How to put time limits on teenager's use of Iphone?

[PixPax]

Hi, am sick to death of this subject, but we are not getting this sorted.

DS16 spends too much time on iphone 7. We have agreed leaving it in living room at bedtime at least, but he doesn't. And I'm tired of the arguments and reminders.

I want to find a way to limit use, so (1) there is a shut off time at bed-time and (2) time limits. e.g. I don't want him to be on his phone in his room from 4 p.m. till bedtime!

No chores are getting done, nor homework I suspect.

Anyone any teccie recommendations that are easy to use and than I can control from my iphone ideally. (I did try new Sky Buddy app but it didn't seem to work properly).

I am not the most tekkie person and feel quite overwhelmed with the issue (as well as bored ).

If anyone can offer any ideas, advice or recommendations I'd be grateful.

(I even thought of getting the Gryphon (£209) which is a modem where you can easily pause wifi to devices - without having to get hold of their phones to install apps etc; my son loathe to give me his phone to install any apps there).

I assume the contract is in your name? If so, take his mobile data down to 1gb with a cut off and take the wifi router away each night.

I totally get that you don't want your 16 year old falling into a rut of staying up late on his phone and being knackered the next day. He lives in your house and you pay the bills so he can respect your rules. I wish my parents cared enough about me at 16 to be concerned about my welfare... that's another story but I've turned out well regardless! Still, I'd probably be more secure in myself if my mum or dad were desperately trying to keep me on the right path and probably look back fondly at my mum taking the router away at night so I'd do my homework and be fresh the next day! You care and he will realise that eventually 🙂

Hi there. I downloaded the app, iPact. When they get home from school I can switch off their apps from my phone. That way I don’t need to physically remove any phones. I choose which apps they can continue to have access to (music, for example) and the rest (like whatsapp, insta, etc) are locked.

Come the following morning, I unlock them again.

It’s not the easiest job to set it all up, but like you, I’m not great at these things, and their help line is very good and I managed to work it out.

Honestly, most parental software can be bypassed. There are instructions online. Given he is 16 I think you are on a losing battle anyway to be honest. I don't really think it is appropriate to be controlling someone's phone use at 18 for example. I think the person above is right in that you have to reduce the data package and unplug the modem overnight and have it in your room.

If he pays for it then you're probably out of luck anyway as you can't reduce the package.

Screentime, which is part of the apple settings, is the most obvious way to do this. Assuming you have an iphone with a fairly recent ios on it (ie not an old 5). You should be able to work out how to do this from online instructions but it comes under settings and you need to have a 'family' set up with your son as a family member and you as the boss I mean parent. You do this through your own apple account via Family Sharing.

If you are paying for his phone then tell him he co-operates or he loses the phone altogether as you will cut his contract.