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Apple Screen Time
Apple's built-in parental controls for iOS and Mac
As of 30 August 2026, Apple Screen Time is free to use. Screen Time is Apple's integrated parental control feature built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Softwr lists it under Parenting. Apple Screen Time is made by Apple Inc., launched in 2016, available on iOS, macOS.
Overview
What Apple Screen Time does
Screen Time is Apple's integrated parental control feature built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. It provides screen time limits, app restrictions, content filtering, and downtime scheduling. Screen Time helps families establish healthy device habits with easy-to-use controls managed through Family Sharing.
What people use it for
- Screen time management
- Content filtering
- Device control
- Family safety
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Apple Screen Time.
- Parental controls require setting up Family Sharing and a Child Account rather than working standalone
Cross-shopped
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Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
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Pricing
What Apple Screen Time costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Included with iOS/macOS
Free
- Screen time limits
- App restrictions
- Content filtering
- Downtime scheduling
- Family Sharing
Capabilities
Features
Screen time tracking
App limits
Downtime scheduling
Content filtering
App restrictions
Communication limits
Purchase controls
Family Sharing management
iCloud
Integration with iCloud
Family Sharing
Integration with Family Sharing
Apple services
Integration with Apple services
Device encryption
Device encryption security feature
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Screen Time included with iOS at no additional cost?
Screen Time is included with iOS as a built-in parental control feature. There is no additional cost beyond the iOS operating system.
SourceWhat parental control features does Screen Time provide?
Screen Time allows parents to set time allowances across app categories like Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, create schedules to control which apps are available at specific times or days, and check how children are using their devices.
SourceWhich iOS devices support Screen Time?
Screen Time is available on iOS-compatible devices. Based on current iOS, this includes iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, as well as current-generation models including iPhone 17.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Apple Screen Time
- Company
- Apple Inc.
- Based in
- Cupertino, CA
Keep looking
Where to go from Apple Screen Time
- Apple Screen Time alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Apple Screen Time pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Apple Screen Time badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Parenting softwareThe full category
- Best Parenting softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Parenting software for
Compare Apple Screen Time with
- Net Nanny
- Kidslox
- Google Family Link
- Kaspersky Safe Kids
- Canopy
- Bark
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- Gohenry
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- Life360
- Messenger Kids
- OurFamilyWizard
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- Norton Family
Other Parenting software
Kaspersky's parental control for digital safety
Free, then $14.99/mo9 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Apple Screen Time, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Apple Screen Time
Apple Screen Time alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Apple Screen Time pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Apple Screen Time
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Apple Screen Time badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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