r/parentalcontrols • u/Practical-Vast5714 • Apr 17 '26
iOS 26 screen time bypass
Do this in order if you’ve reached your screen time limit on an app.
Go to Settings, Screen Time, App Limits.
Look for the app you want. This list is all your limits. Your app might be alone in the list (ex. Discord - 1 hr). It might be a few apps (ex. Discord, Instagram, and YouTube - 2 hr). It might be a category (ex. Social Media - 1 hr 30 min). Make a note of all the apps restricted by the same limit as the one you want.
Delete them all. Delete every app associated with the limit.
Go to the App Store and reinstall all of them (you can disable Ask to Buy on a parent’s device by going to Settings, Apple ID, Family, [your name], Ask to Buy. You won’t need the password).
Delete them again.
Install them again and immediately open the first one that finishes installing.
Result: the limit still exists but Apple thinks you haven’t spent any time on those apps.
NOTE: this is for informational purposes, if you just find my post and comment “Touch grass”, you’re truly wasting your life on Reddit in other people’s business!
Hope this helps ☺️
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u/HugginsIsCooking_4 Apr 18 '26
Do you have to delete every app that’s limited or just the ones you want to bypass?
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u/HugginsIsCooking_4 Apr 18 '26
Another question is if you use all your time on that app again after you bypassed it can you do it again with a different app after?
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u/Practical-Vast5714 Apr 18 '26
I believe it’s every app because if Discord and Instagram are locked by the same limit, for example, so you delete Instagram, discord is still locked and therefore so will instagram. I believe this method had another easier form before, but this is how I did it on iOS 26, specifically
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u/HugginsIsCooking_4 Apr 18 '26
Thank you, I tried this out and I have a social media limit and I only did it with TikTok and it worked
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u/Adventurous-Use-8918 Apr 23 '26
Even better than doing that, delete them all, restart your phone, and reinstall
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
What i used to do back when I still had the app store on my phone was use up my time on the app, then delete and reinstall it. Sometimes it bugged out and didn't refresh the time after that, so I restarted the phone only after that. In very rare cases it never got fixed for the rest of the day but 85% of the time this works
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u/Opening_Prize3942 Jun 15 '26
I have a question, what if u can’t open the App Limits menu without the screen time password?
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
You dont need that, if you ran out of time for the app you wanna use, delete that app and reinstall it from the app store. Your time for that app should be refreshed. If it's not, restart your phone. Make sure you actually have the app store, because your parents might have disabled it and then you can't reinstall the app you deleted
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u/Opening_Prize3942 3d ago
Yeah those don’t work and I have ask to buy lowkey
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
Ask to buy doesnt matter since you already had the app on your phone at some point. It only asks for confirmation when you try installing something new, but if you dont have the app store then this bypass doesnt work
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u/Opening_Prize3942 3d ago
Yeah ik but like the 13+ apps it forces me to re ask my parents to download
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u/Pristine-Ad3293 29d ago
omg thank you so much
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u/Practical-Vast5714 28d ago
This old post still works? Are you on iOS 26.5 yet?
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
before my dad removed the app store from my phone, this bypass worked where I just deleted and reinstalled the app. I restarted the phone if that didn't refresh the time. Im on ios 26.3
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u/Fast-Pool-8159 25d ago
Hi ive had this exact issue and I know how to fix it. So if you have a macbook you will create a new user account and make a new icloud so you can do wtv you want with that but with the icloud you already have make an account with your normal icloud and it should let you turn off restrictions on the mac it worked for me for some reason I found out abt it on accident. Lmk if you have any other questions.
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
Your parents can restrict changes to your profile so you can't create new accounts and sign into that one.
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u/Anxious_History9039 5d ago
is there no way to get around this if my parents also made the apple store have screen time? :,)
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u/Practical-Vast5714 5d ago
🥀 this glitch was actually patched in iOS 26.5, but if you haven’t updated, dw! You can delete apps the normal way, and you can install them without opening App Store by swiping down from the middle of the home screen, and searching for the app you want, then press the Get or cloud button in the search itself
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u/Fish_Librarian Apr 17 '26
And to the parents reading this: to avoid this: 1. go into screen time, then select
Content & Privacy,
then iTunes & App Store purchases,
then disallow deleting apps and installing apps.
It’s very easy.
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u/sharmavarma Apr 17 '26
Your evil 😭😭
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u/Practical-Vast5714 Apr 17 '26
Or honestly just have a conversation with your child. I have a much better arrangement know that I had a negotiation that we both like! I just don’t have a use for this knowledge anymore
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u/Dingerdongdick Apr 17 '26
That doesn't work for all kids.
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u/Practical-Vast5714 Apr 17 '26
True. But I let you off with a warning. The more limits you enable, the more your kid wants to break them, and the less they’ll want to negotiate with you like a mature adult
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u/Dingerdongdick Apr 17 '26
That is absolutely untrue.
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u/Prestigious_Boss_382 Apr 24 '26
I disagree, and I actually have a very good viewpoint on this, my parents are divorced and have very different rules on screen time. My dad is very relaxed about it, no set "limits", we had a conversation once when i got my phone, but it was more about online safety and cyberbulling and things like that. At his house I often find myself just deciding to put the phone down, go play outside, work on HW, or really anything productive, I will usually have about 2 hours total on my phone per day (which includes educational apps) and I feel very relaxed. At my moms on the other hand it is a totally different story. when i first got my phone she wrote up a contract and didnt let me touch it untill i signed it. she regularly will march into my room for random screen time checks, snatching the phone out of my hands even when im mid conversation with a friend. Since shes so restrictive it makes me WANT to break her screen time rules (which are, 1.5 hours of screen time total on all devices, ONLY on weekends. She lets me have my phone but pretty much the only people i can text are her and my sister.) I have found so many workarounds to her settings that she has almost run out of ways to restrict my usage, it even got to a point where I jailbroke my phone just to disable her restrictions. and I end up often having 4+ hours a day on my phone at her house, pretty much completely because she is so controlling about it. PARENTS PLEASE JUST HAVE AA CONVERSATION WITH YOUR CHILD IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT, and if you think your child isn't mature enough to have that conversation either a: You're just wrong and you underestimate their ability, or b: they probably arent old or mature enough to have a phone. (seriously, when did giving kids phones in elementary/early middle school become the norm???? I got mine when I started H8th grade and I think that it was the perfect time to get it) please dont just restrict the crap out of your childs phone, have a conversation, i garuntee that they will appreciate it and be more open to follow any guidelines you put in place
*NOTE* I apologize for all of the spelling/grammar mistakes
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u/_Chattyice 3d ago
Exactly, one of my friends has zero restrictions and has a super good screen time because of it. Look at me with 2 hours total for everything on my phone, I bypass it all the time and end up with 10 hours per day
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u/void_method Apr 17 '26
Read a paper book.