Screen Time on iPhone

The Screen Time innovations on iPhone came with iOS version 12. Screen Time is designed to help you control your time spent with your smartphone. The program helps to optimize personal time and greatly simplifies time management. This article covers the questions about time usage on an iPhone.

You will learn how to set screen time on your iPhone, view weekly time details, and turn on and turn off the screen time option.

Contents

1. What is Screen Time on iPhone?
2. How to turn on and turn off Screen Time on iPhone
3. How to see average screen time on iPhone
4. FAQs

Before we start

Below, we explain how to use the screen time option on an iPhone. But first, we want to invite you to download a free application from Nektony called Phone Cleaner for Media Files.

This application helps you clean up useless duplicate images and unneeded bulky media files from your iPhone. The application automatically detects similar and duplicate photos, as well as large videos and photos, helping you quickly remove them to free up storage space.

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What is Screen Time on iPhone?

Screen Time is an iOS/iPadOS feature that tracks time spent using certain apps. You can view exactly how many hours, minutes, and seconds you spend per day on Instagram, YouTube, games, or other applications.
The Screen Time option is also helpful for parents who want to limit the time their teenagers spend on the Internet and games. You can control access to content by grouping apps, sites, and app categories.

You will receive a weekly report on the time spent by you or your children behind the screen in a graph format. Moreover, you will be able to control who can contact you and your children via calls, SMS, or any video calling apps. This will protect you and your children from spam, malicious calls, and more.

Many users use Screen Time to disable the operation of specific programs for a certain time. For example, when you’re working and don’t want your phone to distract you. You can use one of the following modes for this:

• Downtime – specify the period when no application can disturb you, except for the apps from the Always Allowed list. You will not receive any notifications other than phone calls.
• App Limits – select categories of applications that should not disturb you. For example, social networks, games, entertainment, etc.
• Communication limits – set limits to Phone, FaceTime, Messages, and iCloud contacts.
• Always allowed – set limits on who can you communicate with during the Downtime mode.
• Content & Privacy restrictions – block inappropriate content.

How to turn on and turn off Screen Time on iPhone

By default, the Screen Time option should be enabled on your iPhone. If something went wrong, and you can’t see the Screen Time on your iPhone, follow the guide below.

Steps to turn on Screen Time on iPhone

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Screen Time.
3. Tap Turn On Screen Time.
4. Tap Continue and select My iPhone or iPhone of My Child. If you’re setting up Screen Time for your child, follow the steps and configure limitations.

Steps to turn Screen Time off on iPhone

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Screen Time.
3. Scroll down and tap Turn Off Screen Time.
4. Confirm the action.

If you have multiple Apple devices, for example, an iPhone and an iPad, you can combine Screen Time for all devices into one comprehensive report. For this, do the following:

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
2. Scroll down and switch on the toggle button for Share Across Devices.

When this option is enabled on each device, the data of all your screen times will be merged.

How to see average screen time on iPhone

To see the average daily statistics on how much time you spend using certain applications on your iPhone, do the following:

1. Open Settings → Screen Time.
2. In the Daily Average section, tap See All Activity.
3. Here, the graphs show your screen time by categories, like social, entertainment, productivity & finance, and others.

You can see the weekly or daily statistics, data by categories or by programs, the number of notifications and pickups, and more data.

Another way to quickly access the Screen Time data on your iPhone is to add the widget to your home screen. Here’s how to add Screen Time to widgets:

1. Swipe right on your screen.
2. Scroll down and tap Edit.
3. Tap the plus(+) button on the top.
4. Scroll down and tap Screen Time.
5. Select the size for the widget and tap Add Widget.
6. Tap Done.

Conclusion

Screen Time is not just an option for parental control. It allows you to control yourself and your gadgets and have a healthy, balanced lifestyle. It increases your productivity and reduces your interaction with technology.

We also want to remind you that in addition to decreasing time spent with your smartphone, you should periodically clean up your storage from junk photos. This helps you organize your photos and be more productive when working with your media files. You can use a free application Phone Cleaner for Media Files to quickly find and clear duplicate pictures and the largest unneeded photos and videos.

Phone Cleaner

Free Download

Supported systems: iOS 11.0 or later

Update Sept. 18 2023

FAQs