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What Is Screen Time? Manage iPhone Usage And Control Children's Activity

What Is Screen Time? Manage iPhone Usage And Control Children’s Activity

If Time Management Has Become Difficult For You When Using A Smartphone Or You Want To Monitor Your Child’s Use Of iPhones, Apple’s Screen Time Feature Will Make It Easier For You.

In the past, if users of specific age groups such as children and teenagers did not have access to virtual space and communication devices, today, intelligent devices are an integral part of the daily life of all users, and these tools are always available to people, including children and teenagers.

Including mandatory activation of safe search (Safe search) in search engines to increase day by day; While in different countries of the world, solutions have been thought out for this issue in other fields, from the education given to children to the creation of a culture about the use of the Internet.

The child’s growth period until adulthood is considered a sensitive period. Therefore, the issue of parental control is not viewed as a deterrent factor, and large technology companies have not neglected its importance. For this reason, manufacturers and large companies active in the technology field have presented their solutions to this issue so that families can manage their children’s use of smartphones and familiarize themselves with the capabilities intended for this purpose.

In this article, we will introduce you to the solutions Apple has provided for parents regarding managing children’s use of intelligent devices, teach you how to use Parental Controls, and check its possibilities.

Introducing Screen Time for Family; Apple’s solution to control the use of phones by children.

Some of you may be familiar with the Screen Time feature on iPhones and iPad. If you are unfamiliar with this tool, it should say that this feature is for time management while using the phone. With the help of this feature, it is possible to see the amount of use of applications, the number of times the phone is accessed, and the number of received notifications in different periods.

To help users to self-monitor and better manage their time using the smartphone, Apple allows users to limit the hours of use of the phone and applications, block notifications to better focus on things, and Stop using the phone at certain times. Apart from the mentioned cases, access to some settings or content can restrict based on age.

In this section, there is another part called Screen Time for Family. By activating it, you can create a new Apple ID for your children who use iPhones or iPad, specific to their age group, then make them family members under the supervision of Apple ID. Get it through your device, monitor how your child uses the phone, including the applications used, the time they use them, and the content they access, and implement the necessary restrictions on their phone.

Screen Time for Family provides you with the same facilities as Screen Time for your phone, with the difference that these controls are applied remotely through your phone, and you can set a password for it so that the child cannot change the settings and restrictions. be

Apple’s parental control feature is only possible from Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which means that if you have bought an iPhone for your child until you have access to another Apple device. If you don’t have it, you won’t be able to control it remotely, so keep this in mind when buying.

Like Google, Apple’s law requires that you be 13 years old or older to set up a new Apple ID, and if you intend to create an Apple ID for your child, you must use your Apple ID to do this and create an Apple ID for a person under 13 years old.

It is subject to the activation of Family Sharing and being placed in the subset of accounts under the supervision of the administrator’s Apple ID. The following will explain how to create an Apple ID for children and teenagers and how to use the monitoring capabilities.

Creating an Apple ID for children and activating Screen Time for Family

Creating an Apple ID for children is similar to creating an Apple ID for regular users. The difference is that for this work and to set up monitoring capabilities, you must start from your device. Before proceeding with the steps, you must first log in with your original personal Apple ID on the phone.

  • Open the phone settings and go to the Screen Time section. Tap on Set Up Screen Time for Family option at the bottom of the screen.

Set up Screen Time for kids on iPhone

  • Tap Create an Account for a child. Select Continue. You will be asked to enter the credit card details on the next page by selecting the Credit / Debit Card option. Adding credit card details is mandatory at this stage. It is also possible to fill this field using fake bank cards. Still, it is recommended not to do this because, according to Apple’s explanation, the bank card details may use for subsequent authentication.

Setting up Screen Time and creating an Apple ID for children

  • After entering the card details, click Done. On the next page, agree to the rules and policies related to the data that Apple extracts from the account of the person in question by clicking Agree.

Creating an Apple ID for children

  • From here on, the steps are very similar to creating a regular Apple ID; First, enter the child’s name and surname, then his birth date according to the Gregorian calendar. On the next page, enter his email address, and then enter the verification code that will send to the entered email address in the Verification Code field.

Creating an Apple ID for children

  • Now assign an eight-character password that includes uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers to the individual’s account. On the next page, you will be asked if the same number as your own should use to send one-time verification codes or if you want to assign a new number. Here you can define a separate number for him by selecting Use a Different Number and entering the SMS verification code.

Creating an Apple ID for children

Unfortunately, Iran’s prefix is ​​also not supported in this part, and unlike creating a regular Apple ID, this step cannot skip. However, if your account has an active number by using the methods we explained earlier to create an Apple ID with a number, you can continue using the same number by choosing the first option.

  • On this page, agree to the rules by selecting Agree at the bottom of the page, and select Agree again in the next window.

Creating an Apple ID for children

After going through the above steps, the child account will create, and from here on, you need to set some basic configurations and restrictions.

Launch Screen Time on iPhone

  • In the Ask to Buy section, you can set whether or not the child needs to ask for your permission to install or buy any app from the App Store. If you want it activated, click Continue; otherwise, choose Don’t Use, Ask To Buy.
  • The next part is location sharing, which means you can see the location of your child’s phone in addition to your phone’s location using Apple’s tracking service. Conversely, this possibility will also exist for the child. Select Share locations to enable it and Set Up Later to set it up at a later time.
  • You’ll find information about receiving weekly reports, setting time, content, and privacy limits on the Screen Time page. Click Continue.

Downtime - Setting the time limit for using the iPhone

  • In the Downtime section, by moving the time bar from the Start and End divisions, you can limit the phone use, except for authorized programs. After this, click on Set Downtime, and if you want to make these settings later, Select Not Now.

Setting a time limit for applications on the iPhone

  • In the App Limits section, you can define a time limit for a specific category of applications or select them separately. Select the desired category or app from the Other section. By choosing the Set option next to the Time Amount statement, specify the maximum time to use the application and tap on Set App Limit. If you want to define it at another time, select Not Now.

Launch Screen Time on iPhone

  • In the Content & Privacy section, you will also see information about the possibility of restricting the display of content based on age group and changing access settings. Click Continue.
  • Finally, set a password to protect the settings and restrictions from being changed by other people so that the Screen Time settings specific to the person under your supervision are available to you.

How to use Screen Time and learn about its features

As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the Screen Time feature is not only suitable for parents to control their children, but users themselves can use it as a monitoring tool to use their phones more effectively. By activating Screen Time for your child’s phone, you will have access to precisely the same facilities. Also, suppose you can’t create an Apple ID for people under 13 due to restrictions such as not having a bank card or a foreign number. In that case, you can start this feature directly from your child’s phone and prevent the settings from being changed by creating a password.

To access this menu, open the settings and the Screen Time section. If you have created an Apple ID for your child, tap on your child’s account from the Family section of this menu.

Access to Screen Time on iPhone

In the first part, a graph of the time of using the phone will show you in a summarized form. The time displayed in the Average Daily section shows the average time of your daily use of the phone. By selecting See All Activity, you will enter a page that offers more complete details of the phone usage statistics.

In the Screen Time card, the first graph compares usage time during the week, and the second graph shows the usage time at different hours of the day. In the following, you can see the list of applications in the order of usage. By tapping on the name of each program, you can see the usage statistics of that program per week, daily average, and then information about the program category, age rating, and the developer’s name.

Phone usage report in iPhone Screen Time

In the next card, marked as Pickups, the number of times you refer to your phone and turn on the screen is shown in two weekly and daily graphs. Then in the First Pickup section, the time of the first time the phone is accessed at the beginning of the day, and Total Pickups shows the total number of times.

In the following, the applications are listed in order of the highest number of visits immediately after turning on the phone screen, and if you tap on each one, the number of times the application is opened along with the weekly chart and the total number of application openings during the week is determined.

Phone usage report in iPhone Screen Time

The next card is related to the statistics of notifications sent by each application. Like the previous two cards, the number of messages you have received daily and weekly, as well as the details of each application, can be seen in this section. If you go back to the beginning of the page, by selecting Week instead of Day, the average weekly statistics of usage time, notifications, and the number of visits to the phone will show instead of daily.

Phone usage report in iPhone Screen Time

The above part was related to the usage statistics, and now you have to go back to the previous menu to set the limits. Here you can see different options, and we will explain the use of each of them.

Features of iPhone screen time

1. Downtime

This section limits phone use at certain times (for example, before bedtime). By entering this area, you can specify the days and period you want by selecting the Schedule option. After these hours come, all phone programs except those in the Always Allowed section (this section is explained later) have, they will be disabled and will be available again after the end of this period.

Limit iPhone usage time with Downtime

If you intend to make it impossible for you or your child to use the phone before reaching this time, turn on the Turn On Downtime Until Tomorrow option; This restriction will remain until the next day.

Other options for parental control

Lock the entire iPhone during Downtime

The Block at Downtime option will add this section if you are configuring these settings for your child’s phone. If you activate it, the child will not even be allowed to access the authorized applications, and the device will be completely locked, and you will be allowed to reactivate it. will need

2. App Limits

Unlike the one above, which restricts all applications, this section can use to limit applications individually. In such a way that after using an application during the day reaches a specific limit, it becomes impossible to use the application.

Expiration of application time on iPhone

To set this limit, click on Add Limit. On the next page, you will show the category of applications so you can more easily decide on limiting them, especially for your child. For this reason, select the desired category. If you do not find the desired program from that category, click on the first item, All Apps & Categories, select the application or website and specify the maximum time to use the application each day of the week. In the end, click on Add.

Create a time limit on the use of the iPhone

3. Communication Limits

This section is used to limit the circle of communication with people. This restriction can be applied in two modes: regular phone use and Downtime. In each of the modes that you intend to create this restriction, you can choose from the three options Contacts OnlyContacts & Groups with at Least One Contact, and Everyone. free for everyone and unlimited) choose one.

Limit the circle of communication with people on iPhone

Selecting each one will only receive calls and messages from the specified range. Note that this restriction affects phone calls, FaceTime SMS, and iMessage and may not apply to other messaging apps.

Other options for parental control

If you are configuring these settings for your child’s phone, you will find two other options in this menu; The Manage [Person Name]’s Contacts option, which allows you to manage contacts in the child’s phone book, and the Allow Editing Contacts option, which enables the child to edit contacts from his phone.

Limit the circle of communication with people on iPhone

4. Communication Safety (only in parental control mode)

This option is only available for Family members of the parent’s Apple ID under 13 years old. The work of this section is to prevent the display of inappropriate content or images in conversations. In fact, with the help of artificial intelligence, Apple’s Messages program can identify content that may not be suitable for the child due to his age. As soon as a message containing such content is sent, a message will send instead of the original letter from the side before it is seen. Apple will notify you when the content is inappropriate. To activate this feature, activate the Check for Sensitive Photos option from this section.

Communication Safety feature on iPhone

5. Always Allowed

In the first section, Allowed Contacts, you can choose the contacts you want to be in touch with all the time, and the restrictions will not affect those people. The limits we mentioned above (for example, when the phone is Downtime) do not apply to the items selected in this section. In this section, you can set exceptions.

Apps always allowed on iPhone

Selecting Always Allowed audience will remove people who are not chosen from the list from your communication circle. So if you need to limit communication with specific contacts, you can do it from here.

In the Allowed Apps section, you can prevent daily usage restrictions on them or during Downtime by adding the desired applications. By default, phone, SMS, and map apps are predefined as always-allowed apps.

6. Content & Privacy Restrictions

One of the essential options of Screen Time is especially regarding children and parental control Because, from this part, the limits for accessing content or changing settings are configured. By entering this area and activating its option, there are different menus to control access to other places, which we will examine.

  • iTunes & App Store Purchases

Restrict iTunes and App Store content on iPhone

From this section, installation, removal, and in-app purchases of the App Store and iTunes applications can be activated, deactivated, or subject to permission from the administrator. In the Require Password section, you can set whether each purchase or installation of an application from these stores requires entering the Apple ID password of the owner of the phone or not.

  • Allowed Apps

Apps allowed to use on iPhone

You can disable some system applications and services from this section and the operating system’s default. This section has nothing to do with the Always Allowed area, and when the application is disabled from this section, even if the time limit is not set, it is completely removed from the list of applications and cannot be used.

  • Content Restrictions

Set restrictions on displaying content on iPhone

This section is dedicated to setting the level of restriction in displaying content in different areas such as entertainment and multimedia content from iTunes and App Store, search and websites, and Game Center. In the section of show content, such as movies and serials and applications available in the App Store, restrictions can apply based on different age groups. You can use multiple filters on other content or even stop their display.

Restrict web content on iPhone

In the Web Content section, you can choose the Limit Adult Websites option, just like Google’s safe search, to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. If you want to access only limited websites, select the Allowed Websites Only option and enter the names of these websites. Note that this restriction applies to iOS and Safari and may not affect apps installed from the App Store.

Limit Siri search results on iPhone

In the Siri section related to Apple’s voice assistant, you can disable Siri search and display content from the web or prohibit reading offensive words.

And in the Game Center section, you can limit or disable things like multiplayer games, the ability to add people, app access to the friends list, screen recording, sending messages, changing privacy settings, nicknames, and avatars.

  • Privacy (accesses and privacy)

Prevent tampering with privacy settings on iPhone

In this section, you can control precisely the same settings related to the access of applications and services (Settings > Privacy), except that you can prevent them from being changed from this section. For example, if a person has altered location access from the settings, by selecting the Don’t Allow Changes option, a person will no longer be able to change these settings.

There is another option called Share My Location, where you can enable or disable sharing your location with other Family members and supervisors.

  • Allow Changes

Prevent important settings on the iPhone from being tampered with

From this section, you can protect some basic settings of the device from being manipulated or changed, or in other words, decide what locations are allowed to be changed by the user.

 Some of these settings are:

  • Passcode Changes: Prevent password and lock screen settings from changing
  • Account Changes: prevent changes to settings related to added accounts, Apple ID, and account synchronization
  • Cellular Data Changes: prevent changes to mobile network and internet settings
  • Reduce Loud Sounds: Prevent the sound limit settings from changing
  • Driving Focus: Prevent customizations of going focus mode from changing
  • TV Provider: Prevent changes to settings related to TV content providers
  • Background App Activities: prevent the settings associated with the activity of applications in the background from changing

Configuring this section and the previous section alone is not enough because anyone can change the settings again from this section. For this reason, it is possible to set a password for Screen Time, which we will explain in the following sections how to lock the Screen Time area. If the devices whose Screen Time sharing is enabled with your Apple ID as an administrator, the password has already been set by you.

We are setting the lock in Screen Time.

If you temporarily give your phone to someone and want to limit their activities or create restrictions through the child’s phone to prevent them from changing the settings, you must enable the screen time password. It is done from the main menu by selecting the Use Screen Time Passcode option.

Passcode on Screen Time on iPhone

After choosing this option, enter a four-digit numerical code and repeat it. After this, whenever the time limit of using the application ends and you want to access the Screen Time menu and change the settings, you will be asked for a password.

Locking iPhone-5 apps

Change or remove the Screen Time password.

To do this, click on the option to Change Screen Time Passcode in the Screen Time menu; If you want to change the password, click Change Screen Time Passcode and to remove it, click Turn Off Screen Time Passcode. You will be asked for the previous password once in each situation.

Change or delete screen time password on iPhone

Share Across Devices (synchronization of usage statistics between different devices)

Synchronization of iPhone usage statistics between different Apple devices

If you have other Apple devices that have the Screen Time feature, by turning on this option, the application usage statistics and restrictions will be synced to the devices to which your Apple ID is connected; In this way, for example, if you have spent an hour on your phone from an application for which a two-hour limit has been set, you will not be able to use the application more than the remaining time on all other devices.

Remove parental controls and remove restrictions.

The ability to control and monitor activities remotely is disabled. If you want to remove the restrictions from your child’s phone and the Screen Time menu of his phone is removed from your phone, tap the last option, Turn Off Screen Time, and enter the password. However, since an adult account must still supervise the Apple ID created for a child under 13, removing him from the Family Sharing list is impossible.

Turn off Screen Time on iPhone

Turning off screen time on your phone will also altogether disable this menu on your phone, and you will not be able to see the usage statistics of applications.

In this tutorial, we tried to provide a complete review of the screen time feature on iPhones and iPad. If you encounter problems with creating an Apple ID for children and activating Screen Time, or if you have any issues or questions about its various features, share it with other users and us.