A new iPhone feature designed to help parents control their children\u2019s smartphone usage is already being circumvented by tech-savvy minors.<\/p>\n
Apple Screen Time,\u00a0a software update introduced to iPhones and iPads last week, lets users track and limit the time they spend online part of a push across Silicon Valley to counter smartphone addiction.<\/p>\n
Parents can scrutinise their children\u2019s activity and set time limits for each app, imposing \u201cdowntime\u201d during which the device cannot be used at all without a passcode.<\/p>\n
But children have already found various ways to defeat the software and get their fix of social media, videogames or Netflix.<\/p>\n
Hacks to bypass the feature include manually changing the time on a device. For example, if downtime is set to start at 8pm and end at 6am, a user can simply fast forward the phone’s time to 7am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so excited to turn on the screen time restrictions,\u201d said one parent on Apple\u2019s support forums. \u201cUntil my 13-year-old found a workaround within two minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to settings and changed the date and time of his phone to an unrestricted time, and voila! Free screen time again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another parent said his 10-year-old daughter had a daily limit of one hour, but simply skipped to the next day when she wanted more. This can be done even if the child does not know their Screen Time passcode.<\/p>\n
O<\/span>ther methods include downloading previously-used apps that had been deleted, which gets around the time limits placed on individual games.<\/p>\n Children can watching Netflix in the corner of the screen to avoid a time limit, or simply bombard parents with notifications requesting extra time.<\/p>\n \u201cI limited my 7-year-old son\u2019s screen time,\u201d said a father on Reddit. \u201cFor a few days I felt he was playing a bit more than he should, but I couldn\u2019t figure out why.\u201d<\/p>\n Apple announced Screen Time in June after two major shareholders published an open letter urging it to take \u201cresponsibility\u201d for the \u201cunintentional negative consequences\u201d of compulsive smartphone use.<\/p>\n T<\/span>im Cook, Apple\u2019s chief executive,\u00a0said it had become clear\u00a0that \u201csome of us our spending too much time on our devices\u201d, and that he had \u201cnever wanted people to overuse [his] products\u201d.<\/p>\n The company has repeatedly positioned itself as being more concerned about its users\u2019 health and privacy than other tech giants because it makes its money by selling products rather than through advertising.<\/p>\n Google also announced \u201cdigital wellbeing\u201d tools for its Android operating system, while Facebook claims it is shifting from seeking to maximise the time people spend on its network to giving them \u201ctime well spent\u201d.<\/p>\n Experts recommend that children should spend only two hours per day on social media, but Ofcom research has found that a fifth of Britons aged 16 to 24 spend more than seven hours a day online.<\/p>\n The Telegraph is campaigning for a statutory duty of care on social media and technology firms to protect children from online harm.<\/p>\n Adults have also been disturbed by their own Screen Time reports, with social media users sharing screenshots of their totals alongside expressions of guilt, denial and horror.<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked by the amount of time I was spending,\u201d said one Reddit user. \u201cI\u2019ve got about 36 hours for the weekly total,\u201d said another. \u201cNow I\u2019m contemplating doing something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Software developer David Heinemeier Hansson said the limits had allowed him to reduce his time on Instagram and Twitter to 10 and 15 minutes per day.<\/p>\n A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Telegraph<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new iPhone feature designed to help parents control their children\u2019s smartphone usage is already being circumvented by tech-savvy minors. Apple Screen Time,\u00a0a software update introduced to iPhones and iPads last week, lets users track and limit the time they spend online part of a push across Silicon Valley to counter smartphone addiction. Parents can …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4435,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4431\/revisions\/4435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}