How to Limit Time on Apps on iPhone (That You Won't Just Ignore)

iPhone has had app limits for years and almost everyone who sets one taps Ignore Limit within a fortnight. The feature works fine; the way people configure it does not. Here is how to set limits and, more importantly, how to make them survive contact with a Thursday night.

Related reading: check screen time on iPhone, how much screen time is too much. If you just want your own number rated, the screen time checker does it in one tap.

Set an app limit

1. 1Settings, then Screen Time.
2. 2Tap App Limits, then Add Limit.
3. 3Choose a category, or tap the arrow to pick individual apps.
4. 4Set the time, tap Customise Days if weekends should differ, then Add.

Set the limit thirty minutes below your current average, not at some aspirational hour. A limit you clear every day teaches you to ignore limits; one that bites occasionally teaches you to stop.

Set Downtime for the hour that matters

1. 1Settings, Screen Time, Downtime.
2. 2Turn on Scheduled and set the window — the hour before bed and the first thirty minutes after waking are the two that pay.
3. 3Under Always Allowed, keep Phone and Messages available so nobody is unreachable.

Downtime beats app limits for most people because it targets a time of day rather than a budget. You are not rationing anything; you are closing the shop.

Stop yourself pressing Ignore Limit

• Turn on Block at Downtime (or Block All Limits) so the override needs a passcode rather than one tap.
• Set a Screen Time passcode that is not your unlock code — and ideally one you have to fetch from somewhere.
• Have someone else set the passcode if you are being honest with yourself about the situation.
• In Content & Privacy Restrictions, lock the Screen Time settings so limits cannot be deleted on impulse.

None of this is about discipline. It is about putting three seconds and a decision between you and the app. Impulses do not survive three seconds well.

The other limits worth knowing

A setup that actually holds

1. 1One app limit, on your single worst app, thirty minutes under your current average.
2. 2Downtime for the last hour before bed, with Phone and Messages allowed.
3. 3Block at Downtime on, with a passcode you do not know by heart.
4. 4Re-check the weekly average in a fortnight and adjust once — not daily.