+1 a lot of developers report instability around Screen Time API's and this can fix a lot of headache for both Apple and devs

+1 AFAIK the ability to put "Apps With Screen Time Access" behind a Screen Time Passcode is a new thing since iOS 26.4 (?). I'm currently on iOS 26.5 Beta 2 and this particular part works fine (it presents Screen Time passcode when trying to disable an apps Screen Time access). However, the introduction of this introduced a similar bug where if you access the apps settings (not Screen Time settings), you can circumvent the Screen Time Passcode by using the "Screen Time Restrictions" toggle. FB22463959 is feedback number. The feedback for Apple is actually relatively simple (politics aside): just don't show the "Screen Time Restrictions" toggle in apps settings. This is how it actually was before. This is just a typical engineering/product issue where introducing new features introduces more bugs. Keeping it simple == less bugs (now and in the future).

How are people doing on iOS 26.5? So far so good, but this happened with the first 26.4 release too: it seemed to be fixed, but then (maybe) something got reverted.

unfortunately, iOS 26.4 (final version) also has the bug that's iOS 26.2, iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 (3-4 months) of limits automatically activating most mornings without reaching the limit, and this also affects the default Apple Screen Time

Unfortunately, just got the latest 26.4 beta 3(?) that released yesterday and am again getting the problem. iOS 26.4 (23E5223f)

Yes, same here. iOS 26.4 looking stable so far. Thank you for the fixes Apple devs 🙏

iOS 26.3 RC does not seem to fix the problem

iOS 26.3 beta 3 might have a new (arguably worse?) behavior where instead of all limits blocking instantly on DEVICE pickup, each limit blocks instantly separately only when you open the app so if you have two separate limits (YouTube and Instagram), YouTube will block when its opened for the first time while leaving Instagram unaffected, until you open Instagram for the first time (where then that will also instantly block)

as an update, it's not just third-party apps, this problem affects even the "native" Apple Screen Time "App Limit" feature; Reddit is full of threads of people complaining about this starting with iOS 26.2

see also: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/809410

[quote='870753022, SaulD18, /thread/809410?answerId=870753022#870753022, /profile/SaulD18'] Found a possible reproduction pattern correlated with plugging the device into power [/quote] I think you may be onto something with this as I maybe am also reproducing it easier if I pick-up my phone while it's plugged in. Still happening on iOS 26.3 beta. Thank you everyone for participating :) Regardless of these new issues, I've felt like the Screen Time framework has been getting more stable since iOS 16 so I do want to thank the Apple engineers for that.

Just got a user email from iOS 26.2 that looks like this bug (Again, I'm not sure if this is any different than the bug here but sounds different due to the explicit start on iOS 26.2 and that its strictly a beginning-of-the-day-thing: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/793747)

got it again: today it was all the limits once more few days ago it was just some of the limits the behavior is the same: first device pick up of the day (didn't even open the app), and immediately limits get activated I'm not sure if this is any different than the bug here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/793747 BUT I only started getting THIS specific behavior in 26.2 RC...so maybe it is new?

Some other details: this looks to happen right when I open my device for the first time (after not using my phone for like 6+ hours)...theoretically there could be a chance that because "iOS is just waking up" (not 100% the case since the phone is on and charging) there's some odd bug where things go wrong using iOS 26.2 before RC seemed to be OK My hope is that this is just some odd side-effect due to my device state, but if it's not, it's critical for all Screen Time apps to test this & report.

same thing except for me it started happening with 18.4 or 18.5: FB17322530 iOS 26.1 seems to maybe have fixed it but there might be a new issue in iOS 26.2 RC (much worse?): https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/809410