A widely reported “Screen Time” bug in iOS 18 falsely records excessive app usage. If the statistics are skewed, the problem is much worse for children who have their limits of parental control reached without doing anything. Let’s look at the different solutions you can implement to remedy this.
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WhatsApp, Safari, YouTube or other marked as used for 8, 10 or 12 hours per day when you only opened it for a minute? You are the victim of an Apple bug. Fortunately, you are in the right place, iPhoneSoft has been supporting the brand’s customers since 2008!
Screen time of almost 15 hours while the child’s phone is limited to 3 hours.1. Restart your iPhone
Restarting your iPhone is a simple solution that works very often. After updating to iOS 18.X, you might experience some issues, such as slowdowns, freezes, or erratic behavior. The good news is that a complete reboot often resolves issues like the Screen Time bug.
- Press and hold both the Power button and the Volume Down or Volume Up button for a few seconds.
- When the power off screen appears, slide the Power Off button to the right to turn off your phone.
- Wait a few seconds. Press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
2. Disable Background App Refresh
Disabling background app updating can be an effective way to fix the “Screen Time” bug after updating your device, like an iPhone, to iOS 18 or 18.1. This is the second most effective solution in this case.
When this feature is enabled, apps continue to refresh their content in the background, which may interfere with Screen Time’s ability to function properly (and may even overheat your device). By deactivating it, you free up system resources and even gain autonomy.
Go to the Settings app > General > “Background refresh” and uncheck the problematic apps. If Mail is among the culprits, then go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Accounts and switch to manual or hourly recovery instead of automatic or “Push”.
3. Re-enable “Screen Time”
Turn the “Screen Time” feature off then back on. This simple action can be helpful. Before resetting, keep in mind that this will erase all your “Screen Time” usage data.
- Open the Settings app and tap “Screen Time.”
- Scroll to the bottom and tap “Turn off app & website activity.”
- Re-enable the feature.
4. Turn off Power Saving mode
When your device goes into “power saving” mode, it disables or restricts certain background activities and functions to save battery power. Because of this, “Screen Time” might struggle to properly track and process your app usage. Simply disabling this mode might help resolve the issue.
5. Reset your iPhone
If the problem persists, you can try a full reset of your iPhone. This action helps eliminate deeper system issues that typical fixes cannot address and could resolve issues like the Screen Time bug in iOS 18. Be careful, make a backup of your data before proceeding.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Tap “Transfer or reset iPhone” > “Erase all content and settings.”
- Tap “Continue” and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
6. Contact Apple Support
If you’ve tried all the solutions provided and “Screen Time” is still not working properly, it might be time to seek help from Apple. Contacting support may be helpful as a last resort. Use the Apple Store app to do this, from the phone in question, or on the official website.
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