Hi not totally a teen issue but thought would find people here with experience of multiple efforts to block/ control tiktok on a teens phone.
Using apples own parental controls we have done everything possible to control tik tok in particular - it is set to 15 minutes per day - there is a total time for ALL apps set at 2 hours a day - and there is a time when the phone is blocked from about 8pm (this is a 12 yr old so phone goes off then)
despite all of this - 12 yr old has been able to use tik tok for HOURS on multiple days - including after the bedtime lock blocks all other apps. And yes most days we have the phone out of his room but sometimes it gets forgotten or he has a sleepover/ I'm away etc - I don't want it to be reliant on this.
The question of his willpower isn't a useful one for me - tik tok is deliberately built and designed to be addictive so I can't rely on him - obvious breaches of rules like sneaking phone overnight get a response but I also just need to block tik tok properly.
I worry that so many parents may not even check screen time once blocks are in place - I see a lot of my sons friends constantly scrolling tik tok - maybe parents dont' care, maybe they have set screen times and just assume they work which is alarming.