Screen Time limits not working: fixes for iPhone and Android
Updated 4 August 2026
If your Screen Time limit is not blocking apps, it is almost always one of six things: the limit is set on a category instead of the app, Ignore Limit is being tapped, Downtime and App Limits are being confused with each other, there is no Screen Time passcode, Share Across Devices is splitting the count, or you are using the website instead of the app. Work through them in order.
1. The limit is on a category, not the app
Category limits such as Social or Entertainment cover a list Apple maintains, and apps move in and out of it. If one specific app is the problem, add it individually: Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, Add Limit, then open the category and tick the single app rather than the category header.
2. Ignore Limit is doing exactly what it says
When the block screen appears, iOS offers One More Minute, Remind Me in 15 Minutes, and Ignore Limit For Today. These are not bugs. With no Screen Time passcode set, one tap removes the block for the rest of the day. Turn on Block at End of Limit and set a passcode under Screen Time, Lock Screen Time Settings.
3. Downtime is not App Limits
Downtime silences everything except what is on your Always Allowed list. App Limits caps one app's daily usage. If you set Downtime and expected a single app to stop at 40 minutes, nothing is broken. You configured the other feature.
4. Share Across Devices is splitting or merging the count
With Share Across Devices on, usage from iPhone, iPad and Mac is combined against one limit, which can trip a limit much earlier than you expect. With it off, each device gets its own budget, so an iPad can absorb everything the iPhone blocks. Pick one deliberately rather than leaving it at the default.
5. The website is not the app
Blocking the YouTube or Instagram app does nothing about the website. Add a website limit on the same App Limits screen, or restrict the domains under Content and Privacy Restrictions, Web Content.
6. Time zone or date changes reset the day
The daily budget resets at midnight in the device's time zone. Travel and manual clock changes shift that reset. If your limits appear to vanish after a flight, this is why.
Android: Digital Wellbeing timers not working
- An app timer only pauses the app until midnight. Check you are not looking at yesterday's expired timer.
- Battery optimisation can suspend Digital Wellbeing on some manufacturer skins. Exclude it from battery restrictions.
- Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus ship their own layer on top. If both are configured, the stricter one wins and the other looks broken.
- Focus mode blocks harder than an app timer. If a timer keeps getting dismissed, move the app into Focus mode instead.
The limit works. You are overriding it.
This is the common case, and no setting fixes it. The block is easy to lift because lifting it costs nothing.
Sprout changes the price. The apps you chose are blocked when the daily limit runs out, and the way to get minutes back is to complete an activity: exercise, reading, a focus session, a chore. There is no ignore for today button. The block lifts when you have earned it, on both iPhone and Android.
Try the earn-your-time approach
Sprout blocks the apps you choose once your daily limit runs out, and gives minutes back only when you complete an activity: exercise, reading, a focus session, a chore. There is no button that grants more time. Free to start, on iPhone and Android.