Screen Time Passcode: Reset It When Forgotten, Lock It Down When Needed

Forgetting the passcode, and stopping someone from cracking it. Almost everyone searching for "Screen Time passcode" wants one of those two things. Opposite problems, but they belong together, because they grow from the same weak root: if you know the code, it opens whenever you want.

Forgot it — reset with your Apple ID

First, don't panic. It used to be that a forgotten passcode meant wiping the whole device. Not anymore. Since iOS 13.4 you just reset it with your Apple ID.

Settings → Screen Time → Change Screen Time Passcode → Change Screen Time Passcode → tap "Forgot Passcode?". Enter the Apple ID and password you used to set up that device and you can pick a new passcode right away. Here's the catch. When you first set the Screen Time passcode, there's a step that links your Apple ID — don't skip it. That's the step that keeps this door open later.

If "Forgot Passcode?" doesn't show up, or no Apple ID was linked, your only option is wiping the device. So spend the thirty seconds when you first set it.

Don't make it the same as your phone unlock code

This is where people slip up most. To make it easy to remember, they set the Screen Time passcode to match the phone unlock code. Now both are useless.

The reason is simple. When a limit blocks you and you tap "One More Minute," it asks for the passcode — and if that's the same number your fingers punch into the lock screen every day, you'll clear it without a second thought. The friction drops to zero. On a kid's phone it's worse. If your child has watched you unlock your phone even once, they've cracked Screen Time too. Use a different number — one your hands can't recite from memory.

The bypasses kids use, and how to block them

If you manage a child's phone, know this: the workarounds kids try are fairly predictable.

The most common is changing the time. To dodge Downtime, they roll the phone's clock forward in Settings. Blocking it is easy. Settings → General → Date & Time, turn on "Set Automatically," then lock that setting itself through Content & Privacy Restrictions so it can't be changed.

The second is deleting and reinstalling the app. Kids believe that wiping a time-limited app and reinstalling it resets the limit. Block this by setting "Deleting Apps" to Don't Allow under Content & Privacy Restrictions.

The third is signing out of the Apple ID. That's an attempt to drop the whole Family Sharing–based restriction. Lock account changes on the same screen and it's blocked.

Cover these and a kid's phone gets pretty solid. But on your own phone? That's a different story.

In the end, if you know it, it opens

Let me be honest. Every defense above is built to stop someone who doesn't know the passcode. It works on a child, but not on yourself — because the code you set is a code you already know. The moment you're blocked, you just unlock it "only for today" and move on.

That's the real limit of Screen Time. It can stop your hand, not your mind. So for self-control, blocking alone isn't enough. Instead of a blocked screen, you need one more thing that shoves the reason you wanted to cut back in your face at that exact moment. Nagging App is built to fill that spot. Rather than blocking, it remembers the goal and the reason you wrote down at the start, then nags you about them. If caging yourself with a passcode doesn't work, try changing the approach.