Screen Time limits not working? 6 fixes for iPhone (iOS 26 and 27)

If your Screen Time limit isn’t working, it’s usually a setting, not a bug. The most common causes: the limit is set to remind you instead of block you, the app is on your Always Allowed list, or you’re using the website instead of the app. The settings and fixes are the same on iOS 26 and iOS 27.

Below are the six causes in the order worth checking, with the fix for each. Most take under a minute.

The quick checklist

1. The limit reminds you but doesn’t block the app.
2. Downtime shows a reminder but doesn’t block either.
3. The app is on your Always Allowed list.
4. You’re using the website, not the app.
5. Several apps share one limit, so it runs out early.
6. The timer is genuinely wrong after an update.

1. Your limit reminds you instead of blocking the app

This is the big one. Apple’s own guide says it plainly: by default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once reached. So when the limit hits, you get a screen with an Ignore Limit button, and one tap later the app is open again. Nothing is broken. The limit is doing what it was set up to do.

To make it block:

1. Open Settings → Screen Time, scroll down and tap Lock Screen Time Settings. Pick a four-digit passcode (Apple’s steps).
2. Go to App Limits, open the limit that isn’t working, and turn on Block at End of Limit. (Apple’s Mac guide describes the same option.)
3. Repeat for every limit. It’s a per-limit setting, so one limit can block while another only reminds.

Now getting past the limit needs the passcode. There’s more on this in how to make Screen Time limits you can’t ignore.

2. Downtime shows a reminder but doesn’t block

Downtime has the same split. According to Apple’s guide, when Block at Downtime is off, you see a reminder that it’s downtime, but you can choose to keep using your apps. When it’s on, restricted apps can’t be opened and show up dimmed with an hourglass.

Apple ties this choice to having a Screen Time passcode, so set one first (see cause 1). Then go to Settings → Screen Time → Downtime and turn on Block at Downtime.

3. The app is on your Always Allowed list

Always Allowed is meant for apps and people you need no matter what, like in an emergency. Apple describes these as apps that stay available during downtime and after you reach time limits. So if the app you’re limiting ended up on that list, no limit will stop it.

To check: Settings → Screen Time → Always Allowed, and remove anything you’re trying to limit. It’s worth a look even if you’re sure you never added it.

4. You’re using the website, not the app

A limit on the Instagram app doesn’t automatically cover instagram.com in Safari. If the limit only includes the app, the website keeps working after the app locks.

Screen Time limits can include websites as well as apps. Apple’s Mac guide shows a Websites section at the bottom of the list when you create a limit. On iPhone, look for the same Websites section when you set or edit a limit, and add the site to the same limit as the app.

5. Several apps share one limit

If the limit kicks in way before you expected, check what’s inside it. When you pick several apps or categories for one limit, the time applies to all of them together. Thirty minutes on a social category means thirty minutes across every app in it combined, not thirty each.

If that’s not what you want, give the app its own limit.

6. The timer is wrong after an update

Sometimes it really is iOS. After the iOS 26.2 update, people on Apple’s forums reported apps showing as over their limit even though they hadn’t opened them that day. Another person on iOS 26.2.1 reported a 1 hour 30 minute limit locking the app after about 20 minutes, every day. Neither thread got an official fix.

What people say helps, at least for a while:

1. Restart your iPhone.
2. Turn the limit off and on again, or delete it and add it back.
3. Update to the latest iOS version.
4. If it keeps happening, contact Apple Support with your iOS version and what you saw.

Before blaming a bug, rule out causes 1 to 5. They’re far more common.

The short version

Work through the list in order. Make the limit (and Downtime) block, take the app off Always Allowed, and add the website to the limit. If a limit locks too early, check what else shares it. And if the timer still misbehaves after an update, restart and re-add the limit.

Want to set limits up from scratch? Our guide to blocking apps on iPhone walks through the options.