Apple’s iOS 12 Update Lets You Set Screen Time for Kids

Over the summer, I wanted to upgrade my phone to the iPhone 8 Plus for my birthday. When my husband went to get it for me, he came home with a SECOND iPhone 8 for our 10 year old son. It was buy one, get one free so totally make senses, right? Well, we actually had been planning on getting him a phone before middle school so why not? He’s not allowed to take it to school, he’s not on social media and the only has the phone numbers of family. Basically, when he comes home from school we allow him to have downtime on his phone….he knows that he has to stop being on his phone at 6pm but he usually has free reign on the weekend. We restrict screen time normally but it usually consists of a timer going off or us yelling at him to get off the phone so I’m super excited about Apple’s iOS12 update that makes it even easier to control screen time for your kids!

How to Set Up Screen Time For Kids on the iPhone and iPad

Here’s what you’ll be able to do when you turn on Screen Time for your kids:

• Receive a weekly report about what apps your child is using and how long they are using each app.
• Set downtime (Hayden can only use his phone from 6am to 6pm) and set daily time limits for different app categories.
• Restrict settings for certain content, purchases, downloads, etc.

The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that Family Sharing is set up within all of your devices. Once that is set up, you’ll go to Settings and then select Screen Time. Click on your child’s name and then select Turn on Screen Time. You’ll then be able to put in a Screen Time password – make sure it’s a password your child doesn’t know! This is the password you’ll put in on YOUR phone when your child sends you a request for more time or to make a purchase. I love that I can completely personalize how Hayden uses his phone plus I’m now able to see exactly what apps he’s spending his time on.

What apps Hayden used in a day

Hayden’s Screen Time Page

The other night, we were sitting at the girls soccer practice and Hayden was sitting by us on his phone. He knows he is normally off the phone at 6pm but since we were at the practice, we told him he could be on it longer. Until the Screen Time notification popped up on his phone! We had set for his phone to shut off at 6pm – and now he had to request more screen time from us.

He sent the request to us and we had a notification pop up on our phones. We could approve him to have more screen time and for how long or we could just enter the password on his phone ourselves.

I love that we are able to see WHICH app he is requesting time for. That’s great because there’s a difference between watching YouTube videos, playing Fortnite or playing an educational math game!

You’ll also be able to to see the apps that are NOT approved are blacked out.

I am loving the Screen Time features thanks to Apple’s iOS 12 update! You can now make sure the phone can’t be used during dinnertime, after bedtime and any other time you can think of where you’re normally telling your kid to put down their phone! But make sure to check out this workaround a few determined kids found – ha!

Will you be using Screen Time for your kids?