? If so how have you found any solutions or does anyone know of any changes that could be causing this? Any help would be appreciated.
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Scheduled events reach threshold almost immediately on iOS 26.2
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?
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DeviceActivityReportExtension sandbox blocks all output channels — how to export resolved Application.bundleIdentifier?
DeviceActivityReportExtension sandbox blocks all output channels — how to export resolved Application.bundleIdentifier? Application.bundleIdentifier only resolves to a non-nil value inside a DeviceActivityReportExtension (ExtensionKit/XPC). The main app and DeviceActivityMonitor extension always return nil. However, the Report Extension's sandbox silently blocks every output channel I've tested: UserDefaults (App Group): Reads succeed, writes silently dropped File writes (App Group container): Fail silently or throw HTTP requests: Network blocked entirely Local Notifications: "Couldn't communicate with a helper application" UIPasteboard: Writes silently fail iCloud KVS: synchronize() returns false Both targets share the same com.apple.security.application-groups entitlement and group identifier. The main app reads and writes to the shared container normally — only the extension's writes fail. This means resolved bundle identifiers can only be rendered in the extension's own SwiftUI view and cannot be communicated anywhere else. My question: Is this sandbox restriction intentional? If so, what is the recommended mechanism for the host app (or a backend) to obtain the resolved bundle identifiers that only the Report Extension can access? Environment: Xcode 16.3, iOS 18.3, physical device. Sample project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DPyN2BCUt5p-RKEPA0zsDFFEvgZVHlS_/view?usp=sharing — a minimal two-target project that demonstrates every failing channel. Run on a physical device, grant Screen Time access, select apps, and observe that bundle ID resolution shows PASS but all write channels show FAIL.
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Family Controls Request Form
Hi everyone, I recently submitted the Family Controls request form and received the following request IDs: 429MKWT5VX
 KNL6T2DC7A
 N62KV78DKC However, I haven’t received any updates yet and I’m not sure how these requests are tracked or when we’ll know if they’re approved. Our app is almost ready to launch and this capability is critical for us. Both the main app and an extension depend on Family Controls, so we’re currently blocked from moving forward. I also raised a support ticket with Apple Developer Support (Case ID: 102838723073), but I haven’t received any response there either. To be honest, this is becoming really stressful. Months of work are stuck at the final step and we’re unable to move forward without this approval. This isn’t just a small personal project and we’re building a production app and were hoping to launch very soon. If anyone has been through this process or has any guidance on the approval timeline, or if someone from Apple could help look into these request IDs, it would genuinely mean a lot to us.

 Thank you
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DeviceActivityMonitor extension rejected by App Store Connect validator — NSExtensionPointIdentifier "com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor" invalid (IrisAPI -19241)
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.
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FamilyActivityPicker crashing when expanding "Other" category
Hi there, I'm presenting a FamilyActivityPicker inside of a sheet, and on some phones, the FamilyActivityPicker freezes and crashes when the user expands the "Other" category only. "Other" is the only category that exhibits this behavior, and it only does this on some phones, not in all cases. This issue is perfectly reproducible on those phones when using the FamilyActivityPicker for the "other" category only, but on those same phones it does not reproducible in the Native ScreenTime Picker in Settings → ScreenTime → App Limits → Add Limit. I don't have access to these phones as they are user reports, but any guidance here would be deeply appreciated. More broadly, there are several issues with the FamilyActivityPicker (categories expand on top of each other when multiple are opened, varying behavior with tapping rows vs tapping select bubbles depending on phone size, etc) that the Native ScreenTime Picker doesn't have. Grouping websites as a standalone category is preferable as well. Could we as developers just have access to that one?
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Aug ’25
Screentime API new issues on iOS 17.4.1 and 17.5.1
Hi, I have a released screentime app ScreenZen. The last few days I've seen a disturbing spike in bug reports coming from people with 17.4.1 and 17.5.1 phones with no update to the app itself. People reported they saw the issue immediately after updating their iOS version. Unfortunately it is not replicable on all phones with those versions, so we haven't been able to replicate it on our test phones. It appears the issue is the ApplicationToken passed into ShieldActionExtension and ShieldConfigurationExtension does not match any of the ApplicationTokens that the user selected to block through FamilyControls. (The selected ApplicationTokens are being loaded through a group UserDefaults and they are indeed being loaded in the ShieldActionExtension in the bug reports).This is preventing the app from loading the correct settings and handling the blocking accordingly. I am trying to isolate this better with a new release with better logging, but would appreciate any help on this issue.
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Jul ’25
Screen Time issues after transferring App developer account ownership
After transferring the App ownership to a different account, if you update the app on iOS, two identical apps will show up in Settings > Screen Time. Users can't control the blocking settings from before the update - the only fix is to restart the phone. After the next execution of manageStore.shield.applications, users still can't manually disable the restrictions - their only option is to uninstall and reinstall the app. I believe this is related to how Screen Time API's authentication works - it's not just tied to the app's bundle ID, but also linked to the developer account's organization ID. Any suggestions for a clean solution that would allow smooth app updates after the transfer without running into these issues?
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Jan ’26
Clarification on Family Controls Entitlement Coverage for App Extensions
Hello Apple Developer Community, I have an existing Family Controls entitlement approved for my main app. My app includes the following extensions: AppLimitMonitorExtension ShieldConfigurationExtension ShieldActionExtension I am seeking clarification on whether my existing Family Controls entitlement for the main app automatically covers these extensions, or if I must submit separate entitlement requests for each extension. Because when I try to distribute app on App Store Connect it give me error "Provisioning profile failed qualification". Many developers appear to be facing this issue, and it seems that Apple has not clearly documented this. is information anywhere.
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Apr ’25
Device Activity Report Not showing any information
All After about 20 hours straight of working on this and having scrapped it twice I am realizing I should have asked everyone here for help. I am just trying to get device activity report extension to work inside an existing app. I have been heavily using family controls, managedsettings and deviceactivity and decided it would be nice to output some of the app usage so the User (parent) can see their children's app usage. I installed the target via xcode, confirmed group names match, and think I have it embedded correctly but when I run the app and call the view within the extension to show minutes used by any apps it just shows no time has been used. In addition, when I put print statements into the extension they do not show up in console. I have confirmed the main app target->Build phases->Link binary with Libraries has: ManagedSettings.framework FamilyControls.Framework DeviceActivity.framework I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases -> Embed Foundation Extensions has: ShieldConfiguration.appex ShieldActionExtension.appex DeviceActivityMonitor.appex I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases-> Embed ExtensionKit Extensions has: UsageReportExtension.appex I have used the apps I am trying to show data for extensively in the last 36 hours. Here is my UsageReportExtension info.plist EXAppExtensionAttributes EXExtensionPointIdentifier com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension .entitlement com.apple.developer.family-controls com.apple.security.application-groups group.com.jrp.EarnYourTurnMVP2.data Here is the file in the app (timebankview.swift) calling the extension/showing the extension view(AppUsageReportView.swift) import DeviceActivity import ManagedSettings struct TimeBankView: View { @EnvironmentObject private var appState: AppState @State private var reportInterval: DateInterval = { let calendar = Calendar.current let now = Date() let yesterdayDate = calendar.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: now) ?? now return DateInterval(start: yesterdayDate, end: now) }() private var reportFilter: DeviceActivityFilter { let selection = appState.screenTimeController.currentSelection return DeviceActivityFilter( segment: .daily(during: reportInterval), users: .children, devices: .all, applications: selection.applicationTokens, categories: selection.categoryTokens // webDomains: selection.webDomains // Add if needed ) } var body: some View { ZStack { Color.appTheme.background(for: appState.isParentMode) .edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all) ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { Text("Time Bank") DeviceActivityReport(.childUsageSummary, filter: reportFilter) Here is AppUsageReportView.swift import SwiftUI struct AppUsageReportView: View { let config: DetailedAppUsageConfiguration // Use the detailed config var body: some View { VStack { Text("App Usage Details") Text("Total Screen Time: \(config.totalDurationFormatted)") if config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty { Text("No specific app usage data available for the selected period/filter.") } else { Text("Apps Used:") List { ForEach(config.applicationsUsed) { appInfo in HStack { Image(systemName: "app.dashed") Text(appInfo.appName) .lineLimit(1) Text(appInfo.durationFormatted) Here is AppUsageReportScene.swift: import SwiftUI import ManagedSettings struct AppInfo: Identifiable, Hashable { let id = UUID() let appName: String let durationFormatted: String } struct DetailedAppUsageConfiguration { var totalDurationFormatted: String = "Calculating..." var applicationsUsed: [AppInfo] = [] } struct AppUsageReportScene: DeviceActivityReportScene { let context: DeviceActivityReport.Context = .childUsageSummary let content: (DetailedAppUsageConfiguration) -> AppUsageReportView func makeConfiguration(representing data: DeviceActivityResults<DeviceActivityData>) async -> DetailedAppUsageConfiguration { var config = DetailedAppUsageConfiguration() var appDurations: [String: TimeInterval] = [:] var totalAggregatedDuration: TimeInterval = 0 let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter() formatter.allowedUnits = [.hour, .minute, .second] formatter.unitsStyle = .abbreviated formatter.zeroFormattingBehavior = .pad var segmentCount = 0 var categoryCount = 0 var appCount = 0 for await activityData in data { // Check segments var tempSegmentCount = 0 for await segment in activityData.activitySegments { segmentCount += 1 tempSegmentCount += 1 totalAggregatedDuration += segment.totalActivityDuration var tempCategoryCount = 0 for await categoryActivity in segment.categories { categoryCount += 1 tempCategoryCount += 1 var tempAppCount = 0 for await appActivity in categoryActivity.applications { appCount += 1 tempAppCount += 1 let appName = appActivity.application.localizedDisplayName ?? "Unknown App" let duration = appActivity.totalActivityDuration appDurations[appName, default: 0] += duration }}} } config.totalDurationFormatted = formatter.string(from: totalAggregatedDuration) ?? "N/A" config.applicationsUsed = appDurations .filter { $0.value >= 1 .map { AppInfo(appName: $0.key, durationFormatted: formatter.string(from: $0.value) ?? "-") } .sorted { lhs, rhs in let durationLHS = appDurations[lhs.appName] ?? 0 let durationRHS = appDurations[rhs.appName] ?? 0 return durationLHS > durationRHS } if !config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty { for (index, app) in config.applicationsUsed.enumerated() { } } else { } return config }} UsageReportExtension.swift struct UsageReportExtension: DeviceActivityReportExtension { init() { print("🚀 [UsageReportExtension] Extension initialized at \(Date())") print("🔍 [UsageReportExtension] Process info: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName) PID: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processIdentifier)") } var body: some DeviceActivityReportScene { let _ = print("📊 [UsageReportExtension] Building report scenes at \(Date())") TotalActivityReport { totalActivity in print("🕰️ [TotalActivityReport] Creating view with data: \(totalActivity)") return TotalActivityView(totalActivity: totalActivity) }}}
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Apr ’25
StoreKit2, IAP not instantly shared with Family
Hey folks! In one of our apps we're using the FamilyControls framework to manage the screentime for the child. The app requires the Guardian to activate a subscription on his/her device to enable the functionality for the Child on the child device. We're currently using StoreKit 2 to get notified when there is an active subscription. The issue we're seeing (and our users) is that an activated subscription isn't instantly propagated to the Family members, in this case the device belonging to the child. Is this a known bug, and are the possible any workarounds? Currently we have to ask our users to "Restore Purchase" or wait minutes/hours for the app to active, which isn't a viable solution. We want it to "just work" :) Sincerely, César Pinto Castillo Ambi Studio
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May ’25
iOS 26.2 (23C55): DeviceActivity eventDidReachThreshold fires with 0 Screen Time minutes
On iOS 26.2 (23C55), DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold fires intermittently for a daily schedule (00:00–23:59) even when iOS Screen Time shows 0 minutes for the selected apps that day. This causes premature shielding via ManagedSettings. Environment: iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 26.2 (23C55). Event selection: 2 apps. Threshold: 30 minutes. Multiple TestFlight users report the same behavior across various app selections and thresholds. Intermittent (~50% of days); sometimes multiple days in a row. Not observed in testing prior to iOS 26.2. Evidence: sysdiagnose + Screen Time screenshots (with 0 screen time on selected apps) + unified logs show UsageTrackingAgent notifying the extension that “unproductive from activity daily reached its threshold,” followed immediately by ManagedSettings shield being applied (extension reacting to the callback). Filed Feedback Assistant: FB21450954. Questions: Are others seeing this on 26.2? Does it correlate with restarting monitoring at interval boundaries or includesPastActivity settings?
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5
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2
Views
970
Activity
3w
FamilyActivityPicker Crashing / Freezing
Our users report frequent crashes with the FamilyActivityPicker. Since this is a screen controlled by Apple, I'm assuming that there's nothing I can do to prevent these crashes. I'm wondering, though, if there's any way to gracefully handle these crashes? When this happens, the following is printed to the console: [com.apple.FamilyControls.ActivityPickerExtension(1121)] Connection to plugin invalidated while in use. Does anyone know how to handle/catch this error?
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4
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2
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1.3k
Activity
Aug ’25
FamilyActivityPicker Title
Is it possible to change the title "Choose Activites" and also remove the search on the FamilyActivityPicker?
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4
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0
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580
Activity
Nov ’25
Test my app without ADP membership
Hello community, I'm new here, so please excuse my blunt question. I'm trying to understand how everything works and the logic behind it. I have an idea for an app which requires the FamilyControl entitlement. Now I am not sure if the idea even works, so I wanted to test it on my own device. Am I correct, that I cannot even test an App with such entitlements without paying for the ADP? Not even on my own device? I completely understand I need to be a member in the ADP if I want to distribute my app, but I'm not there, yet, and I just want to do a proof-of-concept. I thought I can't be the first one with that question, but couldn't find a past topic on this, so I'm posting it. Regards, Niklas
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4
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0
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676
Activity
Jul ’25
Family Controls + Device Activity Entitlement Missing from Provisioning Profiles (Xcode, iOS App Extensions)
Hello everyone, I’ve been stuck for weeks on an issue with Family Controls + Device Activity entitlements in my iOS app, and Apple Developer Support has not provided a solution so far. I’m hoping someone here who has successfully implemented Family Controls + Device Activity can point me in the right direction. About the App • The app is a Digital Wellbeing app called Breakloop. • It lets users select apps they want to block, requires them to complete a positive affirmation before opening those apps, and can re-block apps after a set time (e.g., 10 minutes). • This functionality exactly matches the purpose of Family Controls and Device Activity APIs. What Works So Far • Family Controls capability is enabled in the main app target in Xcode. • We have valid Apple Developer certificates (Apple Development) and a team account. • The main app builds and runs fine when using Family Controls alone. • We have App IDs for: • bl.Breakloop (main app) • bl.Breakloop.BreakloopMonitorExtension • bl.Breakloop.BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension The Problem The provisioning profiles for the extension targets (BreakloopMonitorExtension and BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension) do not include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement even though: • The App IDs in the Developer Portal have Family Controls (Development) enabled. • The extensions have the correct entitlements file with both: com.apple.developer.family-controls com.apple.developer.device-activity • Xcode Signing & Capabilities points to the correct provisioning profile + certificate. Because the provisioning profiles don’t include the entitlement, the build fails with: Provisioning profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement. What Apple Support Said Apple Support told me: • “Family Controls grants access to Device Activity.” • They cannot enable it manually or guarantee that profiles will include the entitlement. • They sent links to the documentation but no further assistance. What I Need Help With 1. Has anyone successfully built extensions using Family Controls + Device Activity? 2. Do I need to request any additional approval for Device Activity, or should it appear automatically once Family Controls is enabled? 3. Is there a known Xcode or Apple Developer Portal configuration issue that causes the entitlement to be missing in provisioning profiles? 4. Any working example of a project setup that uses Family Controls + Device Activity in extensions would be extremely helpful. Extra Info • We use the latest Xcode + iOS SDK. • Tried recreating certificates, profiles, and App IDs multiple times. • Followed Apple’s docs for Family Controls + Device Activity exactly. I would greatly appreciate any guidance, especially from someone who has this working with iOS app extensions. Thank you!
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4
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1
Views
759
Activity
Sep ’25
app to restriction student phone use in schools
I work at a school in NYC and have a software idea that could better support the new NYC phone ban law than current market options (i.e. Yondr pouches). Right now at my school, students and staff scan a QR code upon entering the building to indicate that they are in the building. They scan again on the way out to indicate they've left the building. This is super helpful for attendance, particularly in emergency situations (fire drills, etc). Imagine if when students scanned their QR code, it also activated an app similar to Opal or ScreenZen, but with an admin preset whitelisted apps. The idea is that this app would default deny access to all apps on students' phones except the admin preset whitelisted ones such as Phone, Calculator, etc. Depending on the age/needs of the student, other apps like Spotify, or medical apps could also be whitelisted. My question is -- is this idea possible to create? We would need admin preset controls to create the preset whitelist. We can't have students picking their own restrictions, as we know most would opt to not restrict at all. We would need an admin dashboard so teachers/admin can see which students have activated the app in the building, and which may be trying to sneakily avoid it. We would ideally need to be able to whitelist both system apps like Phone and Calculator, as well as non-system apps such as Spotify (and medical apps -- we have some students who manage/monitor their Diabetes with an app). I don't have a background in software. I'm a math and health teacher. I've experimented with trying to have friends who majored in CS to create this app for me, but they've all either struggled/lost interest. So I'm also looking for a business partner in this venture. If anyone has any guidance here, it would be so helpful! My boss (Head of School) is super interested in this idea and significantly prefers it to every other alternative that he has encountered. The problem is this idea does not exist yet! Note: I know this is a super similar idea to the app and product "Brick". Notably, though, Brick does not have the ability for admin preset controls, or the admin dashboard. We reached out to the company to see if they're create this for us and they said it's a back burner idea that they're aware of, but it's not a priority for them right now. Thank you for any guidance!
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4
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0
Views
895
Activity
Oct ’25
Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement — typical review timeline?
Hello! I recently submitted a request for the Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement for my app, and I’m trying to understand what kind of timeline to expect. I’ve seen posts suggesting anywhere from a few days to over a month for approval. Is there a typical review window for this entitlement? And is there anything I can do on my end to help the process move more smoothly? Thanks in advance!
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4
Boosts
1
Views
377
Activity
Feb ’26
eventDeviceActivityThreshold from DeviceActivity will fire early and block apps after downloading iOS 26.2
A screen time app I'm making has started telling users that their limit was reached even when they're far below their limit for the day (sometimes even at 0 minutes for the day). This issue only started happening after upgrading my software to iOS 26.2. Is this happening to anyone else? If so how have you found any solutions or does anyone know of any changes that could be causing this? Any help would be appreciated.
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4
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1
Views
601
Activity
1w
Scheduled events reach threshold almost immediately on iOS 26.2
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?
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4
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2
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380
Activity
1w
DeviceActivityReportExtension sandbox blocks all output channels — how to export resolved Application.bundleIdentifier?
DeviceActivityReportExtension sandbox blocks all output channels — how to export resolved Application.bundleIdentifier? Application.bundleIdentifier only resolves to a non-nil value inside a DeviceActivityReportExtension (ExtensionKit/XPC). The main app and DeviceActivityMonitor extension always return nil. However, the Report Extension's sandbox silently blocks every output channel I've tested: UserDefaults (App Group): Reads succeed, writes silently dropped File writes (App Group container): Fail silently or throw HTTP requests: Network blocked entirely Local Notifications: "Couldn't communicate with a helper application" UIPasteboard: Writes silently fail iCloud KVS: synchronize() returns false Both targets share the same com.apple.security.application-groups entitlement and group identifier. The main app reads and writes to the shared container normally — only the extension's writes fail. This means resolved bundle identifiers can only be rendered in the extension's own SwiftUI view and cannot be communicated anywhere else. My question: Is this sandbox restriction intentional? If so, what is the recommended mechanism for the host app (or a backend) to obtain the resolved bundle identifiers that only the Report Extension can access? Environment: Xcode 16.3, iOS 18.3, physical device. Sample project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DPyN2BCUt5p-RKEPA0zsDFFEvgZVHlS_/view?usp=sharing — a minimal two-target project that demonstrates every failing channel. Run on a physical device, grant Screen Time access, select apps, and observe that bundle ID resolution shows PASS but all write channels show FAIL.
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181
Activity
2w
Family Controls Request Form
Hi everyone, I recently submitted the Family Controls request form and received the following request IDs: 429MKWT5VX
 KNL6T2DC7A
 N62KV78DKC However, I haven’t received any updates yet and I’m not sure how these requests are tracked or when we’ll know if they’re approved. Our app is almost ready to launch and this capability is critical for us. Both the main app and an extension depend on Family Controls, so we’re currently blocked from moving forward. I also raised a support ticket with Apple Developer Support (Case ID: 102838723073), but I haven’t received any response there either. To be honest, this is becoming really stressful. Months of work are stuck at the final step and we’re unable to move forward without this approval. This isn’t just a small personal project and we’re building a production app and were hoping to launch very soon. If anyone has been through this process or has any guidance on the approval timeline, or if someone from Apple could help look into these request IDs, it would genuinely mean a lot to us.

 Thank you
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618
Activity
1w
DeviceActivityMonitor extension rejected by App Store Connect validator — NSExtensionPointIdentifier "com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor" invalid (IrisAPI -19241)
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.
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171
Activity
8h
FamilyActivityPicker crashing when expanding "Other" category
Hi there, I'm presenting a FamilyActivityPicker inside of a sheet, and on some phones, the FamilyActivityPicker freezes and crashes when the user expands the "Other" category only. "Other" is the only category that exhibits this behavior, and it only does this on some phones, not in all cases. This issue is perfectly reproducible on those phones when using the FamilyActivityPicker for the "other" category only, but on those same phones it does not reproducible in the Native ScreenTime Picker in Settings → ScreenTime → App Limits → Add Limit. I don't have access to these phones as they are user reports, but any guidance here would be deeply appreciated. More broadly, there are several issues with the FamilyActivityPicker (categories expand on top of each other when multiple are opened, varying behavior with tapping rows vs tapping select bubbles depending on phone size, etc) that the Native ScreenTime Picker doesn't have. Grouping websites as a standalone category is preferable as well. Could we as developers just have access to that one?
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3
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1.6k
Activity
Aug ’25
New DeviceActivityAuthorization API without documentation
Here is a post to gather findings in case anyone found out what this new API does. Apple did not include any comments or documentation and due to the generic naming we don't know what this API might does. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/deviceactivity/deviceactivityauthorization?changes=latest_major
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3
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668
Activity
Jul ’25
Screentime API new issues on iOS 17.4.1 and 17.5.1
Hi, I have a released screentime app ScreenZen. The last few days I've seen a disturbing spike in bug reports coming from people with 17.4.1 and 17.5.1 phones with no update to the app itself. People reported they saw the issue immediately after updating their iOS version. Unfortunately it is not replicable on all phones with those versions, so we haven't been able to replicate it on our test phones. It appears the issue is the ApplicationToken passed into ShieldActionExtension and ShieldConfigurationExtension does not match any of the ApplicationTokens that the user selected to block through FamilyControls. (The selected ApplicationTokens are being loaded through a group UserDefaults and they are indeed being loaded in the ShieldActionExtension in the bug reports).This is preventing the app from loading the correct settings and handling the blocking accordingly. I am trying to isolate this better with a new release with better logging, but would appreciate any help on this issue.
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3
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6
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Activity
Jul ’25
DeviceActivityReport not showing report data to main app
I am getting this error when I try to show device activity report view by this DeviceActivityReport(appsContext, filter: filter) Attempt to map database failed: permission was denied. This attempt will not be retried. I have taken access by this way. AuthorizationCenter.shared.requestAuthorization(for: .individual)
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3
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1k
Activity
Jan ’26
Screen Time issues after transferring App developer account ownership
After transferring the App ownership to a different account, if you update the app on iOS, two identical apps will show up in Settings > Screen Time. Users can't control the blocking settings from before the update - the only fix is to restart the phone. After the next execution of manageStore.shield.applications, users still can't manually disable the restrictions - their only option is to uninstall and reinstall the app. I believe this is related to how Screen Time API's authentication works - it's not just tied to the app's bundle ID, but also linked to the developer account's organization ID. Any suggestions for a clean solution that would allow smooth app updates after the transfer without running into these issues?
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3
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1
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590
Activity
Jan ’26
Clarification on Family Controls Entitlement Coverage for App Extensions
Hello Apple Developer Community, I have an existing Family Controls entitlement approved for my main app. My app includes the following extensions: AppLimitMonitorExtension ShieldConfigurationExtension ShieldActionExtension I am seeking clarification on whether my existing Family Controls entitlement for the main app automatically covers these extensions, or if I must submit separate entitlement requests for each extension. Because when I try to distribute app on App Store Connect it give me error "Provisioning profile failed qualification". Many developers appear to be facing this issue, and it seems that Apple has not clearly documented this. is information anywhere.
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176
Activity
Apr ’25
Device Activity Report Not showing any information
All After about 20 hours straight of working on this and having scrapped it twice I am realizing I should have asked everyone here for help. I am just trying to get device activity report extension to work inside an existing app. I have been heavily using family controls, managedsettings and deviceactivity and decided it would be nice to output some of the app usage so the User (parent) can see their children's app usage. I installed the target via xcode, confirmed group names match, and think I have it embedded correctly but when I run the app and call the view within the extension to show minutes used by any apps it just shows no time has been used. In addition, when I put print statements into the extension they do not show up in console. I have confirmed the main app target->Build phases->Link binary with Libraries has: ManagedSettings.framework FamilyControls.Framework DeviceActivity.framework I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases -> Embed Foundation Extensions has: ShieldConfiguration.appex ShieldActionExtension.appex DeviceActivityMonitor.appex I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases-> Embed ExtensionKit Extensions has: UsageReportExtension.appex I have used the apps I am trying to show data for extensively in the last 36 hours. Here is my UsageReportExtension info.plist EXAppExtensionAttributes EXExtensionPointIdentifier com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension .entitlement com.apple.developer.family-controls com.apple.security.application-groups group.com.jrp.EarnYourTurnMVP2.data Here is the file in the app (timebankview.swift) calling the extension/showing the extension view(AppUsageReportView.swift) import DeviceActivity import ManagedSettings struct TimeBankView: View { @EnvironmentObject private var appState: AppState @State private var reportInterval: DateInterval = { let calendar = Calendar.current let now = Date() let yesterdayDate = calendar.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: now) ?? now return DateInterval(start: yesterdayDate, end: now) }() private var reportFilter: DeviceActivityFilter { let selection = appState.screenTimeController.currentSelection return DeviceActivityFilter( segment: .daily(during: reportInterval), users: .children, devices: .all, applications: selection.applicationTokens, categories: selection.categoryTokens // webDomains: selection.webDomains // Add if needed ) } var body: some View { ZStack { Color.appTheme.background(for: appState.isParentMode) .edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all) ScrollView { VStack(spacing: 20) { Text("Time Bank") DeviceActivityReport(.childUsageSummary, filter: reportFilter) Here is AppUsageReportView.swift import SwiftUI struct AppUsageReportView: View { let config: DetailedAppUsageConfiguration // Use the detailed config var body: some View { VStack { Text("App Usage Details") Text("Total Screen Time: \(config.totalDurationFormatted)") if config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty { Text("No specific app usage data available for the selected period/filter.") } else { Text("Apps Used:") List { ForEach(config.applicationsUsed) { appInfo in HStack { Image(systemName: "app.dashed") Text(appInfo.appName) .lineLimit(1) Text(appInfo.durationFormatted) Here is AppUsageReportScene.swift: import SwiftUI import ManagedSettings struct AppInfo: Identifiable, Hashable { let id = UUID() let appName: String let durationFormatted: String } struct DetailedAppUsageConfiguration { var totalDurationFormatted: String = "Calculating..." var applicationsUsed: [AppInfo] = [] } struct AppUsageReportScene: DeviceActivityReportScene { let context: DeviceActivityReport.Context = .childUsageSummary let content: (DetailedAppUsageConfiguration) -> AppUsageReportView func makeConfiguration(representing data: DeviceActivityResults<DeviceActivityData>) async -> DetailedAppUsageConfiguration { var config = DetailedAppUsageConfiguration() var appDurations: [String: TimeInterval] = [:] var totalAggregatedDuration: TimeInterval = 0 let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter() formatter.allowedUnits = [.hour, .minute, .second] formatter.unitsStyle = .abbreviated formatter.zeroFormattingBehavior = .pad var segmentCount = 0 var categoryCount = 0 var appCount = 0 for await activityData in data { // Check segments var tempSegmentCount = 0 for await segment in activityData.activitySegments { segmentCount += 1 tempSegmentCount += 1 totalAggregatedDuration += segment.totalActivityDuration var tempCategoryCount = 0 for await categoryActivity in segment.categories { categoryCount += 1 tempCategoryCount += 1 var tempAppCount = 0 for await appActivity in categoryActivity.applications { appCount += 1 tempAppCount += 1 let appName = appActivity.application.localizedDisplayName ?? "Unknown App" let duration = appActivity.totalActivityDuration appDurations[appName, default: 0] += duration }}} } config.totalDurationFormatted = formatter.string(from: totalAggregatedDuration) ?? "N/A" config.applicationsUsed = appDurations .filter { $0.value >= 1 .map { AppInfo(appName: $0.key, durationFormatted: formatter.string(from: $0.value) ?? "-") } .sorted { lhs, rhs in let durationLHS = appDurations[lhs.appName] ?? 0 let durationRHS = appDurations[rhs.appName] ?? 0 return durationLHS > durationRHS } if !config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty { for (index, app) in config.applicationsUsed.enumerated() { } } else { } return config }} UsageReportExtension.swift struct UsageReportExtension: DeviceActivityReportExtension { init() { print("🚀 [UsageReportExtension] Extension initialized at \(Date())") print("🔍 [UsageReportExtension] Process info: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName) PID: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processIdentifier)") } var body: some DeviceActivityReportScene { let _ = print("📊 [UsageReportExtension] Building report scenes at \(Date())") TotalActivityReport { totalActivity in print("🕰️ [TotalActivityReport] Creating view with data: \(totalActivity)") return TotalActivityView(totalActivity: totalActivity) }}}
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433
Activity
Apr ’25
StoreKit2, IAP not instantly shared with Family
Hey folks! In one of our apps we're using the FamilyControls framework to manage the screentime for the child. The app requires the Guardian to activate a subscription on his/her device to enable the functionality for the Child on the child device. We're currently using StoreKit 2 to get notified when there is an active subscription. The issue we're seeing (and our users) is that an activated subscription isn't instantly propagated to the Family members, in this case the device belonging to the child. Is this a known bug, and are the possible any workarounds? Currently we have to ask our users to "Restore Purchase" or wait minutes/hours for the app to active, which isn't a viable solution. We want it to "just work" :) Sincerely, César Pinto Castillo Ambi Studio
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122
Activity
May ’25