Apple faces outraged parents after iPhone failure. Understand the controversy.
A problem with tech giant Apple has disappointed parents who trusted the brand. Since 2018, the company has introduced several parental controls, such as limiting children’s screen time. However, some users have discovered that due to a glitch in the iPhone’s software, parental control restrictions have been reset without their knowledge and, worse, without their permission.
As a result, children were exposed to content that their parents did not approve of. Of course, the children loved being left unsupervised, but those responsible are pressuring the company to find a solution. Read on to learn more about the controversy.
Parental control failure
The iPhone's parental control system is based on Apple's cloud-based Family Sharing. This system was developed by the company to allow parents and guardians to control many of the settings on their children's devices. For example, parents can control the time maximum screen time for children. Additionally, parents can decide when their phones are inactive (i.e. not in use by children) or how long they can spend on each app, such as games.
However, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, parents discovered that a glitch in Apple's software caused these settings to be reset to their original state after a period of time. There is not yet enough information to know whether the changes were not synced correctly by the company from the beginning, or whether a bug reset the settings to the "factory" model. The fact is that the configuration changes did not last as long as expected.
Parents' revolt
Apple introduced parental controls to make life easier for parents. This eliminates the need for administrators to download another app to limit screen time or use more radical techniques, such as turning off the router at bedtime. In fact, this feature has never been the subject of any complaints until the bug was discovered.
The disruption-induced disruption didn’t show up immediately; it took a while for parents to figure it out, according to a parent interviewed by the Journal. One explanation is that kids didn’t complain when their phones were working longer. What happened, of course, didn’t sit well with parents who used the feature. More than 2,300 people have reported the same issue on Apple’s discussion page.
Apple statement says about flaws
An Apple spokesperson acknowledged the bug and said the company is working on an update to fix it. In a statement, the company said it understands that some users may have issues with their Screen Time settings being reset unexpectedly. The company also reiterated that it has taken all complaints very seriously and will continue to make updates to the system to improve the situation.
It is worth remembering that Apple has previously acknowledged a bug similar to this one and claimed to have fixed it in iOS version 16.5. However, according to the WSJ, which had access to the new beta version of iOS 17, the problem remains.
