So what's the point of being able to block unto 50 apps per ManagedSettingStore via store.application.blockedApplications (which works fine) until removing the blocked apps or clearing the store. Where the following occurs
if you have a social networking group with more than 9 apps only 9 apps will go back into the group and all the others will go onto the springboard all jumbled
if you end up with an empty group then tap into the group, it is removed then during the reset all apps are placed back on to the springboard
Prevent access to the Screen Time API without guardian approval and provide opaque tokens that represent apps and websites.
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
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When I tap on one of the buttons in the ShieldAction extension I want to close the shield and open the parent app instead of the shielded app. Is there any way of doing this using the Screen Time API?
class ShieldActionExtension: ShieldActionDelegate {
override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for application: ApplicationToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {
// Handle the action as needed.
let store = ManagedSettingsStore()
switch action {
case .primaryButtonPressed:
//TODO - open parent app
completionHandler(.defer)
case .secondaryButtonPressed:
//remove shield
store.shield.applications?.remove(application)
completionHandler(.defer)
@unknown default:
fatalError()
}
}
}
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Managed Settings
Family Controls
Device Activity
Screen Time
I was granted permissions for family controls distribution for the main target of my app. Do I also need to request permission for the other targets like ShieldConfiguration, ShieldActionExtension, etc.? If no, how can i add the distribution capabilities to those targets?
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?
I am encountering an issue after transferring an app that uses the FamilyControls framework to a different app account. After releasing a new version of the app post-transfer, the following problems arose:
ApplicationTokens obtained in the pre-transfer version no longer function when used with ManagedSettingsGroup.ShieldSettings in the post-transfer version.
Using the same ApplicationTokens with Label(_ applicationToken: ApplicationToken) does not display the app name or icon.
These issues did not occur in the pre-transfer version and everything worked as expected. We suspect that ApplicationTokens obtained prior to the transfer are no longer valid in the updated app released under the new app account.
We are seeking guidance on the following:
Is this expected behavior after transferring an app to another app account?
What steps should we take to ensure that ApplicationTokens obtained before the transfer remain functional in the post-transfer environment?
If these tokens are invalidated due to the transfer, what are the recommended procedures for regenerating or updating ApplicationTokens for existing app users?
Maintaining a seamless user experience after transferring the app is critical. We would greatly appreciate any insights or guidance. Please let us know if additional information or logs would assist in investigating this issue.
Thank you!
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Family Controls
Device Activity
Managed Settings
Hi team. I am working on an app that uses the Screen Time API. I got access to the family controls (distribution) capability through the request process for my main app. I added a DeviceActivityReport extension in XCode, but haven't been able to get the extension to show up on the screen. I noticed that the extension only has the development version of the family controls capability available. Is this the source of my errors? I was able to get the screen time displayed in a test app I built where both the main app and extension used the development version of the capability, which led me to believe that discrepancy could be the issue.
Let me know if there is anything I can provide to help in the debugging process. I didn't send a minimal example in this request due to the fact that I would have to remove most of my functionality to create a "minimal" example (since the signing is only for my main app), but I can do that if needed. Thanks! I looked through the logs in the console for the phone (I'm testing on a real iPhone 13 Pro Max), but didn't see anything that popped out after looking (not exactly sure what to look for though).
STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
Create an app with the Family Controls, Distribution capability. Then create the DeviceActivityReport with the Family Control, Development capability. Attempt to see the DeviceActivityReport in the main app.
NOTE: I was successfully able to create a minimal test app completely separately that used the Development versions of the capabilities for both with the exact same extension code. That's why I think the issue could be due to the capability version discrepancy.
I want to add a widget to my app that will display the # of pickups the user has for the day. I have the DeviceActivityReport working in the main app but can't get it to display in the widget since it is not a supported view for widgets. Is there any workaround for getting this view to the widget?
I tried converting the DeviceActivityReport view to a UI image thinking maybe that would be a way to use a widget approved view type but ImageRenderer seems to fail to render an image for the view (which is just a Text view).
To summarize my questions:
Is it possible to display a DeviceActivityReport in a widget? If so, what is the best practice?
Is converting the DeviceActivityReport view into an image and displaying that in a widget an option?
Here's my attempt to convert the DeviceActivityReport view into a UIImage:
import SwiftUI
import _DeviceActivity_SwiftUI
struct PickupsDeviceActivityReport: View {
@State private var context: DeviceActivityReport.Context = .totalActivity
@State private var renderedImage = Image(systemName: "exclamationmark.triangle")
@Environment(\.displayScale) var displayScale
var body: some View {
renderedImage
.onAppear { render() }
.onChange(of: context) {
_ in render()
}
}
@MainActor func render() {
let renderer = ImageRenderer(content: DeviceActivityReport(context))
renderer.scale = displayScale
if let uiImage = renderer.uiImage {
renderedImage = Image(uiImage: uiImage)
}
}
}
Help is appreciated. Thank you.
I am currently building a screen time app and I am trying to figure out how to persist the family activity picker so that when my app closes and re-opens, the app selections in it are saved. I've successfully implemented core data and figured out how to store names of the selected apps in a list like this -
Core Data addApp Function -
func addApp(name: String, context: NSManagedObjectContext){
let newApp = AppToken(context: context)
newApp.bundleIdentifier = name
saveData(context: context)
}
Adding app selections to Core Data (after the family activity picker has updated the selection) -
.onChange(of: model.selectionToDiscourage)
{
for i in model.selectionToDiscourage.applications {
print(i)
dataController.addApp(name:i.localizedDisplayName ?? "Temp", context: moc)
}
Printing saved selections in a list (bundleIdentifier is my attribute for my appToken entity, but I am just pulling the names here. For whatever reason all of them end up being Temp" as shown above anyway. In other words name:i.localizedDisplayName is not working and Temp is shown in the list for every app chosen) -
if dataController.savedSelection.isEmpty {
Text("No Apps Selected")
.foregroundColor(.gray)
} else {
List(dataController.savedSelection, id: \.self) { app in
Text(app.bundleIdentifier ?? "Unknown App")
}
.scrollContentBackground(.hidden)
}
So, when my app closes and reopens, the list of app names persists. Now, my issue is figuring out how to write back to selectionToDiscourage and loading the family activity picker with those saved apps. I have no idea if I should be doing this a different way and if using Core Data is overkill, but I cannot figure out how it's syntactically possible to write back to this family activity picker when the app reopens -
.familyActivityPicker(isPresented: $isPresented, selection:$model.selectionToDiscourage)
Thank you to whoever takes a look at this!!
Hey, I’m having some issues with DeviceActivitySchedule and DeviceActivityMonitor. I want to create a schedule that blocks apps (by family control) when it starts. However, even when the schedule is supposed to start on this iPhone, nothing happens, and no logs are being recorded
main target:
// TestView_.swift
// Sloth
//
// Created by on 11/01/2025.
//
import SwiftUI
import DeviceActivity
import FamilyControls
import ManagedSettings
struct TestView_: View {
var body: some View {
VStack(spacing: 20) {
Text("Test DeviceActivityMonitor")
.font(.title)
Button("Start test mon") {
let now = Date()
let start = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .minute, value: 2, to: now)!
let end = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .minute, value: 20, to: now)!
print("thd")
DeviceScheduleTester().scheduleTestActivity(startDate: start, endDate: end)
}
}
.padding()
}
}
extension DeviceActivityName {
static let daily = DeviceActivityName("daily")
}
DeviceActivityMonitor:
class DeviceScheduleTester {
private let center = DeviceActivityCenter()
func scheduleTestActivity(startDate: Date, endDate: Date) {
let calendar = Calendar.current
let startComponents = calendar.dateComponents([.hour, .minute], from: startDate)
let endComponents = calendar.dateComponents([.hour, .minute], from: endDate)
// Tworzymy schedule
let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule(
intervalStart: startComponents,
intervalEnd: endComponents,
repeats: true
)
do {
try center.startMonitoring(.daily, during:schedule)
print("startMonit /(\(schedule))")
} catch {
print("ghfgh")
}
}
}
struct TestView__Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
TestView_()
}
}
DeviceActivityMonitor target:
// BlockingAppsMonitorExtension
//
// Created by on 10/01/2025.
import DeviceActivity
import FamilyControls
import ManagedSettings
import os
let logger = Logger()
public class BlockingAppsMonitor: DeviceActivityMonitor {
private let store = ManagedSettingsStore()
public override func intervalDidStart(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
super.intervalDidStart(for: activity)
print("Rozpoczęcie interwału blokowania \(activity.rawValue)")
logger.info("intervalDidStart")
startBlocking()
}
public override func intervalDidEnd(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
super.intervalDidEnd(for: activity)
print("Zakończenie interwału blokowania \(activity.rawValue)")
logger.info("intervalDidend")
stopBlocking()
}
@discardableResult
private func startBlocking() -> Int {
print("number of unique apps")
return 51
store.shield.applicationCategories = .all()
// return exceptions.count
}
private func stopBlocking() {
store.shield.applicationCategories = nil
store.shield.applications = nil
}
}
INB4:
In both files are added family controls
Secent file is added in DeviceActivityMonitor target.
Apple answer please?
Hi there,
I am flagging for extra attention that it feels to me that something feels extra off about Screen Time tracking in iOS 18.3 Beta. There's been many days now where I can't reconcile the time spent (it's much higher than expected - by multiple hours).
Feedback is here with an image: FB16270245.
Not sure if happens on Beta 2 - just upgraded.
The functionality of authorizationStatus and requestAuthorization is completely broken. I'm using Xcode 15.3 and iOS 17.4.
Does anyone have a solution?
authorizationStatus doesn't behave as promised
Revoking authorization in the system-wide settings does not change the authorizationStatus while the app is not closed. Calls to center.authorizationStatus will still return .approved instead of .denied.
Even closing and relaunching the app after revoking authorization does not work: authorizationStatus is then .notDetermined when it should be .denied.
Tapping "Don't Allow" in the alert shown after an initial call to requestAuthorization leaves the authorizationStatus unchanged, i.e. at .notDetermined. This is contrary to the promised outcome .denied (defined as: "The user, parent, or guardian denied the request for authorization") and contrary to the definition of .notDetermined (defined as: "The app hasn’t requested authorization", when it just did).
Same issue when first tapping "Continue" followed by "Don't Allow" on the next screen.
As a consequence of authorizationStatus being broken, its publisher $authorizationStatus is worthless too.
requestAuthorization doesn't behave as promised
This is most likely a consequence of the corrupted authorizationStatus: when revoking authorization in the system-wide settings, a call to requestAuthorization opens the authorization dialogue instead of doing nothing. It is thus possible to repeatedly ask a user to authorize Family Controls.
Code sample
To reproduce, create a new SwiftUI app, add the "Family Controls" capability and a button executing the following task when tapped:
let center = AuthorizationCenter.shared
var status = center.authorizationStatus
print(status)
do {
try await center.requestAuthorization(for: .individual)
print("approved")
} catch {
print("denied")
}
status = center.authorizationStatus
print(status)
I'm using ShieldActionExtention to make a HTTP request to a server when a user selects one of the buttons on their app shield. The apps are shielded, but nothing happens when I press one of the shield buttons. There is no message on the server signaling an HTTP request and nothing is printed to the XCode console while in debug mode.
Here is my code for my Shield Action Extention
// ShieldActionExtension.swift
// ShieldAction
//
//
import Foundation
import UIKit
import SwiftUI
import ManagedSettings
// Override the functions below to customize the shield actions used in various situations.
// The system provides a default response for any functions that your subclass doesn't override.
// Make sure that your class name matches the NSExtensionPrincipalClass in your Info.plist.
class ShieldActionExtension: ShieldActionDelegate {
override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for application: ApplicationToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {
print(action)
let deviceID = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: UserDefaultKeys.userID.rawValue)!
Task{
do{
print("sending to server")
try await PlayerLosesGame(playerID: deviceID)
completionHandler(.close)
} catch {
print("error occured on the shield")
completionHandler(.none)
}
}
}
override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for webDomain: WebDomainToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {
print(action)
let deviceID = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: UserDefaultKeys.userID.rawValue)!
Task{
do{
print("sending to server")
try await PlayerLosesGame(playerID: deviceID)
completionHandler(.close)
} catch {
print("error occured on the shield")
completionHandler(.none)
}
}
}
override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for category: ActivityCategoryToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {
print(action)
let deviceID = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: UserDefaultKeys.userID.rawValue)!
Task{
do{
print("sending to server")
try await PlayerLosesGame(playerID: deviceID)
completionHandler(.close)
} catch {
print("error occured on the shield")
completionHandler(.none)
}
}
//completionHandler(.close)
}
func PlayerLosesGame(playerID: String) async throws{
let url = URL(string: ServerConnection.GetWebsite() + "game/find?playerID="+playerID)!
var request = URLRequest(url: url)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
print("trying this out")
let (data, _) = try await URLSession.shared.data(for: request)
}
}
I believe all my targets are set up correctly and should be working. Why is nothing happening?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Network
Family Controls
Managed Settings
Screen Time
Am showing daily screen-time of a user in my app in Device Activity Report Extension. The only way to get that is to sum up all the activityDuration of apps/categories/domains. But it differs a lot from phone's settings screen-time, why?
I have debugged in details and counted manually the time spent on each app and it turned out that the calculation is appearing correctly in my app but Phone settings showing quite less time on top (Day).
After setting up all permissions, family members not showing up on the device list
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Family Controls
Device Activity
Managed Settings
Screen Time
I am writing to follow up on my request for Family Control permission, which I submitted through the appropriate form over a week ago.
Unfortunately, I have not yet received any response or access to the requested permissions. Could you kindly provide an update on the status of my request? If any further information or action is needed from my end, please let me know.
This is more a general question of whether it is possible to share persistent/coredata from the main app to Screentime-related extensions such as DeviceActivityReportExtension.
I've set my code up (e.g., App Groups, files to different targets, using nspersistentcontainer with app group url, etc.) in a way that it builds, and the extension seems to recognize my CoreData schema (able to query using fetchrequest). But the data returned is always null. So i'm wondering if it is even possible to READ app data from the extension.
I understand it is not possible to write or pass data from the extension back to the app. I've also been able to read data that was saved in main app from UserDefaults in my extension.
I have an iOS app that installs a Content Filter in order to block certain types of content at the network/socket level. The Family Controls framework stipulates that this can only be done successfully on a FamilyControlsMember.child account type (or on a supervised device). Our initial release has been really successful, but I would say that perhaps 75% of our users are .individual (probably over 18). Perhaps a topic for another forum post is to discuss how Apple's policy here doesn't seem to be meeting a real need here for non-minors, but I'll leave that alone for now.
The problem we're facing is that as far as I can tell, the only way to determine if someone has the right account type is to initiate an authorization request using AuthorizationCenter.shared.requestAuthorization(for:) and then inspect the error. I think it could really help the usability of the app if we could detect the account type and preemptively show a helpful message if the authorization could not succeed, and recommend some alternatives. But I've looked so far in vain for some way to do this.
Is there any api in Family Controls (or elsewhere) that can query the system for this information? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
I am working on a SwiftUI app using the Screen Time API and the DeviceActivityReport view to display app usage data. My current implementation successfully shows daily app usage using a DeviceActivityFilter with the .daily(during:) segment. However, I need to filter this data to show app usage only for a specific time period during the day, e.g., 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
I created a DeviceActivityFilter with a .daily(during:) segment and passed a DateInterval for the desired time range:
let now = Date()
let startTime = calendar.date(bySettingHour: 16, minute: 0, second: 0, of: now)!
let endTime = calendar.date(bySettingHour: 17, minute: 0, second: 0, of: now)!
let timeInterval = DateInterval(start: startTime, end: endTime)
let filter = DeviceActivityFilter(
segment: .daily(during: timeInterval),
users: .all,
devices: .init([.iPhone])
)
I applied this filter to the DeviceActivityReport view:
DeviceActivityReport(context, filter: filter)
Even with the DateInterval set for the specific time range, the report still shows the total daily usage for each app, instead of restricting the results to the specified 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM range.
I'm working with the Screen Time API in iOS and have successfully implemented the following:
Granted Screen Time Permission: The app asks for and obtains Screen Time permissions without any issues.
Blocked Specific Apps: Using FamilyActivitySelection, I can block access to certain apps.
Monitoring Device Activity: With DeviceActivityCenter().startMonitoring(), I’m able to successfully start monitoring.
DeviceActivityCenter().startMonitoring(.myActivity, during: schedule)
Now, I’m wondering if there’s a way to detect exactly which app the user opens, so I can fire an API from my own app based on that event.
Is this kind of real-time app usage detection possible with the Screen Time API? If so, how might it be implemented?
I made this strange discover yesterday.
MacOS 15.2 beta 3, Macbook Pro 2020
One one member and one device, no family sharing or more devices included.
Ideas?