Hello I updated my iPhone 13 to iOS 18 a few days ago and the last two nights, it indicated that my screen was on whilst I had actually switched my phone off for the night. Last night I made sure to close all apps before I switched it off but Screen Time still says that my screen was on. Is there a way to fix this so as to have screen time that actually corresponds to my screen time? I’ve seen other users experiencing the same problem but haven’t found a solution. Thanks!
I updated my iPhone 13 to iOS 18 a few days ago
Hello Juls!
This is quite likely the reason why you’re seeing the issues. Apple has introduced a series of software glitches in the recent iOS updates, especially when it comes to screen time and the screen time API.
Glitches like the one you have described are frequent and happen on both Apple’s Screen Time tool, as well as third party apps that rely on Apple’s Screen Time API (they are forced to use the same underlying buggy technology stack as Apple’s Screen Time, so it makes sense that problems and glitches are shared).
I had documented this in FB13696022 a while ago, so Apple knew about it and could've prevented it – but apparently Screen Time is not important enough so that one of Apple’s engineers actually looks at it :/
One thing I could recommend you to try is to turn off "Share across devices" at the bottom of Screen Time settings. Hope that helps!
Hi Guappi,
thank you for taking the time to answer to me!
I did not switch my phone off for a few weeks, hoping for an update and when it didn’t come, I tried again and for one hour it was fine and then… my screen time rose to 9hr+!
I’m hoping for an update that will correct this, as it is really annoying to control one’s screen time! Having a 9hr screen time early in the morning is a bit daunting!
In the meantime, I’ll try your hack although I’m not sure it’ll help because it’s all on my phone, not on my other devices.
Thanks anyway!