Unley High School - iPad Program - Screen Time & Setting Limits

Screen Time & Setting Limits

Screen Time and App limits

Screen Time — has lots of new features for iOS 13

Even passively it lets you know how much time your student spends on apps, websites, and more. This way, you can make more informed decisions about how you use your devices, and set limits if you'd like to.

But it now lets you go as far as blocking them from group conversation or limiting them to contacts (that you also control) only. You can control this all remotely from your own apple account so there is no need to remove the device from the student once the feature is turned on.

To Turn on Screen Time

On your student's iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Screen Time.
Tap Turn On Screen Time.
Tap Continue.
Select This is My Child's [device] if you would like to monitor your student.

You can now get a report about how you use your device, apps, and websites, any time you want.

If you picked 'This is My Child's [device]' as the option, you can set up Screen Time and create settings right on their device or you can use Family Sharing to configure your child’s device from your own iPhone or iPad. After you set up your child’s device, you can also use Family Sharing to view reports and adjust settings any time, right from your own device.

With Screen Time you can also create a dedicated passcode to secure settings, so only you can extend time or make changes. Make sure your passcode is not one that your student knows and that it is different to the lock code that they are using to access the device.

Setting iPad Time Limits with 'Downtime'

In Screen Time under Settings select 'Downtime'

Here you can select when the iPad turns off at night and on in the morning. To extend the time the iPad is on at night it will request a pin code and you can enter in extra time if required for that one night. Otherwise the iPad will block the use of all apps at the time designated at night and will not allow them to be used again until the end time in the morning.

Setting App Time Limits or Blocking Access to Apps

This section will give you access to a broad range of categories such as 'social networking' , 'games', 'entertainment', 'creativity', 'productivity' ect Apple gives every app on an iPad a category and lets you set a time limit for each category or multiple categories at once.

It is more effective to limit a category than an individual app as if the app deleted is downloaded again, the block needs to be reapplied. The category however will remain blocked.

For example if you want to limit the time spent on games and social media or block these apps all together,

go to Settings > Screen Time and select 'App Limits'
Select 'Add Limit'
Select 'Social Networking' and 'Games'
Now set a time - After this time the iPad will block all Apps in the selected categories.
Make sure the "Block At End Of Limit" option is selected.
Tap < App Limits to go back
Tap 'Add' to add your settings

Hint - the minimum is 1 minute so use 1 minute if you want to block an app or category entirely.

This prevents the 'Hack' where students delete blocked apps and download them again to make them work despite limits.

The other 'Hack' you might encounter is students setting the time zone to something other than Adelaide to get around Downtime restrictions. Setting a time limit on individual App categories should solve this too.

Allowing an App that might be in a category that you would otherwise like to block

Some games are educational and the categories are very broad. For example you may wish to block all other games apps but allow your student to use a Maths App or a Programming App that might fall into the 'Games' Category.

go to Settings > Screen Time and select 'Always Allowed'

Select the '+' on any App that you would like your student to always have access to when Downtime is not active.

You may wish to select school Apps like Google Classroom, Pages or Daymap and put these in the 'Always Allowed' category as well.

Blocking other Services

In the last section of 'Screen Time' called Content and Privacy Restrictions you can lock the iPad down further.

However some of the items that are listed will be used by the students for school such as the ability to download or 'purchase' more apps. While most apps needed for school are either free or low cost, students are expected to be able to download what they need in their classes. They will also need access to services like Mail and Bluetooth sharing. If you restrict items in this section you may need to adjust the settings later if the App or Service is needed later for school.

Under Content Restrictions in this section you can limit the content that is available to the student, set age limits and go even so far as a white list of 'allowed' websites only. This gives you very fine control over the content on the iPad but may restrict class participation if the iPad is locked down too far. For example setting an 18+ limit on Apps causes the internet browsers not to work because the App cannot guarantee the content of websites. We run a filter at school which works outside of this setting and students will need their browsers to work during school time for research. You can easily see why some of these settings can be tricky.

Your best option to restrict content using the iPad settings is to limit the after hours use of the iPad instead.

If you have any concerns about this, we encourage you to contact our school or your student's teachers to discuss personal needs and to voice any issues or questions you might have.

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