iOS 761: Screen Time Controls - Downtime, Communication Safety, & more
iOS Today (Audio)
Leo Laporte
4.1 • 616 Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2025
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode explores the comprehensive Screen Time system in iOS, covering everything from basic usage tracking to advanced restrictions and parental controls. The hosts also tackle a unique automation challenge involving motorcycles and garage doors, while sharing their latest app and gadget discoveries.
- Screen Time Overview - Introduction to iOS's built-in digital wellness system that tracks usage across all Apple devices and syncs settings when enabled
- Screen Distance Feature - New safety feature that alerts users when holding their iPhone or iPad too close to their face, helping prevent eye strain and myopia
- App and Website Activity - Detailed tracking system that provides weekly reports and insights about screen usage patterns across all connected devices
- Downtime Scheduling - Feature that restricts device access to only approved apps and phone calls during specified hours, perfect for sleep schedules
- App Limits - Granular controls allowing users to set daily time limits for specific apps or entire categories like games or social media
- Always Allowed Apps - Designated apps that remain accessible even during downtime, including emergency contacts and essential utilities
- Communication Controls - Settings that manage who can contact the user during screen time restrictions and downtime periods
- Communication Safety - Apple's new feature that automatically detects and warns about potentially inappropriate images before they're viewed
- Content and Privacy Restrictions - Comprehensive parental controls covering app installations, purchases, web content, and various iOS features
Feedback
- Motorcycle Garage Door Automation - Mike seeks help creating a shortcut to automatically open his garage door when arriving home on his motorcycle
App Caps
- DailyArt App - Mikah recommends an award-winning app that showcases a different piece of artwork each day with detailed historical context and artist information
- 8BitDo Micro Controller - Rosemary features a tiny Bluetooth game controller that works with multiple devices and can be reprogrammed for various uses, including Procreate shortcuts
Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on iOS today, Rosemary Orchard and I talk about, well, cutting back on your use of screens or just keeping track of managing your use of screens with screen time on iOS and iPad OS. Oh, and MacOS. Stay tuned for this episode of iOS today. |
| 0:21.6 | Podcasts you love. |
| 0:23.3 | From people you trust. |
| 0:25.8 | This is Twitter. |
| 0:29.8 | This is iOS Today, episode 761, with Rosemary Orchard and me, Micah Sargent. |
| 0:38.3 | Recorded Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 for Thursday, July 17th, 2025. |
| 0:45.3 | Screen time controls. |
| 0:48.3 | Hello and welcome to iOS today. |
| 0:50.3 | This is the show where we talk all things iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, and all the other |
| 0:56.1 | TVOS, CarPlay, all of them, every software platform offered by Apple to help you make the most |
| 1:04.8 | of those devices you have, your iPhone and your iPad and all of them, by sharing tips and |
| 1:09.9 | tricks and settings and apps and accessories |
| 1:12.8 | and gizmos and gadgets that are well worth your time. I am one of the hosts of this show. My name is |
| 1:20.4 | Micah Sargent. And my name is Rosemary Orchard. And I'm really happy to be here, even if my iPhone |
| 1:26.6 | does occasionally keep saying, |
| 1:27.9 | like, hey, Rose, move your phone a bit further away from your face. That's okay. I set it up to do that. |
| 1:35.0 | Yes, that's the most naggy thing. And as I'm getting older, and my eyes maybe aren't as good as they |
| 1:42.3 | were, and I think more importantly, as I continue to be in denial |
| 1:47.8 | about the need for using the glasses that I have been prescribed, I find it rather annoying, but also |
| 1:57.4 | important. What we're talking about today is the screen time set of settings. |
| 2:03.6 | It's a screen time feature set, so to speak, that gives you the ability to track your screen time |
| 2:11.6 | and also kind of set limits for different parts of the operating system. |
... |
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