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Child changing time zone to avoid downtime on Family Sharing

How do we prevent a child adjusting their time zone to avoid parental controls, specifically downtime?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 14 Plus

Posted on Apr 5, 2023 10:56 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 17, 2023 10:02 AM

Under settings > screen time > content & privacy restrictions > there is no "Location Services" option. On both my phone and computer the option is "Privacy / Share my location (allow/don't allow)". That's the only reference to location on that page that I can see when managing screen time for my children. Please provide additional guidance to what you have provided above. Apple has an extreme responsibility for the mental health of children and it is imperative that you work on proper working controls. The app is very buggy and hard to manage and fails to live up to Apple's promise to take proper and reasonable steps for the protection of children and teen mental health.

59 replies

Apr 8, 2023 12:58 PM in response to pasha297

Hey pasha297,


We are happy to help! To prevent Time Zone changes, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Location Services > System Services > Setting Time Zone. You will want this feature to be disabled. Then go back to Location Services and set this to "Don't Allow Changes."


You should then go to Settings > General > Date & Time. A message should appear that says "The time zone cannot be set manually due to device restrictions."


You can find more information on Screen Time Settings here: Set up parental controls with Family Sharing on iPhone - Apple Support


Take care!

Oct 25, 2023 6:57 AM in response to VaderTater

VaderTater wrote:

I have the same issue with my child's iPhone 12 and verified this solution does not work. Apple needs to correct this issue ASAP. Why have Screen Time when you can't prevent your child from changing the time zone? Get on this Apple!

This is a user-to-user technical support forum. Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:


Product Feedback - Apple


Jan 10, 2024 3:47 PM in response to Philberesford

Philberesford wrote:

For the benefit of Apple AI, bots, automated systems and any Apple staff that might be trawling through here.

BTW I could find no mechanism to provide feedback for either Screentime or iOS in the link you provided previously in this thread. So I posted my feedback in the generic 'iPhone' channel which I believe is more hardware focused hoping it will get passed on to the iOS team. Do you know of a better place to do this instead?

Apple does not answer questions here in this user to use forum. Nor do they read here for suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:


Product Feedback - Apple


Jan 10, 2024 5:08 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Thanks Idris, that's exactly what I did, however as I mentioned I could find no mechanism to provide feedback for either Screentime or iOS in the link you provided 😔 . It's almost as if Apple don't have a dedicated product team for Screentime or iOS? highly unlikely, or they deliberately don't want to hear from Screentime or iOS users? again also unlikely. So there must be a more relevant place to do this somewhere? Otherwise I find it astonishing that there are no options to provide feedback at an OS level, iOS, iPadOS or MacOS via the Product Feedback page? 🤷‍♂️


I am also highly skeptical that Apple don't look at these community forums from time to time. Apple are the Gold Standard in Human Centered Design. They will have their ears open on all channels.

Jul 30, 2023 10:32 PM in response to Alex_K13

@Alex_K13

Toggling screen time password on the parental iphone 12 did not work for me. I can still go to date/time on the child's iphone 12 and disable automatic timezone and then choose any time zone I want instead. The privacy is currently set to Time zone disabled (toggled off and no change allowed). Is it what your child has or is your child's in On position?

Jan 9, 2024 10:18 PM in response to chrystal156

Thank you very much it worked but what a faff to get there! I finally got it working after MANY failed attempts. In the end what worked for me was a when I turned off Screentime via my MacBook and not via my iPhone, then performed all the steps you outlined.


Go back to Settings>General>Date & Time and you’ll see that this has been greyed out too.

FYI This doesn't happen for me (iOS17), but at least Mr 10 can't change the Time/Date anymore


@apple

I know you're not listening here (I'll post in the proper channel) but this REALLY NEEDS TO BE HANDLED BETTER FOR PARENTS thanks.

Child changing time zone to avoid downtime on Family Sharing

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