I am developing a parental control app using Flutter and platform channels to integrate with the Screen Time API on iOS. The app has two interfaces - one for the parent and one for the child. I have set up Family Sharing correctly and installed the app on both the parent's and child's devices. However, I am encountering some issues with the Family Activity Selection feature. It's worth noting that I am a Flutter developer with limited knowledge of Swift and iOS development, so if my issues stem from a mistake I made, please forgive me. The problems I am facing are as follows: When calling the family activity selection, the list of apps shown in the apps sheet is from the parent's device, and no apps from the child's device are displayed. I have double-checked that Family Sharing and other necessary configurations are set up correctly, including the family control capability. Even if I select apps on the parent's device, the selected apps are not returned in the result. The returned array is empty. Additionally, there is no close or done button on the sheet, and drag-to-dismiss is not working either. This might be an issue with the way I have written the code (most of the native code was generated by AI assistants like Claude and GPT, as I am a Flutter developer with limited knowledge of Swift and iOS development). I have tested other parental control apps that use the Screen Time API and observed the same issue, where the parent's apps are shown on the parent's device instead of the child's apps. For more context, I have provided the relevant code snippet below: import Flutter import FamilyControls import ManagedSettings import SwiftUI class FamilyActivityHandler: NSObject, FlutterPlugin { // ... private func openFamilyActivityPicker(result: @escaping FlutterResult) { let store = ManagedSettingsStore() let selection = FamilyActivitySelection() // Adjusting for UIWindowScene for iOS 15 and later guard let windowScene = UIApplication.shared.connectedScenes.first as? UIWindowScene, let window = windowScene.windows.first else { result(FlutterError(code: "NO_WINDOW_SCENE", message: "No window scene found", details: nil)) return } let viewController = UIHostingController(rootView: FamilyActivityPicker(selection: .constant(selection))) viewController.modalPresentationStyle = .formSheet window.rootViewController?.present(viewController, animated: true, completion: nil) DispatchQueue.main.async { let applications = selection.applicationTokens let categories = selection.categoryTokens let webDomains = selection.webDomainTokens store.shield.applications = applications.isEmpty ? nil : applications store.shield.applicationCategories = ShieldSettings.ActivityCategoryPolicy.specific(categories, except: Set()) store.shield.webDomains = webDomains // Custom method to generate descriptive strings for tokens let applicationsDescription = applications.map { token in // Implement a custom description method or use an identifier property "\(token)" } let categoriesDescription = categories.map { token in // Implement a custom description method or use an identifier property "\(token)" } let webDomainsDescription = webDomains.map { token in // Implement a custom description method or use an identifier property "\(token)" } let resultDict: [String: Any] = [ "applications": applicationsDescription, "categories": categoriesDescription, "webDomains": webDomainsDescription ] result(resultDict) } } } I would greatly appreciate any guidance or insights from the community on how to resolve these issues and properly implement the Family Activity Selection feature using the Screen Time API in a Flutter app with platform channels. Thank you in advance for your help!

Update 1: Seems like app limits do work, but they don't account for time spent already in the day (only counts it since it first was scheduled? - but just guessing). This seems to be the change in behavior that is making it seem like broken. I have an app that uses individual FamilyControls / Screen Time authorization. I am still investigating but reporting ASAP. Will add feedback and more later. I am not sure what's going on, but so far: App limits generally work fine throughout the day(?) At around 9 PM they stop working if I clear ManagedSettingStore/DeviceActivityCenter (it might be unrelated to the time, but just clearing, but this is just what I know so far) I tried setting app limits from Apple's Setting app (so I could see if it's not just my app, and that system could have issues) and it crashes. The whole Settings app freezes and then crashes. (edit: after some freezing, including in the app picker, I was able to set a limit and it worked...did notice some odd behavior where 1 minute break did not work, but selecting 15 minute break did work) going to also update: FB13688616

Hello, I am working on a screen time manager that can block certain apps. I want this to work by allowing a certain number of 5-minute sessions per day. For each app the user selects, I would like to store the number of sessions remaining for that app in a dictionary. Currently, I am storing them in a dictionary of type <AppToken: Int>. However, I would like to store this dictionary to UserDefaults, and it doesn't seem like it is possible to store the type AppToken to UserDefaults. I was wondering how I could go about storing the AppTokenas a String and maybe saving to UserDefaults as a <String: Int> instead? Thanks.

I've heard family controls request forms can take up to weeks and even months... I'm currently developing an app that requires the main target and also the app extension to both use Family Controls. Does this mean I need to request forms for both app bundles separately or just the main app? If I have to wait weeks or even months for both then that's a bit painful tbh. Is there a way to distribute to testflight without getting approved for the family controls entitlement? Thanks

I am currently debugging an issue with DeviceActivityMonitor where the threshold is reached even though the target app (e.g. Instagram) is not being used actively. I noticed that the device with the unexpected behavior had the instagram.com website opened in the Safari web browser (among hundreds of other tabs). That tab was not actively used either (not in foreground, Safari app neither used). However, I was wondering if it can happen that this website is contributing towards the threshold as well even though it is in background and not used? Otherwise I cannot explain myself this strange behavior.

I've requested for family control via: https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/family-controls-distribution &amp; got approved. I've now created new provision files with family control being checked in the identifiers &amp; uploaded manually. Yet, still get: Provisioning profile "redoAppStore" doesn't support the Family Controls capability. Provisioning profile "redoAppStore" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement. The family control capability is added to my main target (IOS app) as well. What should I do to get it uploaded?

currently when I try to set several schedules to the same activity the latest schedule I set is the only one I understand I can have only 1 schedule for activity. ? I thought about setting a new schedule on the intervalDidEnd but, I get no interval did start if the current time is in the middle of the interval I set For example, now it is 15:00, and my previous interval started at 14:00 and ends at 16:00 but the user sets a new interval from 14:30 - 16:40 I call the deviceActivityCenter.stopMonitoring([someActivityName]) and get noIntervalDidEnd event Then I set the new interval successfully with deviceActivityCenter.startMonitoring(someActivityName, during: deviceActivitySchedule) and get no intervalDidStartEvent So how can I achieve several intervals? If I had gotten the events of the start and end it would be possible Thanks for the help

We persist ApplicationTokens in a storage container that ShieldConfigurationExtension has access to. In rare, cases all the ApplicationTokens for a user seem to change. We know this because the Application parameter passed into configuration(shielding application: Application) -> ShieldConfiguration function has a Token that does not match (using == ) any of the ones we are persisting in storage. Interestingly, the persisted ones still work, so I don't believe storage has gotten corrupted or anything. We can use them to add or remove shields, we can use them to display labels of the apps they represent, etc. But they don’t match what’s passed into the ShieldConfiguration extension. If the user goes into the FamilyPicker at this point and selects an app of a token that we are already persisting, the FamilyPickerSelection will have a token matching the new one that is passed into ShieldConfigurationExtension, not the one we persisted when they last selected that app. This leads me to believe the tokens are updated/rotated in some cases. When and why does this happen, and how can we handle it gracefully?

Here is a post to gather findings in case anyone found out what this new API does. Apple did not include any comments or documentation and due to the generic naming we don't know what this API might does. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/deviceactivity/deviceactivityauthorization?changes=latest_major

I am relatively new to swift, and working on an app blocker using flutter and swift. In my Xcode runner file, I used File > New > Target > ShieldConfigurationExtension and File > New > Target > ShieldActionExtension to create the extensions with all the necessary Info.plist values. However, when I try to build, I am presented with this error message: Error (Xcode): Cycle inside Runner; building could produce unreliable results. Cycle details: → Target 'Runner': CodeSign /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app ○ That command depends on command in Target 'Runner': script phase “[CP] Copy Pods Resources” ○ That command depends on command in Target 'Runner': script phase “Thin Binary” ○ Target 'Runner' has process command with output '/Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/Info.plist' ○ Target 'Runner' has copy command from '/Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/shieldAction.appex' to '/Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/PlugIns/shieldAction.appex' 2 Raw dependency cycle trace: target: -> node: <all> -> command: <all> -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/_CodeSignature -> command: P0:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:CodeSign /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/GoogleSignIn.bundle/ -> directoryTreeSignature: [ -> directoryContents: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/GoogleSignIn.bundle -> CYCLE POINT -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/GoogleSignIn.bundle -> command: P2:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:PhaseScriptExecution [CP] Copy Pods Resources /Users/arshgupta/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Runner-gkxkhzabeikourbemhpfsdwlgfor/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Runner.build/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.build/Script-F71E8F68D8E3D1B95F11D101.sh -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Runner-gkxkhzabeikourbemhpfsdwlgfor/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Runner.build/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.build/InputFileList-F71E8F68D8E3D1B95F11D101-Pods-Runner-resources-Debug-input-files-276c84640d21f41dd725929b3125799d-resolved.xcfilelist -> command: P2:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:WriteAuxiliaryFile /Users/arshgupta/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Runner-gkxkhzabeikourbemhpfsdwlgfor/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Runner.build/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.build/InputFileList-F71E8F68D8E3D1B95F11D101-Pods-Runner-resources-Debug-input-files-276c84640d21f41dd725929b3125799d-resolved.xcfilelist -> node: <target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49--fused-phase4-thin-binary> -> command: P0:::Gate target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49--fused-phase4-thin-binary -> node: <execute-shell-script-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e02f1eee2015e8ff5ebcd27678f788c2826-target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-> -> command: P2:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:PhaseScriptExecution Thin Binary /Users/arshgupta/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Runner-gkxkhzabeikourbemhpfsdwlgfor/Build/Intermediates.noindex/Runner.build/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.build/Script-3B06AD1E1E4923F5004D2608.sh -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/Info.plist/ -> directoryTreeSignature: R -> directoryContents: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/Info.plist -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/Info.plist -> command: P0:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:ProcessInfoPlistFile /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/Info.plist /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/ios/Runner/Info.plist -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/PlugIns/shieldAction.appex -> command: P0:target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49-:Debug:Copy /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/PlugIns/shieldAction.appex /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/shieldAction.appex -> node: <target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49--fused-phase5--cp--copy-pods-resources> -> command: P0:::Gate target-Runner-18c1723432283e0cc55f10a6dcfd9e0288a783a885d8b0b3beb2e9f90bde3f49--fused-phase5--cp--copy-pods-resources -> node: /Users/arshgupta/Documents/pledge-1/build/ios/Debug-iphoneos/Runner.app/GoogleSignIn.bundle What can I do to fix this?

I have two repeating DeviceActivitySchedules running in my app and noticed a super strange behavior: whenever I modify Screen Time API permission settings (granting an additional app permission, or removing permission for a different app (completely different unrelated screen time apps from App Store)) all my DeviceActivitySchedules are cancelled and the intervalDidEnd callbacks are called my permission is not modified in this scenario this is a super strange and unexpected behavior is anyone able to reproduce this? for me this happens 100% of the times I do this any known workarounds?

How can I count the number of pickups for a certain application? The docs say that there is a struct ApplicationActivity within the DeviceActivityData: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/deviceactivity/deviceactivitydata Using this code I receive a warning in XCode: Value of type 'DeviceActivityData' has no member 'applicationActivity' struct ApplicationPickupCountReport: DeviceActivityReportScene { // Define which context your scene will represent. let context: DeviceActivityReport.Context = .applicationPickupCount // Define the custom configuration and the resulting view for this report. let content: (String) -> ApplicationPickupCountView func makeConfiguration(representing data: DeviceActivityResults<DeviceActivityData>) async -> String { var totalPickups = 0 let totalPickups = await data.flatMap { $0.applicationActivity }.reduce(0, { $0 + $1.numberOfPickups }) return "\(totalPickups)" } }

Hello, I am using a DeviceActivityEvent to limit access to an app after the user has spent x minutes on it. Sometimes it can happen that a DeviceActivitySchedule spans from 11:55pm - 12:25am (just an example). In these cases, I have noticed, the DeviceActivityMonitorExtension’s eventDidReachThreshold is not called after the user has reached the threshold time interval in the observed app. I assume this is because we have transitioned over midnight and something weird happens to the DeviceActivitySchedule. I’ve tried adding the day components to the DeviceActivitySchedule as well, but then it fails completely. Any advice how to handle this? I could, of course, create two separate DeviceActivitySchedules: one for before midnight, and one for after. But depending on the user’s real app usage that could lead to slightly different (and unexpected) behavior.

My app using Screen Time API to block app and hide app. When I upload to Apple Store. The reviewer rejected it because of "Your app uses public APIs in an unapproved manner, which does not comply with guideline 2.5.1 of the App Store Review Guidelines. Specifically, “hide” apps are referenced for ScreenTime API use. Since there is no accurate way of predicting how an API may be modified and what effects those modifications may have, Apple does not permit unapproved uses of public APIs in App Store apps. Next Steps Please revise your app to ensure that documented APIs are used in the manner prescribed by Apple. If there are no alternatives for providing the functionality your app requires, you can use Feedback Assistant to submit an enhancement request." So, How the app can be available on Apple Store like other apps such as Cloak ? Anybody can help my team to upload app to Apple Store. Thank you !

Hi there, In rare cases (about 0.2% of the time?), I'm seeing calls to startMonitoring on an instance of DeviceActivityCenter throw an error with localizedDescription "couldn’t communicate with a helper application." I am certain I am passing valid parameters to the startMonitoring call because sometimes a naive retry after a few seconds succeeds. Similarly, I am certain that FamilyControls permissions have been granted by the user. Was hoping to get more color from the systems team on what some causes of this error are and if it is avoidable by the programmer.

The functionality of authorizationStatus and requestAuthorization is completely broken. I'm using Xcode 15.3 and iOS 17.4. Does anyone have a solution? authorizationStatus doesn't behave as promised Revoking authorization in the system-wide settings does not change the authorizationStatus while the app is not closed. Calls to center.authorizationStatus will still return .approved instead of .denied. Even closing and relaunching the app after revoking authorization does not work: authorizationStatus is then .notDetermined when it should be .denied. Tapping "Don't Allow" in the alert shown after an initial call to requestAuthorization leaves the authorizationStatus unchanged, i.e. at .notDetermined. This is contrary to the promised outcome .denied (defined as: "The user, parent, or guardian denied the request for authorization") and contrary to the definition of .notDetermined (defined as: "The app hasn’t requested authorization", when it just did). Same issue when first tapping "Continue" followed by "Don't Allow" on the next screen. As a consequence of authorizationStatus being broken, its publisher $authorizationStatus is worthless too. requestAuthorization doesn't behave as promised This is most likely a consequence of the corrupted authorizationStatus: when revoking authorization in the system-wide settings, a call to requestAuthorization opens the authorization dialogue instead of doing nothing. It is thus possible to repeatedly ask a user to authorize Family Controls. Code sample To reproduce, create a new SwiftUI app, add the "Family Controls" capability and a button executing the following task when tapped: let center = AuthorizationCenter.shared var status = center.authorizationStatus print(status) do { try await center.requestAuthorization(for: .individual) print("approved") } catch { print("denied") } status = center.authorizationStatus print(status)

If we want to un-shield category/application for particular schedule, then what is the mechanism for this, as for now we are using ManagedSettingsStore().shield.applications = nil and ManagedSettingsStore().shield.applicationCategories = nil, which is actually un-shielding all category/applications without considering the selection of category/application for that schedule. What is the best approach to handle multiple schedules for shielding of apps?

How can I add an X as close button on the FamilyActivityPicker Toolbar? Desired effect see image