App Store disappears when allowed via Screen Time

Finally, I found a working solution. Remove your child’s account from your family group. Create a new Apple ID and set up the device from scratch with this new ID. Everything works fine now. :)

It’s really insane that we have to overcome this issue by using methods that remove parental restrictions. Even if it is temporary, I forgot to switch it back on yesterday! It has been more than 2 months, and there is still no official update for this bug. Having used Apple products for 15 years, I can assure you that we are currently experiencing the worst period of Apple in terms of quality. It seems like an era has come to an end.

Ok here's how I was able to do it without turning Content & Privacy Restrictions off:

There are 3 options in the App Store settings:

1. Installing apps
2. Updating apps
3. Deleting apps

I had to turn all 3 of these off and back on again in order for the App Store app to show up again. It seems like by just toggling one of them off/on, it wasn't resetting the App Store settings.

Good luck. I have iOS 17.6

I agree. We use this for parental controls and jumping through hoops to temporary fix something that was working correctly is ridiculous.

What worked for me is turning off" shafe across devices".

Same issue here. It blocks me adding/updating any app to all the iOS devices my son has. Very annoying! Please fix it ASAP!

me too, a big issue. The he only solution is to disable all parental controls. This needs a fix urgently, she can now download whatever she wants!

One solution (this only works for updating apps and buying/ cashing in gift cards, not installing new apps or redownloading old ones) go to iMessage, tap on anybody you see there, like your about to text them, but instead click the “+” icon on the bottom left corner of the screen. Then click the App Store icon, (you may need to scroll down to find it). At this point you should be in the iMessage App Store, and from there you can click on your profile image icon in the top right of the screen, and then you should see a screen that looks something like this:

now you should be able to update apps and add gift cards to your account. Hope this helps 👍

im still having the same issue as of 7/24/24. hopefully new update soon!

hideux wrote:

That’s not helpful; on the contrary, it sounds dangerous. There’s an obvious reason why we enabled content and privacy restrictions for our kids. Disabling it entirely means they can not only install any apps but also access explicit content on the web, in books, music, and videos, bypassing age restriction settings.

I believe the suggestion that you replied to that said to shut Content & Privacy Restriction off, forgot to mention to turn it back on after waiting several seconds. Toggling the setting has worked for many people and I think that they were making the point to not just toggle the individual setting, but the entire section controlled by turning off Content & Privacy Restrictions. The other point about waiting between toggling off, then back on has been reported to work for some and others have also turned it off, restarted the device, then turned it back on.

I agree it has been problematic and there have been improvements in each iOS release. I saw that you were on iOS 17.5.1, so just make sure the other devices are updated to the latest iOS release.

Although I get this temporary fix. My kids have two devices and I use screen time for parental controls. I’m hoping there is a permanent fix soon that doesn’t require jumping through hoops to keep the same restrictions I had before the update l.

I discovered this months ago lmao I have been on the phone with apple so much. Unfortunately due to security concerns, and I thought this was related so I’m glad to see it isn’t but on the other hand apple is ridiculous with the bugs and the incompetent employees.

I am having the same issue on my iPhone 12(17.5.1). Works fine on my iPad (17.5.1). On the phone I managed to get the App Store back but when I went into it there were no app updates available, which i find difficult to believe as it has been about two weeks since i updated any.

I had the same issue with my kids' ipad. I disabled Content & Privacy Restrictions then went to Safari and searched for the Apple app store. I was able to click it and the App store opened that way.

Thank you! This seemed to bring back my daughter’s App Store. Well I think it may have - now it keeps saying “trying to connect” but at least the app reappeared.

actually I think may have be issue connecting. App Store still hasn’t opened.

Same problem. We’re managing the phones of two kids and want the content moderation turned on. After the last update the appstore disappeared from our daughter’s phone. Disallowing app purchases and re-allowing them made the appstore appear for 2seconds.

Our solution was to “stop managing screen time”, and setting it up again. No biggie, but the hours of troubleshooting and days of frustration for our daughter having to ask us for permission was a hassle. A fix is needed!