Managed Settings

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Set restrictions for certain settings, such as locking accounts in place, preventing password modification, filtering web traffic, and shielding apps.

Posts under Managed Settings tag

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Unapproved membership issue
Dear Apple Support Team, I am writing to formally escalate an unresolved membership activation issue that has persisted despite multiple support requests submitted through the official channels. I kindly request your urgent attention to this matter. ISSUE SUMMARY I placed an order for an Apple subscription/membership under Order Number W1360969504. However, following the successful completion of the payment, my account was never activated. The membership remained in a pending state with no resolution. PREVIOUS SUPPORT ATTEMPTS In an effort to resolve this issue, I contacted Apple Support on two separate occasions: Support Case ID: 30000002928955 Support Case ID: 102851903923 Unfortunately, neither of these cases received a response from the support team. Due to the continued inactivity of my account and the complete absence of follow-up communication, I was left with no option but to cancel the membership myself. SECOND ENROLLMENT ATTEMPT Following the cancellation, I re-applied for the membership. The new order was processed and payment was completed successfully: New Order / Invoice Number: W1638536754 However, this second enrollment is experiencing the exact same issue. My account has again failed to activate, and I am continuously presented with the following error message: "To continue your enrollment, complete your purchase now" This error appears despite the payment having been processed, which suggests a backend activation failure on Apple's side rather than an issue with my payment method or account credentials. CURRENT STATUS Two payments processed — membership never activated on either occasion Two prior support requests submitted — no response received Persistent enrollment error blocking any progress Account remains inactive as of the date of this email REQUESTED ACTION I kindly ask that your team: Investigate both orders (W1360969504 and W1638536754) and identify the root cause of the activation failure. Review and respond to the previously submitted support cases (#30000002928955 and #102851903923). Manually activate my membership Provide written confirmation of the resolution steps being taken. Given that this issue has already caused significant delay and inconvenience, I would greatly appreciate a response within 24–48 hours. Thank you for your time and assistance. I look forward to a prompt and satisfactory resolution. Sincerely, Miraç Bahadır Öztürk March 30, 2026
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DeviceActivityMonitor intervalDidEnd not firing for non-repeating timed unlock
I’m building an iOS app that uses FamilyControls + ManagedSettings + DeviceActivity. Goal: temporarily “unlock” a shielded app for N minutes, then automatically re-apply the shield when the timer expires. What I do: In the main app, when user picks an expiry (e.g. 15 min, 30 min). I start a non-repeating DeviceActivity schedule and remove the app’s ApplicationToken from ManagedSettingsStore().shield.applications. I also store activeUnlockBundleID etc. in an App Group so the DeviceActivityMonitor extension can re-lock at the end. Expected: DeviceActivityMonitor.intervalDidEnd(for:) is invoked when the non-repeating interval ends, and I re-add the token to the shield set. Actual: The app does not re-lock when the interval expires. I added OS logs as well as “debug local notifications” from the DeviceActivityMonitor extension in: init() intervalDidStart intervalDidEnd eventDidReachThreshold None of these logs or notifications ever appear, which suggests the extension is never invoked (or cannot schedule local notifications or OS logs). Environment: Device: iPhone 17 Pro iOS 26.3.1 Xcode 26.4 Running on a physical device Notification permissions for the app: granted App + extensions are in the same App Group entitlement. Extension Info.plist has: NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor NSExtensionPrincipalClass = $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).DeviceActivityMonitorExtension Questions: Are there known limitations/requirements for DeviceActivityMonitor callbacks where intervalDidEnd doesn't to fire? Is posting local notifications / OS Logs from a DeviceActivityMonitor extension supported/reliable? If not, what’s the recommended way to verify the extension is invoked? If this looks like a platform bug, should I file Feedback Assistant? If so, what logs/artifacts are most useful?
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Screen Time APIs showing severe inconsistencies (DeviceActivity not firing + impossible usage data)
Hi everyone, I’m the developer of one sec, an app used by a large number of users globally to reduce time spent on social media and to build healthier digital habits. Because of this, we rely heavily on Apple’s Screen Time / DeviceActivity / FamilyControls, ManagedSettings APIs – and unfortunately, we’re seeing increasingly severe issues in production that directly impact hundreds of thousands of real iOS users. During the past years, we have been busy filing dozens of feedback requests for different Screen Time issues – and there has been no response from Apple at all. Developer Relations might be able to "confirm" that the bugs are present and that they ended up with the right team – but they are never addressed, neither are workarounds provided. Instead, the situation gets worse and worse. iOS 26 introduced a series of heavy regressions (which have been reported via Apple’s official bug report tool "Feedback Assistant" on iOS 26 beta 1 in June 2025 – and have not been addressed 10 Months later). This is very frustrating for us as developers, but also for our end-users who run into these issues every day. In the end this impacts our ability to build an amazing product and hurts revenue (which affects both us and Apple). 1. DeviceActivity thresholds are not firing at all This affects both: our app’s usage of the API and Apple’s own Screen Time limits Radars: FB22304617, FB20526837, FB15491936, FB12195437, FB15663329, FB18198691, FB18289475, FB19827144 2. Screen Time usage data is clearly corrupted Websites showing hundreds of hours per week Up to ~20 hours per day of usage reported for a single domain Radars: FB22304617, FB17777429, FB18464235 3. DeviceActivity thresholds reaching threshold immediately Newly introduced with iOS 26 Reported on iOS 26 beta 1 in June No response so far / no workaround DeviceActivity calls didReachThreshold immediately after creating the DeviceActivityEvent – instead of waiting till the defined threshold is actually reached. Radars: FB13696022, FB18351583, FB21320644, FB18927456, FB18061981 4. Randomly Randomizing ApplicationTokens From time to time, and without consistency, Screen Time suddenly provides new, random, unknown tokens to my app in the ShieldConfigurationDataSource and ShieldActionDelegate. This has been reported on many times before here on the dev forms, many many years back already: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756440 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325?answerId=793267022#793267022 Radars: FB14082790 and FB18764644 5. Moving Tokens from one ManagedSettingsStore to Another Removing an ApplicationToken from one SettingsStore and then adding it to another while the target app remains in foreground leads to the re-use of the ShieldConfiguration. Which can be wrong in many scenarios. It is not possible to request a re-request of the ShieldConfiguration in that scenario. Radar: FB14237883 6. Unable to Open Parent App (one sec) from Shield Many times, when a target app is blocked by a shield, the user wants to perform some action (e.g. to unlock more time for the target app via an intervention). That means, that somehow I have to forward the user from a ShieldActionDelegate back into my target app. Unfortunately, there’s no API for that. Many apps on the App Store rely on private API to achieve that, but that’s too risky for a popular app like one sec. Radar: FB15079668 7. Unable to Open Target App from an ApplicationToken When a user has completed an intervention within one sec, and they indend to to continue to the target app, there is no way that one sec can open the target app just from the token alone. Sure, there are URL schemes, but that means the user has to manually assign URL schemes to each ApplicationToken. That is not a very user friendly process (and in many cases impossible, because not every app registers URL schemes). It would be better if there was a way that my app could open a target app directly from an ApplicationToken, e.g. via an AppIntent that can be run on a button press. This way, the selected apps would remain fully private while still offering advanced functionality: struct OpenTargetAppIntent: AppIntent, OpenAppFromApplicationTokenIntent { func perform() { return .result(openAppFromApplicationToken: applicationToken) } } Radar: FB15500695 Summary Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me any time. I’m always happy to provide more details, logs, and steps to reproduce in my radars / feedback requests or in-person in Cupertino. It would be extremely helpful if someone from the Screen Time / DeviceActivity engineering team could: Take a look at the listed radars. Work on bug fixes and be transparent about when fixes will be shipped. Provide workarounds in the meantime. We genuinely want to build great, reliable experiences on top of Screen Time – but in its current state, it’s becoming very difficult to depend on. – Frederik
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iOS 26.2 RC DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold regression?
Hi there, Starting with iOS 26.2 RC, all my DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold get activated immediately as I pick up my iPhone for the first time, two nights in a row. Feedback: FB21267341 There's always a chance something odd is happening to my device in particular (although I can't recall making any changes here and the debug logs point to the issue), but just getting this out there ASAP in case others are seeing this (or haven't tried!), and it's critical as this is the RC. DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold issues also mentioned here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/793747; but I believe they are different and were potentially fixed in iOS 26.1, but it points to this part of the technology having issues and maybe someone from Apple has been tweaking it.
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Allow to open parent app from ShieldActionDelegate: `ShieldActionResponse.openParentApp`
Hello, I am the developer of an app called one sec which helps users to spend less time on social media: https://one-sec.app Therefore, we make heavy use of the Screen Time API, and thus ManagedSettings and ShieldActionDelegate. One feature of one sec is the so-called “Doom Scroll Emergency Brake”. This blocks a target app after a certain usage threshold (e.g. 5 minutes) and requires going through an intervention (e.g. breathing exercise) to unlock more time. That added friction makes it very effective in reducing time spent on apps. One thing that is confusing for our users is the way they are prompted to unlock more time, if they want to. They have to: Have Push Notifications enabled for one sec Exempt one sec’s notifications from being delayed by AI prioritization (otherwise they are delayed by ca. 10s) Ensure that push notifications can be delivered during foci. Understand that they have to tap on the notification, which is not very straight-forward because it does not make sense from the user’s UX perspective. This is an artificial limitation of Apple’s screen time framework which has no reason (no security / privacy implications here…). Screenshots of the current flow attached. If would be much more reasonable if there was a new ShieldActionResponse.openParentApp value that can be returned from the completion handler of the ShieldActionDelegate.handle(…) callback. We have seen different apps use private API to achieve this, but we are afraid to do the same to avoid getting banned from the App Store. It would be fair if Apple would level the playground for all apps and offer such an API officially. – Frederik PS: Tracked under FB22347946, FB18846650, FB15500681, FB15079668, FB10393561 (all without responses so far…)
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iOS 26 Regression: Screen Time Permission Lost, had to be re-authenticated
Hello, my app is frequently loosing / forgetting the Screen Time Permission that had been granted previously on iOS 26. I have experienced it myself, sysdiagnose is in this radar: FB18997699 But also also my App Store users who have updated to iOS 26 already have reported this bug. It would be great if Apple could ensure that this bug is addressed before iOS 26 is released to the public.
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Issues with "denyAppRemoval" and "denyAppInstallation" being stuck after turned off / uninstall
Hello, according to reports from our users these two ManagedSettingsStore options seem to be stuck in the enabled state even after turning them off or removing screen time permissions and uninstalling the app that configured them. Is this possible? Has anyone seen it? The denyAppRemoval (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/applicationsettings/denyappremoval-swift.property) prevents the user from uninstalling any apps from their device when active. The denyAppInstallation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/applicationsettings/denyappinstallation-swift.property) "hides" App Store, making it impossible to install any new apps. We haven't been able to replicate it yet. Does anyone know about workarounds when this happens? So far it seems like the only way is to reset the affected device.
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iOS 26.2 (23C55): DeviceActivity eventDidReachThreshold fires with 0 Screen Time minutes
On iOS 26.2 (23C55), DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold fires intermittently for a daily schedule (00:00–23:59) even when iOS Screen Time shows 0 minutes for the selected apps that day. This causes premature shielding via ManagedSettings. Environment: iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 26.2 (23C55). Event selection: 2 apps. Threshold: 30 minutes. Multiple TestFlight users report the same behavior across various app selections and thresholds. Intermittent (~50% of days); sometimes multiple days in a row. Not observed in testing prior to iOS 26.2. Evidence: sysdiagnose + Screen Time screenshots (with 0 screen time on selected apps) + unified logs show UsageTrackingAgent notifying the extension that “unproductive from activity daily reached its threshold,” followed immediately by ManagedSettings shield being applied (extension reacting to the callback). Filed Feedback Assistant: FB21450954. Questions: Are others seeing this on 26.2? Does it correlate with restarting monitoring at interval boundaries or includesPastActivity settings?
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Screentime API Main App + Shield Questions
I'm building an app that uses the Family Controls / Screen Time APIs (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings). My app has three targets, each with a distinct Bundle ID: Main App Shield Configuration Extension ShieldAction Extension All three have com.apple.developer.family-controls in their entitlements files, and they share an App Group. My question is about the distribution entitlement request form at developer.apple.com/contact/request/family-controls-distribution: does the form need to be submitted once per Bundle ID, or is a single submission for the main app sufficient to then enable Family Controls (Distribution) for the extension Bundle IDs in the developer portal as well? I've seen conflicting reports in other forum threads — some developers say one submission covers all targets, others say separate submissions are needed per Bundle ID. I've already submitted the main app, but now I am wondering whether I should submit one for each Shield extension. Thanks!
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Open parent app from ShieldAction extension in iOS
When I tap on one of the buttons in the ShieldAction extension I want to close the shield and open the parent app instead of the shielded app. Is there any way of doing this using the Screen Time API? class ShieldActionExtension: ShieldActionDelegate {      override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for application: ApplicationToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {     // Handle the action as needed.           let store = ManagedSettingsStore()               switch action {     case .primaryButtonPressed:       //TODO - open parent app       completionHandler(.defer)     case .secondaryButtonPressed:       //remove shield       store.shield.applications?.remove(application)       completionHandler(.defer)         @unknown default:       fatalError()     }   }   }
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Screen Time API: ApplicationToken Mismatch / Randomization in Extensions
Description: I am developing a digital well-being application using the Screen Time API (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, and DeviceActivity). I am encountering a critical issue where the ApplicationToken provided by the system to my app extensions suddenly changes, causing a mismatch with the tokens originally stored by the main application. The Problem: When a user selects applications via FamilyActivityPicker, we persist the FamilyActivitySelection (and the underlying ApplicationToken objects) in a shared App Group container. However, we are seeing frequent cases where the token passed into: ShieldConfigurationDataSource.configuration(shielding:in:) ShieldActionDelegate.handle(action:for:completionHandler:) ...does not match (using ==) any of the tokens previously selected and stored. IOS version: 26.2.1
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Family Controls Entitlement - Code Level Support?
Hi, Submitted Family Controls entitlement request a month ago for my main focus app, got approved within a day. Submitted 3 more requests for my extensions, and it has been 16 days without any word. Saw advice to file a code-level support with DTS in this similar forum: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/812934 Is there anything else I can do before filing a code-level support? Any extra info to provide? If not, can a DTS engineer please refer me for the code-level support? Thanks!
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Feb ’26
Apple Developer account blocked – China & US accounts
Hi everyone, I’m having issues registering my own Apple Developer accounts in both China and the US. For my China account, my Face ID is already in use by accounts registered under two companies, which prevents me from creating a new developer account. For my US account, my device SSID and handheld ID documents were used, and Apple Support advised that I can only register using a US identity. I’ve already contacted Apple Support, but the problem remains unresolved. I’m looking for shared experiences or advice on how to handle this situation. Thank you in advance!
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Feb ’26
Urgent Assistance Required – Inaccessible Account Holder for Apple Developer Organization Account
Hello Apple Developer Community, I’m seeking guidance regarding a critical issue with our organization’s Apple Developer Program account. The Apple ID belonging to our Account Holder is currently inaccessible, which has effectively blocked us from managing the account. We urgently need either to restore access to that Apple ID or have the Account Holder role reassigned so we can continue maintaining and updating our apps. I’ve already contacted Apple Developer Support but have not yet received a actionable response, and the matter is time-sensitive because our clients depend on our ability to manage these applications. Relevant details: Our enrollment type supposed to be converted to Organization/Company. The Account Holder’s Apple ID is locked and cannot be used. I have Admin/Manager-level access via a separate Apple ID. Based on the official documentation, transferring the Account Holder role requires initiation by the current Account Holder, which isn’t possible under these circumstances. If anyone has dealt with a similar situation or knows the most effective way to escalate this with Apple, I would greatly appreciate your advice.
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Feb ’26
Shield Action Extension rejected by App Store Connect – Invalid NSExtensionPointIdentifier for ManagedSettingsUI
Hello, I’m using the Screen Time API / Family Controls in my iOS app Sobre and I’m having an issue submitting a new build to TestFlight. My app setup is as follows: Main app ID: com.balthazar.sobre App extensions: Device Activity Monitor: com.balthazar.sobre.deviceactivitymonitor Shield Configuration: com.balthazar.sobre.shieldconfiguration Shield Action: com.balthazar.sobre.shieldaction On the Apple Developer portal: Family Controls (Distribution) is enabled for: the main app ID com.balthazar.sobre and all 3 extension App IDs above. App Groups are also configured for the app and the extensions. New App Store provisioning profiles have been generated for the app and all 3 extensions and are used in the latest build. When I submit the build through App Store Connect (via Fastlane / EAS), validation fails only for the Shield Action extension with this error: Invalid Info.plist value. The value of the NSExtensionPointIdentifier key, com.apple.ManagedSettingsUI.shield-action-service, in the Info.plist of “Sobre.app/PlugIns/ShieldActionExtension.appex” is invalid. DeviceActivityMonitorExtension and ShieldConfigurationExtension are accepted without any issue. My questions: What is the correct expected value for NSExtensionPointIdentifier for a Shield Action extension using the Screen Time / ManagedSettings APIs? Are there any additional entitlements or capabilities (for example, related to Managed Settings) that must be explicitly enabled for the app or the Shield Action extension in order for this extension point to be accepted by App Store Connect? Given that Family Controls (Distribution) is already granted for the main app and all extensions, is there anything else that needs to be requested or configured on my account or App IDs to use a Shield Action extension? My goal is to use Screen Time / Family Controls properly to block distracting apps and present a custom Shield UI + actions for my users, while respecting all Apple policies. Thank you in advance for your help and guidance
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Feb ’26
How to open main app from ShieldActionExtension?
Hi! I'm building a Screen Time management app using FamilyControls and ManagedSettings. When a user taps the primary button on a ShieldActionExtension, I need to open my main app to guide them through an intervention exercise. Other approved App Store apps like Jomo - Screen Time Blocker do exactly this: tapping their shield's primary button opens the main Jomo app directly. Screen recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yubtTdTkFskGCIaAw_HGB57-boHPl3a/view?usp=sharing I've tried: URL schemes (UIApplication.shared.open() unavailable in extensions) Universal links Local notifications (works, but adds an extra tap) NSUserActivity Is there a supported API I'm missing? Or another accepted solution? Any guidance is appreciated.
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Feb ’26
Apple SCEP Clients Can’t Process FIPS‑Compliant RSA‑OAEP EnvelopedData
We are currently working on a SCEP server implementation that operates in FIPS-approved mode. In this mode, RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption is disallowed due to compliance requirements, and only FIPS-approved padding schemes such as RSA-OAEP are permitted. However, we have observed that the SCEP client functionality on Apple devices currently does not support RSA-OAEP for CMS EnvelopedData decryption. This creates a challenge for us in ensuring FIPS compliance while maintaining compatibility with Apple devices during certificate enrollment through SCEP. We would appreciate your guidance on the following: Are there any alternative FIPS-approved encryption algorithms or configurations supported by Apple devices for SCEP CMS EnvelopedData decryption? Is there any plan or timeline for future support of RSA-OAEP on Apple platforms for this use case? Feedback raised along with sysdiagnose logs as well : FB17655410
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Feb ’26
FamilyControls on Mac Catalyst — can’t authorize due to sandbox; does this make ManagedSettings/DeviceActivity unusable?
Hi DTS / Apple engineers, We’re attempting to extending our screen time app target to Mac Catalyst. On iOS, FamilyControls works as expected (AuthorizationCenter + FamilyActivityPicker, then ManagedSettings shields + DeviceActivity monitoring/reporting). On Mac Catalyst: The project builds with FamilyControls/DeviceActivity/ManagedSettings capabilities enabled. But attempting to request FamilyControls authorization (or present FamilyActivityPicker) fails at runtime. We see errors similar to: Failed to get service proxy: The connection to service named com.apple.FamilyControlsAgent was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction. And our app stays authorizationStatus == .notDetermined, with the request failing. We saw an Apple engineer suggestion to “disable App Sandbox”, but Mac Catalyst apps appear to always be sandboxed, so we can’t disable it. Questions: Is FamilyControls authorization supported on Mac Catalyst today? If so, what entitlement/capability is required specifically for Catalyst/macOS? If FamilyControls auth cannot succeed on Catalyst, does that mean ManagedSettings shields and DeviceActivity monitoring/reporting are effectively unusable on Catalyst (since they depend on that authorization)? Is there an Apple‑recommended approach for a Catalyst “portal” app that mirrors an iOS child device’s restrictions, or is local enforcement on Catalyst intentionally unsupported? Any guidance (and any official docs that clarify current platform support) would be hugely appreciated.
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Feb ’26
Unapproved membership issue
Dear Apple Support Team, I am writing to formally escalate an unresolved membership activation issue that has persisted despite multiple support requests submitted through the official channels. I kindly request your urgent attention to this matter. ISSUE SUMMARY I placed an order for an Apple subscription/membership under Order Number W1360969504. However, following the successful completion of the payment, my account was never activated. The membership remained in a pending state with no resolution. PREVIOUS SUPPORT ATTEMPTS In an effort to resolve this issue, I contacted Apple Support on two separate occasions: Support Case ID: 30000002928955 Support Case ID: 102851903923 Unfortunately, neither of these cases received a response from the support team. Due to the continued inactivity of my account and the complete absence of follow-up communication, I was left with no option but to cancel the membership myself. SECOND ENROLLMENT ATTEMPT Following the cancellation, I re-applied for the membership. The new order was processed and payment was completed successfully: New Order / Invoice Number: W1638536754 However, this second enrollment is experiencing the exact same issue. My account has again failed to activate, and I am continuously presented with the following error message: "To continue your enrollment, complete your purchase now" This error appears despite the payment having been processed, which suggests a backend activation failure on Apple's side rather than an issue with my payment method or account credentials. CURRENT STATUS Two payments processed — membership never activated on either occasion Two prior support requests submitted — no response received Persistent enrollment error blocking any progress Account remains inactive as of the date of this email REQUESTED ACTION I kindly ask that your team: Investigate both orders (W1360969504 and W1638536754) and identify the root cause of the activation failure. Review and respond to the previously submitted support cases (#30000002928955 and #102851903923). Manually activate my membership Provide written confirmation of the resolution steps being taken. Given that this issue has already caused significant delay and inconvenience, I would greatly appreciate a response within 24–48 hours. Thank you for your time and assistance. I look forward to a prompt and satisfactory resolution. Sincerely, Miraç Bahadır Öztürk March 30, 2026
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DeviceActivityMonitor intervalDidEnd not firing for non-repeating timed unlock
I’m building an iOS app that uses FamilyControls + ManagedSettings + DeviceActivity. Goal: temporarily “unlock” a shielded app for N minutes, then automatically re-apply the shield when the timer expires. What I do: In the main app, when user picks an expiry (e.g. 15 min, 30 min). I start a non-repeating DeviceActivity schedule and remove the app’s ApplicationToken from ManagedSettingsStore().shield.applications. I also store activeUnlockBundleID etc. in an App Group so the DeviceActivityMonitor extension can re-lock at the end. Expected: DeviceActivityMonitor.intervalDidEnd(for:) is invoked when the non-repeating interval ends, and I re-add the token to the shield set. Actual: The app does not re-lock when the interval expires. I added OS logs as well as “debug local notifications” from the DeviceActivityMonitor extension in: init() intervalDidStart intervalDidEnd eventDidReachThreshold None of these logs or notifications ever appear, which suggests the extension is never invoked (or cannot schedule local notifications or OS logs). Environment: Device: iPhone 17 Pro iOS 26.3.1 Xcode 26.4 Running on a physical device Notification permissions for the app: granted App + extensions are in the same App Group entitlement. Extension Info.plist has: NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor NSExtensionPrincipalClass = $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).DeviceActivityMonitorExtension Questions: Are there known limitations/requirements for DeviceActivityMonitor callbacks where intervalDidEnd doesn't to fire? Is posting local notifications / OS Logs from a DeviceActivityMonitor extension supported/reliable? If not, what’s the recommended way to verify the extension is invoked? If this looks like a platform bug, should I file Feedback Assistant? If so, what logs/artifacts are most useful?
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Screen Time APIs showing severe inconsistencies (DeviceActivity not firing + impossible usage data)
Hi everyone, I’m the developer of one sec, an app used by a large number of users globally to reduce time spent on social media and to build healthier digital habits. Because of this, we rely heavily on Apple’s Screen Time / DeviceActivity / FamilyControls, ManagedSettings APIs – and unfortunately, we’re seeing increasingly severe issues in production that directly impact hundreds of thousands of real iOS users. During the past years, we have been busy filing dozens of feedback requests for different Screen Time issues – and there has been no response from Apple at all. Developer Relations might be able to "confirm" that the bugs are present and that they ended up with the right team – but they are never addressed, neither are workarounds provided. Instead, the situation gets worse and worse. iOS 26 introduced a series of heavy regressions (which have been reported via Apple’s official bug report tool "Feedback Assistant" on iOS 26 beta 1 in June 2025 – and have not been addressed 10 Months later). This is very frustrating for us as developers, but also for our end-users who run into these issues every day. In the end this impacts our ability to build an amazing product and hurts revenue (which affects both us and Apple). 1. DeviceActivity thresholds are not firing at all This affects both: our app’s usage of the API and Apple’s own Screen Time limits Radars: FB22304617, FB20526837, FB15491936, FB12195437, FB15663329, FB18198691, FB18289475, FB19827144 2. Screen Time usage data is clearly corrupted Websites showing hundreds of hours per week Up to ~20 hours per day of usage reported for a single domain Radars: FB22304617, FB17777429, FB18464235 3. DeviceActivity thresholds reaching threshold immediately Newly introduced with iOS 26 Reported on iOS 26 beta 1 in June No response so far / no workaround DeviceActivity calls didReachThreshold immediately after creating the DeviceActivityEvent – instead of waiting till the defined threshold is actually reached. Radars: FB13696022, FB18351583, FB21320644, FB18927456, FB18061981 4. Randomly Randomizing ApplicationTokens From time to time, and without consistency, Screen Time suddenly provides new, random, unknown tokens to my app in the ShieldConfigurationDataSource and ShieldActionDelegate. This has been reported on many times before here on the dev forms, many many years back already: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756440 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325?answerId=793267022#793267022 Radars: FB14082790 and FB18764644 5. Moving Tokens from one ManagedSettingsStore to Another Removing an ApplicationToken from one SettingsStore and then adding it to another while the target app remains in foreground leads to the re-use of the ShieldConfiguration. Which can be wrong in many scenarios. It is not possible to request a re-request of the ShieldConfiguration in that scenario. Radar: FB14237883 6. Unable to Open Parent App (one sec) from Shield Many times, when a target app is blocked by a shield, the user wants to perform some action (e.g. to unlock more time for the target app via an intervention). That means, that somehow I have to forward the user from a ShieldActionDelegate back into my target app. Unfortunately, there’s no API for that. Many apps on the App Store rely on private API to achieve that, but that’s too risky for a popular app like one sec. Radar: FB15079668 7. Unable to Open Target App from an ApplicationToken When a user has completed an intervention within one sec, and they indend to to continue to the target app, there is no way that one sec can open the target app just from the token alone. Sure, there are URL schemes, but that means the user has to manually assign URL schemes to each ApplicationToken. That is not a very user friendly process (and in many cases impossible, because not every app registers URL schemes). It would be better if there was a way that my app could open a target app directly from an ApplicationToken, e.g. via an AppIntent that can be run on a button press. This way, the selected apps would remain fully private while still offering advanced functionality: struct OpenTargetAppIntent: AppIntent, OpenAppFromApplicationTokenIntent { func perform() { return .result(openAppFromApplicationToken: applicationToken) } } Radar: FB15500695 Summary Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me any time. I’m always happy to provide more details, logs, and steps to reproduce in my radars / feedback requests or in-person in Cupertino. It would be extremely helpful if someone from the Screen Time / DeviceActivity engineering team could: Take a look at the listed radars. Work on bug fixes and be transparent about when fixes will be shipped. Provide workarounds in the meantime. We genuinely want to build great, reliable experiences on top of Screen Time – but in its current state, it’s becoming very difficult to depend on. – Frederik
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iOS 26.2 RC DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold regression?
Hi there, Starting with iOS 26.2 RC, all my DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold get activated immediately as I pick up my iPhone for the first time, two nights in a row. Feedback: FB21267341 There's always a chance something odd is happening to my device in particular (although I can't recall making any changes here and the debug logs point to the issue), but just getting this out there ASAP in case others are seeing this (or haven't tried!), and it's critical as this is the RC. DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold issues also mentioned here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/793747; but I believe they are different and were potentially fixed in iOS 26.1, but it points to this part of the technology having issues and maybe someone from Apple has been tweaking it.
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22
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6
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2.7k
Activity
2d
Allow to open parent app from ShieldActionDelegate: `ShieldActionResponse.openParentApp`
Hello, I am the developer of an app called one sec which helps users to spend less time on social media: https://one-sec.app Therefore, we make heavy use of the Screen Time API, and thus ManagedSettings and ShieldActionDelegate. One feature of one sec is the so-called “Doom Scroll Emergency Brake”. This blocks a target app after a certain usage threshold (e.g. 5 minutes) and requires going through an intervention (e.g. breathing exercise) to unlock more time. That added friction makes it very effective in reducing time spent on apps. One thing that is confusing for our users is the way they are prompted to unlock more time, if they want to. They have to: Have Push Notifications enabled for one sec Exempt one sec’s notifications from being delayed by AI prioritization (otherwise they are delayed by ca. 10s) Ensure that push notifications can be delivered during foci. Understand that they have to tap on the notification, which is not very straight-forward because it does not make sense from the user’s UX perspective. This is an artificial limitation of Apple’s screen time framework which has no reason (no security / privacy implications here…). Screenshots of the current flow attached. If would be much more reasonable if there was a new ShieldActionResponse.openParentApp value that can be returned from the completion handler of the ShieldActionDelegate.handle(…) callback. We have seen different apps use private API to achieve this, but we are afraid to do the same to avoid getting banned from the App Store. It would be fair if Apple would level the playground for all apps and offer such an API officially. – Frederik PS: Tracked under FB22347946, FB18846650, FB15500681, FB15079668, FB10393561 (all without responses so far…)
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0
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39
Activity
4d
iOS 26 Regression: Screen Time Permission Lost, had to be re-authenticated
Hello, my app is frequently loosing / forgetting the Screen Time Permission that had been granted previously on iOS 26. I have experienced it myself, sysdiagnose is in this radar: FB18997699 But also also my App Store users who have updated to iOS 26 already have reported this bug. It would be great if Apple could ensure that this bug is addressed before iOS 26 is released to the public.
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3
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1
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375
Activity
6d
Issues with "denyAppRemoval" and "denyAppInstallation" being stuck after turned off / uninstall
Hello, according to reports from our users these two ManagedSettingsStore options seem to be stuck in the enabled state even after turning them off or removing screen time permissions and uninstalling the app that configured them. Is this possible? Has anyone seen it? The denyAppRemoval (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/applicationsettings/denyappremoval-swift.property) prevents the user from uninstalling any apps from their device when active. The denyAppInstallation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedsettings/applicationsettings/denyappinstallation-swift.property) "hides" App Store, making it impossible to install any new apps. We haven't been able to replicate it yet. Does anyone know about workarounds when this happens? So far it seems like the only way is to reset the affected device.
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0
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661
Activity
2w
iOS 26.2 (23C55): DeviceActivity eventDidReachThreshold fires with 0 Screen Time minutes
On iOS 26.2 (23C55), DeviceActivityMonitor.eventDidReachThreshold fires intermittently for a daily schedule (00:00–23:59) even when iOS Screen Time shows 0 minutes for the selected apps that day. This causes premature shielding via ManagedSettings. Environment: iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 26.2 (23C55). Event selection: 2 apps. Threshold: 30 minutes. Multiple TestFlight users report the same behavior across various app selections and thresholds. Intermittent (~50% of days); sometimes multiple days in a row. Not observed in testing prior to iOS 26.2. Evidence: sysdiagnose + Screen Time screenshots (with 0 screen time on selected apps) + unified logs show UsageTrackingAgent notifying the extension that “unproductive from activity daily reached its threshold,” followed immediately by ManagedSettings shield being applied (extension reacting to the callback). Filed Feedback Assistant: FB21450954. Questions: Are others seeing this on 26.2? Does it correlate with restarting monitoring at interval boundaries or includesPastActivity settings?
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5
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2
Views
956
Activity
3w
Screentime API Main App + Shield Questions
I'm building an app that uses the Family Controls / Screen Time APIs (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings). My app has three targets, each with a distinct Bundle ID: Main App Shield Configuration Extension ShieldAction Extension All three have com.apple.developer.family-controls in their entitlements files, and they share an App Group. My question is about the distribution entitlement request form at developer.apple.com/contact/request/family-controls-distribution: does the form need to be submitted once per Bundle ID, or is a single submission for the main app sufficient to then enable Family Controls (Distribution) for the extension Bundle IDs in the developer portal as well? I've seen conflicting reports in other forum threads — some developers say one submission covers all targets, others say separate submissions are needed per Bundle ID. I've already submitted the main app, but now I am wondering whether I should submit one for each Shield extension. Thanks!
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3
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0
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156
Activity
3w
Open parent app from ShieldAction extension in iOS
When I tap on one of the buttons in the ShieldAction extension I want to close the shield and open the parent app instead of the shielded app. Is there any way of doing this using the Screen Time API? class ShieldActionExtension: ShieldActionDelegate {      override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for application: ApplicationToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {     // Handle the action as needed.           let store = ManagedSettingsStore()               switch action {     case .primaryButtonPressed:       //TODO - open parent app       completionHandler(.defer)     case .secondaryButtonPressed:       //remove shield       store.shield.applications?.remove(application)       completionHandler(.defer)         @unknown default:       fatalError()     }   }   }
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13
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9
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5.9k
Activity
3w
Screen Time API: ApplicationToken Mismatch / Randomization in Extensions
Description: I am developing a digital well-being application using the Screen Time API (FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, and DeviceActivity). I am encountering a critical issue where the ApplicationToken provided by the system to my app extensions suddenly changes, causing a mismatch with the tokens originally stored by the main application. The Problem: When a user selects applications via FamilyActivityPicker, we persist the FamilyActivitySelection (and the underlying ApplicationToken objects) in a shared App Group container. However, we are seeing frequent cases where the token passed into: ShieldConfigurationDataSource.configuration(shielding:in:) ShieldActionDelegate.handle(action:for:completionHandler:) ...does not match (using ==) any of the tokens previously selected and stored. IOS version: 26.2.1
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2
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1
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319
Activity
4w
Family Controls Entitlement - Code Level Support?
Hi, Submitted Family Controls entitlement request a month ago for my main focus app, got approved within a day. Submitted 3 more requests for my extensions, and it has been 16 days without any word. Saw advice to file a code-level support with DTS in this similar forum: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/812934 Is there anything else I can do before filing a code-level support? Any extra info to provide? If not, can a DTS engineer please refer me for the code-level support? Thanks!
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2
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0
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172
Activity
Feb ’26
Apple Developer account blocked – China & US accounts
Hi everyone, I’m having issues registering my own Apple Developer accounts in both China and the US. For my China account, my Face ID is already in use by accounts registered under two companies, which prevents me from creating a new developer account. For my US account, my device SSID and handheld ID documents were used, and Apple Support advised that I can only register using a US identity. I’ve already contacted Apple Support, but the problem remains unresolved. I’m looking for shared experiences or advice on how to handle this situation. Thank you in advance!
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0
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0
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99
Activity
Feb ’26
Urgent Assistance Required – Inaccessible Account Holder for Apple Developer Organization Account
Hello Apple Developer Community, I’m seeking guidance regarding a critical issue with our organization’s Apple Developer Program account. The Apple ID belonging to our Account Holder is currently inaccessible, which has effectively blocked us from managing the account. We urgently need either to restore access to that Apple ID or have the Account Holder role reassigned so we can continue maintaining and updating our apps. I’ve already contacted Apple Developer Support but have not yet received a actionable response, and the matter is time-sensitive because our clients depend on our ability to manage these applications. Relevant details: Our enrollment type supposed to be converted to Organization/Company. The Account Holder’s Apple ID is locked and cannot be used. I have Admin/Manager-level access via a separate Apple ID. Based on the official documentation, transferring the Account Holder role requires initiation by the current Account Holder, which isn’t possible under these circumstances. If anyone has dealt with a similar situation or knows the most effective way to escalate this with Apple, I would greatly appreciate your advice.
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4
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0
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238
Activity
Feb ’26
Shield Action Extension rejected by App Store Connect – Invalid NSExtensionPointIdentifier for ManagedSettingsUI
Hello, I’m using the Screen Time API / Family Controls in my iOS app Sobre and I’m having an issue submitting a new build to TestFlight. My app setup is as follows: Main app ID: com.balthazar.sobre App extensions: Device Activity Monitor: com.balthazar.sobre.deviceactivitymonitor Shield Configuration: com.balthazar.sobre.shieldconfiguration Shield Action: com.balthazar.sobre.shieldaction On the Apple Developer portal: Family Controls (Distribution) is enabled for: the main app ID com.balthazar.sobre and all 3 extension App IDs above. App Groups are also configured for the app and the extensions. New App Store provisioning profiles have been generated for the app and all 3 extensions and are used in the latest build. When I submit the build through App Store Connect (via Fastlane / EAS), validation fails only for the Shield Action extension with this error: Invalid Info.plist value. The value of the NSExtensionPointIdentifier key, com.apple.ManagedSettingsUI.shield-action-service, in the Info.plist of “Sobre.app/PlugIns/ShieldActionExtension.appex” is invalid. DeviceActivityMonitorExtension and ShieldConfigurationExtension are accepted without any issue. My questions: What is the correct expected value for NSExtensionPointIdentifier for a Shield Action extension using the Screen Time / ManagedSettings APIs? Are there any additional entitlements or capabilities (for example, related to Managed Settings) that must be explicitly enabled for the app or the Shield Action extension in order for this extension point to be accepted by App Store Connect? Given that Family Controls (Distribution) is already granted for the main app and all extensions, is there anything else that needs to be requested or configured on my account or App IDs to use a Shield Action extension? My goal is to use Screen Time / Family Controls properly to block distracting apps and present a custom Shield UI + actions for my users, while respecting all Apple policies. Thank you in advance for your help and guidance
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1
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0
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217
Activity
Feb ’26
How to open main app from ShieldActionExtension?
Hi! I'm building a Screen Time management app using FamilyControls and ManagedSettings. When a user taps the primary button on a ShieldActionExtension, I need to open my main app to guide them through an intervention exercise. Other approved App Store apps like Jomo - Screen Time Blocker do exactly this: tapping their shield's primary button opens the main Jomo app directly. Screen recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15yubtTdTkFskGCIaAw_HGB57-boHPl3a/view?usp=sharing I've tried: URL schemes (UIApplication.shared.open() unavailable in extensions) Universal links Local notifications (works, but adds an extra tap) NSUserActivity Is there a supported API I'm missing? Or another accepted solution? Any guidance is appreciated.
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0
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0
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203
Activity
Feb ’26
Reset Security Question
Hi, Once I try to reset security question, it says: "Your request could not be completed. This action could not be completed due to an error. Please try again later." So I am unable to access account. Please help! Best Regards,
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0
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0
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177
Activity
Feb ’26
Apple SCEP Clients Can’t Process FIPS‑Compliant RSA‑OAEP EnvelopedData
We are currently working on a SCEP server implementation that operates in FIPS-approved mode. In this mode, RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption is disallowed due to compliance requirements, and only FIPS-approved padding schemes such as RSA-OAEP are permitted. However, we have observed that the SCEP client functionality on Apple devices currently does not support RSA-OAEP for CMS EnvelopedData decryption. This creates a challenge for us in ensuring FIPS compliance while maintaining compatibility with Apple devices during certificate enrollment through SCEP. We would appreciate your guidance on the following: Are there any alternative FIPS-approved encryption algorithms or configurations supported by Apple devices for SCEP CMS EnvelopedData decryption? Is there any plan or timeline for future support of RSA-OAEP on Apple platforms for this use case? Feedback raised along with sysdiagnose logs as well : FB17655410
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2
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1
Views
1.2k
Activity
Feb ’26
FamilyControls on Mac Catalyst — can’t authorize due to sandbox; does this make ManagedSettings/DeviceActivity unusable?
Hi DTS / Apple engineers, We’re attempting to extending our screen time app target to Mac Catalyst. On iOS, FamilyControls works as expected (AuthorizationCenter + FamilyActivityPicker, then ManagedSettings shields + DeviceActivity monitoring/reporting). On Mac Catalyst: The project builds with FamilyControls/DeviceActivity/ManagedSettings capabilities enabled. But attempting to request FamilyControls authorization (or present FamilyActivityPicker) fails at runtime. We see errors similar to: Failed to get service proxy: The connection to service named com.apple.FamilyControlsAgent was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction. And our app stays authorizationStatus == .notDetermined, with the request failing. We saw an Apple engineer suggestion to “disable App Sandbox”, but Mac Catalyst apps appear to always be sandboxed, so we can’t disable it. Questions: Is FamilyControls authorization supported on Mac Catalyst today? If so, what entitlement/capability is required specifically for Catalyst/macOS? If FamilyControls auth cannot succeed on Catalyst, does that mean ManagedSettings shields and DeviceActivity monitoring/reporting are effectively unusable on Catalyst (since they depend on that authorization)? Is there an Apple‑recommended approach for a Catalyst “portal” app that mirrors an iOS child device’s restrictions, or is local enforcement on Catalyst intentionally unsupported? Any guidance (and any official docs that clarify current platform support) would be hugely appreciated.
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0
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0
Views
131
Activity
Feb ’26
Family Controls Entitlement - Typical Review Timeline?
Hi, Submitted Family Controls entitlement requests yesterday for a digital wellness app (main app + 3 extensions). For those who've been through this: How long did approval take? Did Apple ask for more info? Any tips? Thanks!
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3
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0
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250
Activity
Jan ’26