Set up Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances on your kid’s device
With Screen Time Schedules, you can choose which apps your child can use at different times of day to help them stay focused. Set routines for weekdays and weekends using built-in time windows like Before School, School, and After School. You can even add a custom window to an existing day to accommodate an extracurricular, or create a custom schedule, such as for a shortened school day.
With Time Allowances, you can manage how long your child spends in categories like Entertainment, Games, and Social Media with age-based starting points based on expert research that you can adjust—based on what works best for your child. See About Time Allowances.
Set how long your child can use apps and websites with Time Allowances
When you set up Time Allowances, you can manage the time your child spends in apps across different app categories. You can adjust the time for each category, add new categories, or change the category for an app to fit what works best for your family. Time Allowance categories parents often care about the most, like Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, come automatically on your child’s device for you to customize.
Open your child’s settings:
On iPhone or iPad: Go to the Settings app, tap Family, then tap your child’s name.
On Mac: Go to System Settings, click Family, then click your child’s name.
Tap or click Time Allowances, tap or click the Add button, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Do any of the following:
Use Time Allowances during certain times in your schedule: Turn on Match Screen Time Schedule.
Increase or decrease the amount of time your child can spend in an app category: Drag the slider left or right, or tap or click the plus or minus buttons.
Increase or decrease the amount of time your child can spend on their device: Drag the slider left or right.
View and edit Time Allowances for different schedules: Tap or click the name of your schedule.
Create Time Allowances for apps that aren’t assigned to a category: Under Additional Time Allowances, tap or click the plus or minus buttons.
Set up Screen Time Schedules for device use
Create a custom schedule for your child’s device use based on what works best for your family. You can choose what types of apps, including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, they can access at different points of the day. These are based on the Time Allowance categories you’ve set up for your child.
Tip: As you and your family decide on a device schedule, consider some guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics on recommended device use and healthy sleep, like turning off screens for at least an hour before bed and keeping devices outside the bedroom overnight.
Open your child’s settings:
On iPhone or iPad: Go to the Settings app, tap Family, then tap your child’s name.
On Mac: Go to System Settings, click Family, then click your child’s name.
Tap or click Screen Time Schedule, then turn on Schedule.
Tap or click Add Schedule, then select the days you’d like it to apply to.
After you create a schedule for your child, do any of the following:
Add a new time window to your child’s schedule: Tap or click Add Time Window, then enter a new name, time, and allowed app categories.
Edit a time window in your child’s schedule: Tap or click a time window, then modify the name, time, and allowed app categories.
Delete a time window from your child’s schedule: Tap or click a time window, then tap or click Delete Time Window.
What’s next?
You can choose contacts and apps that are Always Allowed, so your child can reach you and use important apps no matter which Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances you’ve set. See Choose apps and people to always allow on your child’s device.