What Is Downtime on iPhone, and How Do You Turn It Off?
The iPhone and iPad contain several tools to help you develop healthy usage habits. “Downtime” is one of the strongest and lesser-known of the series. We explain why you should use it and how to remove it if it’s activated.
What is Downtime on iPhone?
Introduced in 2018 with iOS 12, Downtime was further improved in iOS and iPadOS 15. It’s part of Apple’s suite of tools that can limit notifications and block distractions, like Focus Mode, Screen Time, and App Limits.
The downtime feature is sort of a combination of these other tools. Focus mode is great for restricting notifications, and App Limits can limit your app usage. Downtime does both. You decide who can contact you and which apps can be used.
The downtime feature is primarily intended for use on a schedule. A common example would be overnight activation so you can disconnect from your phone before bed and block notifications while you sleep. However, it can also be switched on and off as required.
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How to Use Downtime on iPhone
Downtime is buried in the “Screen Time” settings, and there are a few things you need to configure in order to use it. First, open the Settings app from the home screen.
Next, go to Screen Time.
If Screen Time is off, the first thing you need to do is tap on “Turn on Screen Time” and read the introductory screens.
The Screen Limits page says Downtime, but we need to start with Always Allowed.
First, tap “Contacts” at the top of the screen.
You have two options here – “Specific Contacts” and “Everyone”. If you choose Specific Contacts, you can select people from your contact list or add a new contact.
When you’re done, go back to the previous page. This is where you choose which apps you can use during downtime. Apps that aren’t selected are grayed out on the home screen and a message says “You’ve reached your limit” when you try to open them.
Scroll through the list of apps and tap the plus button to allow an app to be used during downtime.
Finally, we can go back to the Screen Time settings and select “Downtime”.
To enable downtime immediately, tap Enable downtime until tomorrow. Unfortunately, you cannot set the lighting time manually.
Alternatively, you can set up a downtime schedule. Turn on the Scheduled toggle and choose the days and times to run.
That’s all you need to do to set up and use Downtime!
How to Remove Downtime on iPhone
The downtime settings are a bit buried, and there’s not really a shortcut to toggle them on and off quickly. If it has been enabled, we will show you how to disable downtime.
First, open the Settings app from the home screen.
Next, go to Screen Time.
Select “Downtime”.
If downtime was manually enabled, the option to turn off downtime is displayed. If it’s on during a scheduled time, it says Ignore downtime until schedule. Both options turn it off immediately.
That’s all there is to it. If you don’t want downtime to be re-enabled, make sure Scheduled is unchecked.
Downtime is one of the most powerful digital wellbeing tools you can use on an iPhone or iPad. It puts some pretty strict restrictions on what you can do. Of course, you have control over these limitations, but some limitations can make it easier to break bad habits.
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