How to Monitor and Limit Screen Time with Your iPad’s Screen Time App

Recently, Apply introduced a very helpful app to help users manage the time spent on their iPads. This app is called Screen Time. Screen Time consists of two sets of tools. One shows you how much time you're spending on your iPad, and the other allows you to set restrictions on how much time you, your children, your employees, or your students spend on their iPad.

• Screen Time: See a report of your daily average use of your iPad for the current week. Tap See All Activity to get a more detailed report, including how much time you’ve spent in individual apps. You can also see the average number of times you've picked up your iPad, as well as the average number of notifications you received. All of these tools are designed to help you take control of your own screen time, or the screen time of your children, employees, or students.
• Restrictions: Screen Time allows you to set restrictions on how and when your iPad is used:
  • Downtime: Set limits on when your iPad can be used. You can block your iPad from use at different times and days of the week — or every day of the week.
  • App Limits: Choose apps you want to limit on your iPad. You can limit individual apps, a category of apps, or all apps. When you've selected the apps you want to limit, tap Next to set the number of minutes or hours (or both) that those apps can be used during a given day.
  • Always Allow: Choose apps that can always be accessed on your iPad, regardless of other restrictions you've set.
  • Content & Privacy Restrictions: Dive deep into a number of settings designed to protect your privacy or the privacy of your children, employees, or students. A vast number of settings are here, and it will benefit you to explore them fully.

You can also set a passcode for accessing Screen Time. If you're setting a passcode for your children, employees, or students, it should be different than the passcode that unlocks your iPad to prevent them from undoing the restrictions you so carefully set.

Further down in the Screen Time settings is Share Across Devices. Toggle the switch green if you want to copy your Screen Time settings across every device signed into your iCloud account. Choose the Family option if you want to set up Screen Time only for iCloud accounts set up for Family Sharing.

If you want to turn off Screen Time, tap Settings→Screen Time→Turn Off Screen Time at the bottom of the Screen Time settings.

Want to learn more neat things you can do with your iPad? Try these ten iPad hints, tips, and shortcuts.