ScreenTime broken badly in iOS 16 and Ventura

[Morac]

I've been having problems with Screen Time since some time last year when I did a restore of my iPhone and iPad and restored from backup under iOS 15. What would happen is that my iPhone would see the screen time data on my iPad and Mac Book Air, but the Mac would only see the iPhone's data and the iPad would only see the Mac's data.

This was broken until my iPhone updated to iOS 16. After that the iPad started seeing the iPhone's Screen Time data. I figured Apple must have fixed the problem in iOS 16, so I waited for iPadOS 16 and Ventura to see if it fixed my Mac. Well it kind of did and kind of didn't. When the iPad and Mac updated, the iPad's usage started showing up in the Mac, but under the Mac device. The iPad device didn't show up in the drop down list initially.

Once the iPad did show up, that's when the real problems started. Screen Time on the Mac would stop updating. The update time would just get stuck and no new data would show up. This persisted until I logged out and back in at which point the data would update, but the iPad would disappear from the device list. It would work until the iPad showed up again. Rinse and repeat. I tried turning off Screen Time on the Mac and turning it back on, but that didn't help.

In what turned out to be a bad idea, I turned off Screen Time on all three devices and turned it back on on the Mac and then iPad. Both showed each other's data and were in the device list. I thought it was working so I turned Screen Time on on my iPhone. Once the iPhone showed up in the device list on my Mac the problem returned, but also now the problem happened on my iPad. I tried turning Screen Time off and on on my iPad and then the problem started happening on my iPhone as well. Basically Screen Time stopped displaying on all three devices.

I turned Screen Time off again and back on this time on my iPad and iPhone. Again, things worked. The iPad and iPhone could see each other's usage data. Turned it on on my Mac and again Screen Time stopped updating as each device started showing all three devices.

Basically 2 devices work, 3 devices broke.

I looked in Console and found the following error in the Screen Time logs on both my Mac and iPad. I'm assuming it's on the iPhone as well. I replaced IDs with xxx.

_persistUsageReports Failed to persist usage: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=1570 "lastUpdatedDate is a required value." UserInfo={NSValidationErrorObject=<STUsage: xxx> (entity: Usage; id: xxx <x-coredata:///Usage/xxx>; data: {
blocks = (
);
device = "xxx <x-coredata://xxx/CoreDevice/p449>";
lastEventDate = nil;
lastUpdatedDate = nil;
user = "xxx <x-coredata://xxx/CoreUser/p1>";
}), NSLocalizedDescription=lastUpdatedDate is a required value., NSValidationErrorKey=lastUpdatedDate, NSValidationErrorValue=null}

So the problem appears to be that for some reason there is usage data coming over with a null lastEventDate and lastUpdatedDate which is causing the Screen Time application to be unable to process the data. Again this only happens when I Screen Time enabled on all three of my devices. Any 2 devices work fine.

I wish I hadn't turned it off and on as at least it was working on my iPad and iPhone.

I tried calling Apple Support and they want me to wipe my iPhone, iPad and Mac and set them up as new which is ridiculous. If the problem is happening on all 3 devices, it's either bad cloud data or an OS data bug (likely both).

Has anyone see this before? Anyone have a work around other than turning off Screen Time on one of my devices?

edit: Fixed in iOS 17.5

 

[JM]

Would you kindly summarize all that, please? That’s a lot of reading 🫣

 

[Morac]

Screen Time doesn’t work when I enable it on 3 devices. Works fine with any 2 devices.

 

[garethjs]

I have the exact same issue

iPhone 14 on 16.1.1 no issues syncing with Ventura 13.1

Just got the iPad updated to 16.1.1 immediately and now same issue as you.

Turned it off on all devices added back Mac first. Screentime calculates perfectly. Next day I turned on iOS and it works and sync with Mac perfectly. Turned it on iPad the next day and it breaks again.

Turned off macOS and kept just iPhone and iPad on and they sync perfectly

Can screentime only handle 2 devices really?!?!

Hopefully 16.2 fixes this bug as I use the screentime functionality quite a bit.

 

[Morac]

I ended up enabling Screen Time with sharing on my iPad and iPhone and enabling it without sharing on my Mac. That “works”, but it’s obviously less than ideal as I can’t see my Mac data on my iPad and iPhone and vice-versa, but at least there is data and it’s updating.

 

[garethjs]

I doubt we’re the only ones. Perhaps no one uses screentime

I remember I had the same issue with the iPad Pro 2020.

Sold that awhile later and then got an iPad mini in 2021

But didn’t have an issue with the mini.

Now having an issue with the 2022 iPad Pro

Wonder if it was 2 macs and an iPhone if the same issue would happen

 

[AshenPaladin]

I have the same issue. Screen Time has never been too reliable in my experience, but it's been completely broken after iOS 16 and Ventura. Checking the Mac Console has shown the same error prompt. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next batch of updates, because it's ridiculous. I'm not going to factory reset my devices just for the hope that this will be fixed.

I'll try to disable ScreenTime on Mac and see if the iPhone and the iPad will work well together or not.

 

[Morac]

I'll try to disable ScreenTime on Mac and see if the iPhone and the iPad will work well together or not.

It should though you may have to turn it off on all your devices first.

Of note, if you do that too many times iCloud (likely AWS) will start throttling Screen Time sync requests. That wouldn’t normally be an issue as the phone would wait and try later, but when first enabling Screen Time iOS ignores the throttle responses and just hammers the server repeatedly which causes more throttling. You can tell when that happens because Screen Time won’t do anything and the phone will get warm. If that happens it’s best to turn off syncing for several hours and try again later.

 

[JM]

I ended up enabling Screen Time with sharing on my iPad and iPhone and enabling it without sharing on my Mac. That “works”, but it’s obviously less than ideal as I can’t see my Mac data on my iPad and iPhone and vice-versa, but at least there is data and it’s updating.

Oh wow, so a two device limit, huh?

 

[AshenPaladin]

It should though you may have to turn it off on all your devices first.

Of note, if you do that too many times iCloud (likely AWS) will start throttling Screen Time sync requests. That wouldn’t normally be an issue as the phone would wait and try later, but when first enabling Screen Time iOS ignores the throttle responses and just hammers the server repeatedly which causes more throttling. You can tell when that happens because Screen Time won’t do anything and the phone will get warm. If that happens it’s best to turn off syncing for several hours and try again later.

I've tried to disable all my devices several times over the past few days, it always only worked for like an hour before breaking again. I have an iPhone, an iPad, and a Mac.

I've disabled everything and then reenabled the iPad and the iPhone and it seems to be working for now. I'll likely wait for 24 hours, and if it's still working, also enable the Mac to try to confirm whether the issue comes from the Mac or not.

 

[garethjs]

It’s not coming from a specific device

I setup all my devices as brand new each time I get them

Turn them all off and then then turned the Mac on first. Next day turned screentime on the iPad on. Both sync well

Turned it on the iPhone the next day and then issues began.

So I turned it off on all 3 devices again.

Next day I turned it on the iPad and the iPhone and both sync

Added the Mac in and again it broke all 3

So I’ve settled for Mac and iPhone for now with the iPad turned on (but sync with iCloud turned off)

Not sure if iOS 16.1.2 did anything to fix it but I’ll wait for iOS 16.2 before I try enabling screentime iCloud sync on the iPad

Does no one at apple own more than 3 devices?

I do have a mate who has a MacBook and an iMac with an iPhone and according to him screen time works with all 3

So it’s clearly not a 3 device limit but rather a combination of iPadOS, iOS and MacOs

 

[garethjs]

not fixed in iOS 16.2

will be returning my iPad m2 Pro since apple can't sort this out.

 

[AshenPaladin]

I have not attempted it again in iOS 16.2, I'll give it a try and tell you what happens. So far I've been using ScreenTime on all my devices but with share across devices turned off on purpose.

 

[disruptor85]

Thanks for figuring out the issues. I disabled my ipad Screen time and screen time in iphone is not stuck anymore. ios and ipadios in 16.2 and ventura in 13.1

 

[imagineadam]

My problem is that my screen time limits/downtime for my kids randomly resets throughout the day. I turn it all the off on their devices and then back on and it works for a random amount of time. Maybe 30 minutes or a day or two and then it poof there limits are gone and I have to do it all over again. Started happening after I got my 14 pro. Their devices are stuck on ios 15.

 

[Jeff5i]

Having the same issue with my iPhone 13 Pro Max , and 2 kids device: iPhone SE 2020 and iPad Air 2. Every day my screentime settings revert to detail with zero app limits and content restrictions. This is scary stuff.

 

[easycure1974]

The same happened to me. The time limits and settings for always allowed apps keeps resetting for my kids phones all the time since I got my 14 PM. Working for a couple of hours and then they are gone. Have tried everting but nothing helps. Has been working flawless for years before.

 

[Pecka]

For me it's something called HelpViewer that triggers all excessive screen time on Ventura.

 

[chrisrosemusic1]

I picked up an M2 Air this week and my screen time has completely broken everywhere. Widgets are empty and no reports in the settings menu. Useless.

 

[tesdaq]

For me it's something called HelpViewer that triggers all excessive screen time on Ventura.

Helpviewer started triggering my screen time too, everyday 24h usage by HelpViewer on Ventura also.

 

[Morac]

Screentime was syncing reliably between my iPhone and iPad with syncing turned off on my Mac. I’m not sure what exactly broke it, but as of March 10, my iPad stopped syncing any activity for my iPhone. My iPhone still shows activity for my iPad.

I had done two things recently:

1. Tried re-enabling syncing on my Mac, but that was still broken so I turned it off. I’m not sure what day that was.

2. I had to turn my clock forward about 4 weeks on my iPad on March 9 for a few minutes to fix an iCloud tab syncing bug.


I tried turning Screen time off on both my iPad and iPhone, but the iPhone still isn’t syncing over to the iPad.

I’ve given up on screen time and just shut it off as it is simply broken.

 

[garethjs]

In the notes of iOS 16.5 out next week it says this

“- Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices”

Anyone running the RC? Could someone check and see if it fixes more than 2 devices syncing

 

[Morac]

That read like the fix was for the settings not syncing whereas the actual problem is the actual screen time not syncing. I don’t have much faith that Apple fixed ScreenTime considering they never even acknowledged my feedback report.

 

[disruptor85]

After 24h with all my devices in latest RC, it seems that it is fixed. I enabled iPad screen time just after the new update to check that and no issues so far across my 3 devices. Ipad pro m1, iphone 13 pro and mac 14 m1 pro. I will update after a few more days

In the notes of iOS 16.5 out next week it says this

“- Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices”

Anyone running the RC? Could someone check and see if it fixes more than 2 devices syncing

 

[imagineadam]

In the notes of iOS 16.5 out next week it says this

“- Fixes an issue where Screen Time settings may reset or not sync across all devices”

Anyone running the RC? Could someone check and see if it fixes more than 2 devices syncing

I was having huge issues with my screen time limits for my kids since iOS 16 but they magically fixed it sometime around the release of 16.4. I believe they fixed it server side. It’s been working flawlessly and I’m still in shock that they actually fixed it!!! It had been months!! So I find it weird that they are putting it in the release notes for 16.5?? Bizarre.