Use Different Passcodes for Screen Time and the Lock Screen

Every parental control on an iPhone or iPad depends on one thing: a passcode your child doesn't know. Content filters, time limits, purchase blocks and contact restrictions can all be turned off by anyone who has it.

The most common way kids get around these settings isn't clever hacking. It's that a parent used the same four or six digits for the Screen Time passcode as for the lock screen, and the child already knows the lock screen code because they need it to use the device.

Two passcodes, two jobs

The iPhone used to call the second one the Restrictions passcode. When Apple folded Restrictions into Screen Time in iOS 12, it became the Screen Time passcode. The principle hasn't changed: it must be different.

How to set a separate Screen Time passcode

If you manage your child through Family Sharing

This is the setup Apple recommends, and it means you can change settings from your own iPhone.

1. On your iPhone, open Settings > Family and tap your child's name.
2. Open their Screen Time settings and follow the prompts to set or change the Screen Time passcode.
3. Choose a code that's different from your child's device passcode and from your own.

On iOS 27, all of your child's controls are reached from Settings > Family > [child's name]. On earlier versions, the same options appear under Settings > Screen Time when you tap your child's name in the Family section.

If you set it up on the child's device

1. On your child's iPhone or iPad, open Settings > Screen Time.
2. Tap Lock Screen Time Settings (on some older versions, Use Screen Time Passcode).
3. Enter a new passcode and confirm it.
4. When asked, enter your Apple Account details so you can recover the passcode if you forget it.

Use your own Apple Account here, not your child's. Otherwise your child could reset the Screen Time passcode with their own account details.

Choosing a good Screen Time passcode

Kids are observant, and many have figured out their parents' codes by watching. Some tips:

• Avoid obvious numbers: birthdays, anniversaries, house numbers, the last four digits of a phone number, or patterns like 1234, 0000 or 2580.
• Don't reuse your own lock screen code. Kids often know it.
• Don't type it in front of them. Angle the screen away or step aside, especially when approving "one more minute."
• Approve from your own phone. With Family Sharing, time requests come to you, so you don't need to enter the code on your child's device.
• Change it if you suspect it's known. A sudden change in Screen Time reports, or limits that stop working, is a clue.

Signs your child knows the Screen Time passcode

• Time limits never seem to kick in.
• Screen Time reports show unusually long use of blocked apps.
• Content & Privacy settings have changed.
• Your child stops asking for more time.

If you see these, change the passcode from your device and talk about it calmly. Kids test boundaries; that's normal. The point is to keep the conversation going, not to win a technical arms race.

Other ways settings get bypassed

A strong passcode closes the biggest gap, but not the only ones. Common workarounds include:

• Changing the date and time to skip a time limit. Locking down changes in Screen Time helps.
• Deleting and reinstalling apps. Restricting app deletion and requiring approval for downloads with Ask to Buy prevents this.
• Using another device, like an old iPad, a friend's phone or a school laptop.
• Using an adult's Apple Account on the child's device instead of their own child account.

Our guide to iPhone parental control resources covers the settings that close these gaps, and iOS Family Sharing pros and cons explains why a proper child account matters.

What about the device passcode itself?

Your child's lock screen passcode protects their data if the phone is lost or stolen, so they should have one. Many families also agree that parents know the device passcode, as part of a phone agreement, even if they rarely use it. That's a family decision; our article on how to monitor your teen's phone discusses the tradeoffs.

Face ID or Touch ID can make the device passcode less visible, since your child types it less often. Make sure your own face or fingerprint isn't enrolled on your child's device for convenience, and that theirs isn't on yours.

Quick checklist

1. Set up your child with their own child account in Family Sharing.
2. Set a Screen Time passcode that's different from every other code they know.
3. Use your Apple Account, not your child's, for passcode recovery.
4. Approve time requests from your own phone.
5. Never type the code where your child can see it.
6. Change it immediately if you think it's been discovered.