It took a WSJ story for Apple to finally fix some years-old Screen Time flaws

Macworld

As much as we enjoy using our Apple devices and software, there are many instances where it feels like Apple just doesn’t care about a particular app or feature. Take Screen Time, Apple’s set of parental controls that was introduced six years ago in iOS 12. Apple has made minor tweaks to it over the years, but it has a ton of issues–Macworld columnist Dan Moren recently pointed out several problems he has with Screen Time.

Moren’s not alone. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern reported on the frustrations she and many others have had with Screen Time. One major problem involved a discovery three years ago by a pair of security researchers who were able to bypass blacklisted websites simply by typing a string of characters in the Safari URL bar. When they reported the issue, Apple told them it wasn’t a security problem, and after going back and forth over the years to no avail, the researchers finally decided to turn to Stern.

Stern was able to replicate the bug and contacted Apple. And suddenly, Apple told Stern that it plans to have a fix in “the next software update” but maintained that the issue isn’t a security hole.

iOS 17.5 supposedly includes Screen Time improvements

Stern took the opportunity in her article to point out other major issues that users have had with Screen Time, such as inaccurate reports, unenforced app limits, irregular time and app requests, and loopholes with Ask to Buy. She hopes that by using her platform to put a spotlight on Screen Time’s problems, Apple will finally do something with a feature it doesn’t seem to care about.

Apple told Stern that many of the issues have been fixed throughout iOS in updates and that iOS 17.5 in particular “improved app and device usage tracking, time requests and app limits.” A quick check of past iOS updates and mentions of “Screen Time” shows:

In the archive of iOS 17 update release notes, Screen Time is mentioned only once: in the iOS 17.1 update, Apple “Improved reliability of Screen Time settings syncing across devices.” iOS 17.5’s release notes do not mention Screen Time.

The iOS 16 update release notes archive shows two mentions of Screen Time: in iOS 16.5 (“Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices”) and in the initial iOS 16 release. (“Screen Time requests in Messages make it even easier to approve or decline requests from your child.”)

The iOS 15 update release notes archive has no mentions of Screen Time.

The iOS 14 update release notes archive shows one mention of Screen Time during the iOS 14 initial release, where Screen Time got a redesigned widget.

The iOS 13 update release notes archive has six mentions of Screen Time with fixes and tweaks in iOS 13, iOS 13.3, and iOS 13.3.1.

The iOS 12 update release notes archive shows seven mentions of Screen Time. It was originally released in iOS 12 and tweaked in iOS 12.1, and iOS 12.2.

So, Apple is correct in that it has updated Screen Time over the years, but since iOS 13, it’s not obvious that Apple is still invested in improving it. Of course, just because it’s not mentioned in the release notes doesn’t mean it’s not included in an update, and a fix to an underlying technology could indirectly fix a Screen Time bug. But the release notes are the only way for users to confirm that a problem has been addressed, and based on these alone, many of the Screen Time issues that Stern, Moren, and many other users are having are still there.

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