What will kids see, with Screenable?

Welcome! Here's what to expect with Screenable. If you're familiar with Apple's Screen Time, Screenable uses some of that technology so you'll recognize pieces of it.

Immediately after setup

When it's first set up, the Screenable kid app on your kid's device will show see a screen like the following. This indicates that Screenable is working on that device. (Note that it can take up to 5 minutes for the Screenable service to start, which you can speed up by force-syncing from their device.)

Dumb Phone mode

In Dumb Phone mode, kids see only the apps you've permitted them to see. Their screen may look something like this:

In this example, most apps have been completely removed, but note that the Kindle app is instead blocked – the app icon is darkened and it has an hourglass next to its name. That's because in Dumb Phone mode, you can either remove apps or just block them. If kids tap a blocked app, they will see this:

Screen Trainer mode: when screen time starts

1. In Screen Trainer mode, at the start of each day (and also upon first setup), all apps will appear to be "locked down" – that is, they'll be a little darker and have the hourglass icon next to their names (with some exceptions, for example certain Apple apps like Settings and Clock):

2. When kids tap an app, they will have the option of starting their screen time for the day, like so:

3. When kids tap "Start", two things happen: parents are notified, and the apps become "unlocked", like so:

When kids reach their screen time limit

1. In Screen Trainer mode, over the course of the day kids accrue screen time usage.
2. When they are 10 minutes before their screen time limit, they will see a warning screen:

3. When they hit their screen time limit, they see the following screen. They can either close the app they were in, or choose "Go over time":

4. In both cases, please note: when kids tap "go over time" or "keep going", it can take a few seconds to clear the screen and return to the app, particularly on older devices. (This is a limitation from Apple that we sadly can't get around.) It's mostly only a problem for kids playing real-time games that will be briefly interrupted.

When kids go over their limits ("Overtime")

1. If kids decide to keep going, they enter Overtime. At that moment, two things happen (just like when they started screen time for the day): all apps are unlocked, and parents are notified.
2. If kids keep using their device(s), at periodic intervals they will see more warning screens, as shown below. (The frequency of this interval is controlled in the kid's settings, under Overtime reminders.)

3. Again, if they decide to keep going, the apps will become unlocked and parents will be notified.

If kids have no screen time allowed

Note that this is how we recommend setting up shared family devices.

1. If a day's screen time limit is zero minutes, kids will see the following:

2. If they tap "Start anyway", all apps will become unlocked and parents will be notified. They have entered Overtime, so they will be periodically reminded that they are over, per the above.

If Overtime is disallowed

1. If parents turn off overtime, kids will be able to use their regular daily allotment of screen time, but when time's up they will not be able to go over.
2. Instead of "Go over time", they'll see "No overtime", like so: