Apple has in place some very useful parental controls with the iOS that allows parents to keep a check on their kids online activities as well as device usage. However, it seems, that the effectiveness of those controls have been compromised after updating to the iOS 12.2.
Parental controls on iOS 12.2 not working?
Last week, one iDrop News user reported that her ten year-old-daughter was able to access any website irrespective of the parental controls. Further, the users reported that all the parental controls were in place and turned on, but the OS wasn’t enforcing them on the iPad.
In an email to iDrop News, the user said that the parental controls on iOS were ineffective, allowing access to “any website, anywhere on the internet completely unrestricted.”
According to the user, the parental controls on iOS were probably not working after updating to the iOS 12.2. In fact, the user noted that the same parental controls were working correctly on another iPad running an older version of the iOS.
The user said that they had contacted Apple over the issue, however, so far, Apple has not yet addressed the issue. Additionally, iDrop News was not able to replicate the same bug on its iPad running on the iOS 12.2.
iDrop News may not have been able to replicate the issue, but the complaint by one parent is a good enough reason for other parents to recheck that the parental controls they have put in place are working as expected after updating to the iOS 12.2.
How to check if parental controls are working fine?
It must be noted that the parental restrictions on the iPhone or iPad after the introduction of the iOS 12 have been put under the Screen Time section of the iOS Settings app. To check if they are enabled, go to the Settings and then click Screen Time. Now click on Content & Privacy Restrictions and ensure that all your controls are as you want them and are turned on.
To check if the parental controls are working, open Safari and try to open a page that you have restricted.
Apple’s parental restriction features have been quite stable when switching to the new iOS versions. However, some issues were reported with the early iOS 12 releases when Apple integrated various restrictions into Screen Time.
Even with the iOS 12.2, the parental controls have been stable except for the issue raised by the iDrop News user. In fact, iOS 12.2 came with no major changes to the Screen Time, except for adding an ability to set “Downtime” schedules on the basis of different days of the week, along with the ability to temporarily disable all daily time limits for apps.
Common issues with Screen Time
Though parental controls have been quite stable, there are a few common issues that users over the months have reported. However, all such issues can be easily fixed.
One such issue is Screen Time not blocking YouTube on the iPhone or iPad. If you are also facing this issue then there is one workaround that you can try. For this, go to Settings, then Screen Time and then Content & Privacy Restrictions. After this, head to Content Restrictions and then Apps. From here change the rating to 17+. This should block YouTube from your kid’s device.
Another common issue that users report is Screen Time being inaccessible or crashing on the iPhone or iPad. Often users visiting the Screen Time, say that they are unable to access it as the icon is greyed out.
Such an issue, however, can be easily fixed by force restarting the iOS device. To force restart the iPhone 6/iPad, press and hold the Home and Power buttons until you see Apple’s logo on the screen. For the iPhone 7/7 Plus, press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons until Apple’s logo appears.
To force restart the iPhone X/8/8 Plus, first press the Volume Up button and then press the Volume Down key until the Apple logo is visible. Hopefully, after force restarting your iOS device, you will be able to access Screen Time.
If your Screen Time is not updating on the iPhone or iPad, you can fix this as well by toggling the Screen Time. For this, go to Settings and then Screen Time. From here, disable the Screen Time by clicking on the Turn off Screen Time option. Now, enable Screen Time again.
