# Apple Screen Time Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-screen-time/ 13 people recommended Apple Screen Time in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 46 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 12 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Built into iOS, it lets parents set app limits and downtime easily. Caveat: critics say kids often get around it and it breaks after updates. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Buggy, breaks and fails often (5 comments in the sample): "It has never worked for us at anything like 100%, it is hit or miss and frequently just does randomly stupid things." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113736)) "It breaks constantly. It fails to notify me of all kinds of events that should work, but spontaneously fail to." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48453792)) "iOS screen time controls are so buggy that eventually parents throw up their hands in exasperation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47125123)) - Kids get around restrictions (4 comments in the sample): "Let’s not pretend Apple screen time is any good. My 13yo daughter figured out multiple ways around it by herself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48390759)) "the password on a child's device can often be removed by simply turning off the screentime password" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49707062)) "Found out last year that simply deleting an app and reinstalling it will reset time limits." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46209325)) - Poor interface and missing features (4 comments in the sample): "This is a garbage UI and it looks like it was designed using "dark patterns" to ensure that nobody uses it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49256150)) "doesn’t provide a way to disable mobile data or Personal Hotspot as part of Screen Time settings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47534473)) "The UX is terrible and there are features missing that seem extremely basic and fundamental." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47493044)) ## Why people recommend it - Works well for many families (3 comments in the sample): "I've found it to be quite robust in managing my kids' access to the internet." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46465710)) "That’s odd as I do that quite successfully with my kids." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50114901)) "Works well and keeps me in check." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50318571)) - Better than most consumer software (2 comments in the sample): "iPhones have excellent parental controls (by the abysmal standards of consumer software more broadly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46205568)) "This is something that Apple really got right." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49758442)) - Effective once enabled by default (2 comments in the sample): "the on-device Apple system just enables the existing parental controls by default" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48599047)) "When everything is turned off by default, iOS Screentime is very effective." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47125523)) - Limits set in one place (1 comment in the sample): "because you can set limits in one place." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46254580)) ## Other parental controls people recommend - [Google Family Link](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-family-link/): 10 recommend, 4 mixed, 6 criticize - [Apple parental controls](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-parental-controls/): 7 recommend, 1 mixed, 12 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Screen Time", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-screen-time/ (13 recommend, 2 mixed, 46 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.