Child Safety Features in appleOS 27
With software updates this fall, parents will be able to access new child safety features, including a simpler setup experience with a recommended set of essential apps, Ask to Browse, Time Allowances, and a redesigned Screen Time. These updates enhance Apple’s already industry-leading parental controls and underscore its commitment to building a safe and trusted platform for kids.
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For years, Apple has integrated guidance from leading clinical and child development research, as well as online safety experts, into its products and services, and continues to help advance research into children’s digital wellbeing. Apple is working with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to adapt its Family Media Plan into a guide parents can reference when using Apple products. Apple also continues to collaborate with researchers to understand the impact of technology on children’s wellbeing, and is committed to advancing the science in this area.
Unanswered is whether they fixed Screen Time so that it actually works now. Currently, it’s a complete mess of settings that get lost, reports that don’t sync, and protections that manage to break sites and apps yet are also easily bypassed. Separately, it’s confusing and difficult to configure, but it seems like that part is improving. It’s hard to believe there wasn’t already a way to ask permission to access a new Web site.
To help parents manage how long children spend on allowed apps, Apple has introduced time allowances. A daily time allowance spans entertainment, games, and social media, with each category having its own allowance. Time allowances can vary by time of day and day of week as well, to keep kids from using certain apps during school and to allow more flexibility on weekends.
Does it support weekly rather than daily allowances?
Apple spending a big chunk of its WWDC keynote on parental controls was surprising for several reasons. But the biggest is that, despite all the airtime, it didn’t announce much new beyond a redesigned interface. Almost all the features touted already exist or are upgrades to current options. Why Apple chose to do this isn’t a mystery. You can trace the threads from the recent landmark social media trials against Meta and Google to the protesters outside the Cupertino HQ today: Apple is trying to show the world it’s being responsible when it comes to your children.
Curious to see Mastodon almost unanimously hostile to the keynote parental controls bit. Maybe I’m missing something, but the vast majority of what was shown was iteration on existing features.
AND screen time and parental controls should actually work?? It feels like an early Christmas :->
Previously:
- WWDC 2026 Keynote
- The Age Verification Trap
- Screen Time Brokenness
- iOS Declared Age Range API
- Screen Time Bugs
- Losing Screen Time Settings
- Revised Messages Communication Safety Feature in iOS 15.2
- Scanning iCloud Photos for Child Sexual Abuse
Update (2026-06-11): Craig Grannell:
But here’s the thing: the Screen Time system already existed. What Apple announced isn’t so much new features as the refinement of existing ones.
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There will always be edge cases. Apple must get better at understanding them. But giving parents more flexibility strikes me as preferable to the current Screen Time system and blanket government-level bans – or demanding adults constantly prove their age online to do anything.
It remains to be seen whether Apple’s changes will actually hold off any government-level bans.
Apple continues to design child safety features based on guidance from “leading clinical and child development research” and “online safety experts” while neglecting to consult independent security, privacy, and civil rights experts and advocates.
Update (2026-06-16): The Talk Show with Joanna Stern and Nilay Patel had a great segment on parental controls and Screen Time.
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Apple continues to design child safety features based on guidance from "leading clinical and child development research" and "online safety experts" while neglecting to consult independent security, privacy, and civil rights experts and advocates.
They made this mistake years ago when announcing a privacy-invasive security feature that was ripe for abuse and misuse before pulling said feature after a public backlash from security, privacy, and civil rights experts and advocates.
All devices need to be in iOS 27 to be able to use the new settings apparently, so I can't really test whether things have improved or not, but there are websites EVERYWHERE showing kids how to bypass Screen Time.
From playing around with time zones, to side loading apps, to simply rebooting and launching the "blocked" apps immediately.
I'm not revealing any secrets here, since it's been all over the web for ever now and Apple never did anything about it.
And don't get me started on the user interface for setting up screen time. An absolute nightmare!!
Ao any improvement is welcome at this point… But my hopes are not very high, despite the fact that Apple took the time to highlight the changes in the keynote.
What Apple also needs to do is to allow kids to install the beta (which is currently forbidden under the terms of the Apple Beta Software Program Agreement—even with the public β—you have to be of legal age, so typically over 18), and ask them to crack the Screen Time restrictions. My guess is that it won't take more than 5 minutes before they find a workaround to launch Brawl Star or Tik Tok.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the changes. I've been reporting Screen Time/parental controls bugs for years with zero real improvements.
Eventually I gave up and created an LLC so I could get an Apple Business account and connect my children's devices to MDM to actually have very hard to bypass guards.
