How to Fix Screen Time App Limits Not Working on iPhone

Basic Fixes

• Force restart your iPhone: Depending on your model name, we suggest force restarting your iPhone. This should fix the screen time limit issue.
• Update iOS version: Install the latest software version depending on your model name.

Fix 1: Check App Limit Settings

Check and enable the screen time app limit on your iPhone. Do note that if you select an entire app category, the same screen limit time will be applied to all apps of that category. For example, if you choose 15 minutes, all the apps in a category will use the same 15-minute screen limit. You can increase or decrease the time limit for specific apps.

Step 1: Open Settings > Screen Time.

Step 2: Choose App Limits and then tap on the app or category name.

Step 3: Enable the app limit for specific app or category.

Tip: You can also create custom app categories for Screen Time on your iPhone.

Fix 2: Check the Downtime Exclusions List

Even if you’ve configured Screen Time to block your apps properly after reaching their respective time limits, or if you’ve scheduled downtime to kick in at a certain time of the day, those restrictions will not affect any app that’s added to the Always Allowed exclusions list. If that is the case, you need to have it removed.

Step 1: Open Settings > General > Screen Time > Always Allowed.

Step 2: Tap the red-colored icon next to the app that you want to remove from the exclusions list. Alternatively, swipe to the left, and then tap Remove.

Head back, and you won’t find the app usable either after reaching any specified time limits or during downtime.

Fix 3: Reset All Settings

If none of the features work, we suggest resetting your settings. This will restore all settings to default.

Open Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings.