Turn Off Screen Time Request Via iMessage

I absolutely can't stand the new "feature" where screen time requests come in via iMessage. I can no longer approve screen time on my watch; I can't approve it on my laptop because in iMessage it only has a button to "Open in System Settings" and that button doesn't even do anything... so I have to bust out my phone every single time and HOPE it loads the approval drop down instead of the system settings button (because the requests take FOREVER to load in phone system settings). How do I turn this off and go back to the app based notifications? How can I actually approve it on my watch again? How can I approve it on my laptop again?

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jul 25, 2023 04:25 PM

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Posted on Sep 3, 2023 05:16 AM

You are not alone. It was driving me mad and despite being rolled out a few months back it seems to have only been triggered in the last week or so (we think because one of us was travelling and connecting to the family group differently). We have managed to fix this but I changed several things and I’m not entirely sure which element was the fix.


step 1 - I went into iMessage settings on our child’s device and deselected Apple ID as a send / receive option. It is now just her mobile number (I know for parents of younger children or just iPads this will be a pain).


step 2 - I deleted the offending iMessage thread that was Apple ID to Apple ID. Once again this may not work for you as we have a house device in the family as a family admin that is Apple ID only and meant I could delete the whole thread without losing anything else.


Having done these two things I can confirm screen time requests have reverted to notifications and the messages have stopped.


Even if some of the above can’t work with your circumstances take hope that a) it can be done and b) it’s something to do with these elements. Have a play around and you should be able to achieve the same effect.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 3, 2023 05:16 AM in response to dthurtle

You are not alone. It was driving me mad and despite being rolled out a few months back it seems to have only been triggered in the last week or so (we think because one of us was travelling and connecting to the family group differently). We have managed to fix this but I changed several things and I’m not entirely sure which element was the fix.


step 1 - I went into iMessage settings on our child’s device and deselected Apple ID as a send / receive option. It is now just her mobile number (I know for parents of younger children or just iPads this will be a pain).


step 2 - I deleted the offending iMessage thread that was Apple ID to Apple ID. Once again this may not work for you as we have a house device in the family as a family admin that is Apple ID only and meant I could delete the whole thread without losing anything else.


Having done these two things I can confirm screen time requests have reverted to notifications and the messages have stopped.


Even if some of the above can’t work with your circumstances take hope that a) it can be done and b) it’s something to do with these elements. Have a play around and you should be able to achieve the same effect.

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Turn Off Screen Time Request Via iMessage

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