It's Apple, Not Your Kids: Apple Confirms Bug In Screen Time Parental Controls

A bug in Apple Inc.'s AAPL Screen Time parental controls has been allowing kids to bust through the time limits set by their parents. Apple has acknowledged the bug, but it doesn't seem to have a solution or fix in hand just yet.

What Happened: Apple's Family Sharing system, which allows users to set parental controls, has a bug. This has allowed kids to access their devices beyond the screen time limits set by parents, reported The Wall Street Journal.

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Apple devices have a feature called Downtime that allows users to set limits on how much they can use specific applications, games, or the device itself. It also has an option for parents to limit the screen time of their children's devices.

In this case, the Downtime option that limits access to the entire device beyond a fixed screen time has failed to save. The report adds that in one instance, the user had to save the Downtime setting three times before the device saved it correctly.

In cases where parents set a Downtime limit, and the Apple device failed to save it correctly, the kids could access the device beyond the intended time limit.

Apple Doesn't Have A Fix Yet: Curiously, this bug has persisted for a few months. Apple initially planned a fix in May, but that has not yet materialized.

"We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are unexpectedly reset," Apple said.

While Apple has acknowledged the issue, it doesn't have an exact time frame for the fix yet. "We take these reports very seriously, and we have been and will continue, making updates to improve the situation," the company added.

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