Kids bypass Screen Time in a handful of well-known ways: learning the passcode, changing the phone's date and time, deleting and reinstalling apps, or reaching blocked content through links in Messages or Safari. The good news is that each one has a fix you can switch on in a few minutes. This guide covers what parents report, how to spot it, and the setting that closes each gap. We focus on the parent fix, not on the trick itself.
Before anything else: secure the Screen Time passcode
Almost every workaround parents describe starts with the same thing: the child knows, guessed, or watched them enter the Screen Time passcode. If your child has it, no other setting matters.
How to close it
- Go to Settings → Screen Time and choose Change Screen Time Passcode.
- Pick a code that is not the phone's unlock code, not a birthday, and not a code you use elsewhere.
- Type it only when your child can't see the screen.
- If your child is in your Family Sharing group, make changes from your own iPhone (Settings → Screen Time → child's name) so you rarely need to enter the code on theirs.
If you've been typing the code on your child's phone in front of them for months, assume it's known and change it today.
Workaround 1: Changing the date, time, or time zone
Parents often report that limits and Downtime seem to stop working, then find the phone's clock or time zone has been changed. Because Downtime and daily limits are based on the device's time, this can confuse the schedule.
How to close it
- Check Settings → General → Date & Time and make sure Set Automatically is on.
- On current iOS versions with a Screen Time passcode in place, this setting is generally locked behind Screen Time. If you can turn it off without being asked for your code, check that Screen Time and its passcode are set up correctly.
- Look at the clock on your child's phone now and then. A wrong time zone is an easy giveaway.
Workaround 2: Deleting and reinstalling apps
Another common report: a limited app gets deleted and reinstalled, or swapped for a similar app that isn't covered by your limits yet.
How to close it
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Tap App Store Purchases (on some versions "iTunes & App Store Purchases").
- Set Installing Apps to Don't Allow.
- Set Deleting Apps to Don't Allow.
If your child is in Family Sharing, you can also use Ask to Buy, so new downloads (including free ones) need your approval.
Workaround 3: Links in Messages, Safari, and other apps
When an app like YouTube or TikTok is blocked, kids sometimes reach the same content another way: a link a friend sends in Messages, the website version in Safari, or a browser built into another app.
How to close it
- In Content & Privacy Restrictions → App Store, Media, Web & Games → Web Content, add the website versions of blocked apps (for example, youtube.com) to Never Allow.
- For younger children, choose Only Approved Websites instead, so only sites you list will open.
- Check which apps in Always Allowed your child can use during Downtime. Every app on that list is a possible route around your limits.
- Use Communication Limits to control who your child can message during Downtime.
For a deeper walkthrough of web filtering, see how to block adult websites on iPhone.
Workaround 4: Asking for (or taking) "one more minute"
When an App Limit runs out, children may see an option to ask for more time or take a short extension. Some kids simply keep tapping it.
How to close it
- Open each App Limit and turn on Block at End of Limit. This requires your passcode to grant more time.
- Do the same for Downtime with Block at Downtime, if your version shows it.
- If your child sends time requests, decide on a rule together (for example, extensions only on weekends) and stick to it.
Workaround 5: Account changes, resets, and other devices
Less common, but parents do report children signing out of their Apple account, trying to change the phone's passcode, or simply switching to an old tablet or a sibling's phone.
How to close it
- In Content & Privacy Restrictions, scroll to the changes section and set Passcode Changes and Account Changes to Don't Allow.
- Apply the same Screen Time settings to every device in the house your child can pick up, including old iPads.
- Keep spare devices somewhere your child can't get to them at night.
Why gaps keep appearing
Screen Time is powerful, but it spreads important settings across many screens. A single missed toggle, such as Installing Apps or Block at End of Limit, can undo the rest. And Screen Time doesn't clearly tell you when your child is repeatedly hitting a block, so you often only find out after the fact.
That's the part an app can help with.
How Skydo helps close the gaps
Skydo is an iPhone parental control app built on Apple's own Screen Time technology (Family Controls). Blocked apps genuinely don't open because iOS enforces the block, not a VPN or profile that can be removed.
It's designed around the workarounds above:
- Parent PIN plus Face ID protects Skydo's settings, so a watched or guessed code alone isn't enough.
- Prevent deleting and installing apps with one switch, instead of hunting for the right menu.
- Block whole categories, such as all social media, so a look-alike app is covered too.
- Block adult websites and specific sites in Safari and search, which helps with the "website version" route.
- Blocked-attempts count and weekly report show you when your child keeps trying to open something blocked, so you can talk about it early.
- Control from your own phone. Pair once with an 8-character code (no accounts) to change bedtime, limits, and school hours, or pause all apps, without picking up your child's phone and typing a code in front of them.
Honest limits
- Skydo must be installed and set up on your child's iPhone, which needs iOS 26.5 or later.
- Turning protection on requires a Skydo Premium subscription. One subscription bought on the parent's phone also unlocks the child's phone.
- No tool replaces conversation. If a child is determined to get around rules, it's worth asking why. See screen time limits that actually work for ideas on setting rules together.
Quick checklist
- Change your Screen Time passcode and keep it private.
- Make sure Set Automatically is on for Date & Time.
- Set Installing Apps and Deleting Apps to Don't Allow.
- Add website versions of blocked apps to Never Allow.
- Turn on Block at End of Limit.
- Block Passcode Changes and Account Changes.
- Consider Skydo for a PIN with Face ID, blocked-attempt alerts, and remote control.