How do I restrict internet access to specific hours in iOS 14?

Question

I want to disable Safari and Chrome after 11pm at night. I should be in bed sleeping at that point, and not on the internet, so I find that restriction very helpful to break my bad sleep hygiene habits.

However since the last iOS update I can’t seem to restrict Safari or Chrome anymore. The apps are just missing from the "Always Allowed" screen.

How can you limit access to the internet on an iOS device to certain hours? It feels like a bug to only be able to limit every other app on your phone! (And strangely Firefox DOES appear in the list -- just Safari and Chrome are missing.)

Answer 1

I have found a solution! It's not perfect, but I've been testing it and it just about works:

1. In Chrome, on the device in question, go to this address: chrome://flags/
2. Then search for "screentime" (all one word).
3. You should see: Enables ScreenTime Integration
4. Switch this to ENABLED.

It's a bit glitchy, but it works. It locks Chrome in the way you'd expect it to.

In the meantime, tell the developers how important this is to you here: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1162695

It seems the longterm plan might be for Chrome to fully support Screen Time (like Safari does), allowing users to manually allow access to specific websites during Downtime.

More information: https://www.chromestory.com/2020/09/chrome-ios-screen-time/

It's unclear when this feature will be added however.