Apple’s Screen Time restrictions on websites are easily circumvented
The Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern describes how Apple’s Screen Time parental controls has a simple security vulnerability that allows unfettered web access:
I tried a number of Apple devices. With Screen Time enabled on iPads and iPhones running iOS/iPadOS 15, 16 and 17, I was able to visit porn sites, watch graphic, violent news footage on YouTube and Google “how to buy cocaine.”
I was able to do the same in Safari on a MacBook Pro running the latest MacOS, Sonoma. All I had to do was type the character string—which we won’t reproduce here so it isn’t abused—plus any web address.
I’ve only just started setting up Screen Time for my kid who, thankfully, isn’t old enough to even type a URL, much less try to work around the restrictions. (The biggest concern is accidentally leaving the app he’s in.) I’ve heard from plenty of other parents, though, who’ve found Screen Time frustrating and full of loopholes. And this is after Apple started pruning third-party parental control apps from its iOS store.
At the end of the piece, Stern details a number of other Screen Time bugs that she’s had reported by others. I’d add a few more, like, say, making a passcode that’s longer than four digits.