How to remove a personal Screen Time passcode when you’ve forgotten it

Screen Time is a somewhat useful feature to help limit time on screens, online, and, particularly, apps. It’s used by parents for kids, but you can also use it for yourself. With Screen Time enabled, you can choose your own limits.

You can go one step further by setting a Screen Time passcode–you might want to have to enter a passcode instead of just tapping when you exceed limits you’ve set for yourself. (You might even ask someone else to set the code and not tell you if you need some additional, external help.)

When you set up a Screen Time passcode for your iCloud account, Apple prompts you to enter an Apple ID and its password to cache the code. It doesn’t have to be the same Apple ID you use with iCloud.

What happens if you forget your Screen Time passcode for your children or yourself? With your kids, both iOS/iPadOS and macOS can typically retrieve the code from the Keychain using Touch ID or Face ID. Failing that and for your own lost passcode, you can use Apple ID-based recovery.

In iOS/iPadOS:

1. Go to Settings > Screen Time.
2. Choose a user if it’s not your own passcode.
3. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode.
4. Tap Turn Off Screen Time Passcode.
5. Tap Forgot Passcode?
6. Enter the Apple ID username and password you used when setting up your passcode.
7. Tap OK.

In macOS:

1. Go to System Preferences > Screen Time (Monterey or earlier) or System Settings > Screen Time (Ventura).
2. Choose the user if other than you.
3. Click Options if you don’t see the Screen Time: On label at the upper-right corner.
4. Uncheck or disable Use Screen Time Passcode.
5. If not prompted to use Touch ID, enter the Apple ID account and password you used when setting it up.
6. Click OK.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Hassan.

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