Turning off Screen Time on an iPhone takes about thirty seconds when you have the passcode — open Settings, tap Screen Time, scroll to the bottom, and confirm. Everything hinges on that four-digit code, because Apple designed it specifically so children cannot disable the limits themselves.
Without the passcode, the path is longer. Apple ties Screen Time passcode recovery to your Apple ID, which means the fastest legitimate option is an Apple Account reset — available to the account holder, not the child. If that route is closed for any reason, a full device restore is the fallback, and it does erase local data not backed up to iCloud. Knowing which situation you're in before you start saves real time.
Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then scroll to the bottom and tap Turn Off Screen Time. iOS prompts for the Screen Time passcode before completing the action — this is a separate 4-digit code from the device unlock passcode, set specifically so the limits cannot be changed without a parent's approval.
The full sequence:
Once confirmed, the Screen Time entry disappears from Settings and all active restrictions are lifted immediately.
If you manage a child's device through Family Sharing, the same passcode applies — enter it directly on the child's device, or adjust the settings from your own device through the Screen Time section under your Family Sharing configuration, depending on how the account was originally set up.
The Screen Time passcode is a 4-digit code that is separate from the device unlock passcode. Resetting one has no effect on the other, and entering your iPhone PIN will not get you past a Screen Time lock.
Apple's only official recovery route requires the Apple ID that was used when Screen Time was originally set up — a different Apple ID on the device will not work, even if it is the current primary account.
If the device is part of a Family Sharing group, the family organizer has a parallel option: managing that child device's Screen Time settings directly from Settings → Screen Time on their own iPhone or iPad, without needing the child-device passcode at all.
Turning off Screen Time removes every restriction simultaneously — there is no option to keep some limits while dropping others. The device returns to unrestricted access the instant the setting is confirmed.
What disappears immediately:
That last point catches parents off guard. If you want a record of daily usage patterns before disabling Screen Time — for a conversation with your child, a pediatrician, or your own reference — take screenshots of the Activity screen first. Once Screen Time is off, that data is gone.
The device unlock passcode is a separate system and is not touched by this change. If you're turning Screen Time off because it became unmanageable, a screen time and app activity guide covers a parent-side record of usage that survives even after the native data is wiped.
The passcode-based model native to Screen Time means every fix covered in the previous sections is temporary: the code can be forgotten again, discovered by a child, or inaccessible when the linked Apple ID credentials aren't at hand. And any Android device in the household sits entirely outside Screen Time's reach — stock Android has no direct equivalent built in.
For families where that combination keeps coming up, NexSpy is worth a look. When a parent wants downtime to apply automatically at bedtime on both the iPhone and the Android tablet, NexSpy enforces those schedules from the Parent Dashboard rather than from a device-side passcode — the child has no code to discover and no local toggle to reverse the schedule without a parent-approved request. Per-app daily time limits work the same way: once the limit is reached, the app locks automatically and the child cannot override it on their own.
How to set it up
On iOS 13.4 and later, Apple lets you reset a forgotten Screen Time passcode without erasing the device—but only if you authenticate with the exact Apple ID and password that were active when Screen Time was originally configured.
If a different family member set up Screen Time under their own Apple ID, or if the password has changed since setup, this path will not authenticate. The device will not let you try alternate Apple IDs.
There is no over-the-air bypass, no support-call workaround, and no third-party tool that removes a Screen Time passcode without either the Apple ID credentials or a full device erase. Apple's position has not changed on this in iOS 17 or iOS 18.
To erase and start fresh:
One important tradeoff: restoring from a backup that already included a Screen Time configuration will bring those settings back. The forgotten passcode itself is not restored—Screen Time will be inactive—but you will need to reconfigure limits from scratch if you want them back.
In a Family Sharing setup, Screen Time controls for a child live on the organizer's device, not the child's. The parent navigates to Settings → Screen Time → [child's name] on their own iPhone or iPad to adjust or remove limits. The child's device shows no Screen Time passcode prompt and no local toggle — the controls simply aren't there to reach.
All members of a Family Share need Apple Accounts. For children below the consent age, the parent creates a child Apple Account during setup and automatically inherits Screen Time authority as organizer. Apple sets that age threshold at 13 in the United States, but it ranges from 13 to 17 depending on country, so the exact cutoff varies for families outside the US.
When Screen Time is configured directly on a single device — without Family Sharing — a 4-digit passcode separate from the device unlock code is the sole gate. Whoever entered that passcode during setup holds control. A parent who set up a teen's phone can turn Screen Time off by entering that passcode on the teen's device; the teen cannot.
The structural tradeoff matters most when things go wrong. In a single-device setup, a forgotten passcode means the recovery path runs through the Apple ID used at the moment Screen Time was first enabled on that device. In a Family Sharing setup, recovery runs through the organizer's Apple ID on their own device — a shorter path because the organizer is usually more likely to have their own credentials current.
Quick comparison:
Screen Time is an Apple feature built into iOS and iPadOS. Android phones and tablets do not have Screen Time — there is nothing to "turn off" on the Android side, and none of the steps in this article apply to Android devices.
Google Family Link is Android's built-in parental control option, managed through the Family Link app on the parent's phone. It covers the use cases most parents are looking for:
Family Link requires the child to have a supervised Google Account. Controls live in the parent's app, so the child cannot adjust them from the child device. One practical limit: Family Link supervision ends automatically when the child reaches the age of majority in their country — typically 13, though the threshold varies by region — at which point the child can choose to remove supervision entirely.
For families with a mix of iPhones and Android devices, neither Screen Time nor Family Link crosses platforms. Each is locked to its own operating system. Third-party parental control apps are the practical path when you need consistent scheduling rules across both.
The Screen Time passcode is a separate 4-digit code from your device unlock PIN — forgetting it means Apple ID recovery or a full factory reset. Store the code in a password manager or locked notes app the moment you create it. Don't reuse your unlock PIN, which a curious child can shoulder-surf and enter independently.
If limits feel like a nightly argument, the setup is still manual. Scheduled Downtime in Screen Time runs automatically at whatever hour you choose — the device locks itself, and no one has to play enforcer. Keep the Phone app in "Always Allowed" so emergencies still work.
Check whether App Limits are set to require the Screen Time passcode to extend. By default, children can tap "Ignore Limit" for an additional 15 minutes with no parent involvement. Enabling the passcode requirement on each limit removes that one-tap bypass entirely.
App limits block apps, not mobile browsers. A child whose game is locked can open Safari and find a web version instead. Close this gap under Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Web Content: choose "Limit Adult Websites" or "Allowed Websites Only" depending on your child's age and browsing needs. That combination — Downtime, passcode-locked App Limits, and a filtered browser — holds without daily manual intervention.
Setting up Screen Time on your child's iPhone only to find the limits ignored an hour later — or gone entirely the next morning — is one of the most common
Most parents reach for whatever app shows up first in a search, then discover mid-setup that the feature they actually need — remote schedule changes
Android's built-in Digital Wellbeing dashboard already tracks time spent in each individual app — no extra software needed to get started.
Both iPhone and Android have built-in tools that let you set a daily time limit on any specific app — and when that limit runs out
