How do we prevent turning off 'Screen Time Access' in Settings? {SOLVED}

This worked great for me! When I try to turn off Screen Time, the settings screen briefly flashes but becomes unresponsive, and the phone redirects me back to Opal then my Home Screen. I don’t have time to disable screen time.

I found the instructions a little confusing, so here’s a step-by-step:

  1. Follow Opal’s official guide first: Set up the automation as described in ā€œHow to Lock Opal’s Screen Time Accessā€
  2. Create a second automation: Go to the Shortcuts app and tap Automation > + to add a new automation > App. Set this automation to run immediately when Settings is closed ā€œSettingsā€ is closed. For the action, choose ā€œGo to Home Screen.ā€

That’s it! Thanks Vincenzo.

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I know there’s already multiple topics on this issue, but the problem that Opal could be bypassed by restarting the phone and turning off screen time makes Opal unusable for me.

I love Opal and all its features but if you could just turn them off, it makes it useless. Can we focus on fixing this and not adding more features?

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how would you set this up for macos bc you can access settings on your laptop as well

Honestly, we need a fix for this. I’ve paid for the app and it is completely useless if we can just unable it in the settings app.

Creating the shortcut doesn’t help if we are not using sessions (e.g. daily limits) - even if we create a 23h55 session, i should still be able to use my settings app!!

This should be Opal’s #1, #2 and #3 priority.

In settings, under screen time, you can turn off ā€˜allow Opal to manage screen time’ - which then turns off all current sessions.
Is there a workaround for this?

@findles How do we prevent turning off 'Screen Time Access' in Settings? {SOLVED} - #91 by Sarah_K Please Refer to this

I’ve had an issue for a while where I keep disabling sessions button going into settings and disabling Opal from accessing Screen time.

I have already followed the instructions to prevent this as per this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi-5QjmT7mc

But the issue is this only carries out if face ID works. I have been able to successfully turn off Opals access to Screen time by just pointing the phone away from my face so FaceID doesn’t work. is there a way to not require FACE ID from Opal? I believe this wasn’t always the case

It is not possible for Opal to disable its functions in settings screen time restrictions with Face ID, that is, I am in writing mode and the apps I want are blocked, but the settings are not blocked, what is wrong is that it gives the option to unlock the counter or task in difficult mode, only by accessing screen time restrictions, something that other applications do not allow to deactivate by Face ID, for this reason, I will cancel my subscription, until this is fixed

Hello,

Im having the same issue, about 3 weeks ago everything was working find, I had defined a passcode to enable or disable Opal access to Screen Time. At some point Face ID got activated and I could bypass the code just with my Face.

I spoke with Apple support and the best they could offer me was to update to IOs 18.

Now the phone only asks me for my iphone code, called Apple again and they say this is normal due to the update and that Screen Time passcode will not be required from now on.

Are there any workarounds?

I have the same issue. I have done everything right (shortcuts on) (screentime) (Opal) But by simply turning my phone off and on again it allows me to go into the settings app and simply turn off Opal (with just phone passcode) until about a minute once shortcuts starts working. Is there a way to fix this, maybe to force the phone to open an app for a minute ? Thanks

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I’ve been using the Opal app since February and really enjoy it — especially the Deep Focus Sessions. I love how it prevents deleting the app or making changes during use. That said, I recently found a workaround that defeats the purpose: by going to Settings > Screen Time > Apps with Screen Time Access, I can just disable Opal.

I’m not sure if iOS allows it, but it would be helpful if access to Settings could be blocked during Deep Focus Sessions. Right now, it seems there’s no way to do that.

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hey @ncarey,

Thanks for reaching out. Here’s how to lock your access to Screen Time to prevent yourself from toggling off that button:

All the best,
Team Opal

Opal is great but I’ve found a way where you can go to settings and disable the app. It would be great if you could block settings or maybe add a ā€œpunishmentā€ if you disable the app??

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Hey @TJ_Borow,

Thanks for reaching out. Here’s how to lock your access to Screen Time to prevent yourself from toggling off that button:

All the best,
Team Opal .

Sorry but this is not solved.

Any solution that involves using shortcuts is easily bypassable by rebooting the phone. Once the phone comes back on you can just go and disable opal screen time access, allowing you to get around the deep focus mode you might have paid 99 dollars a year to enforce!

Opal, please. You need to understand this is the biggest problem you have. You need to implement some sort of system where if you haven’t received any screen time data in x periods of time, that the screen time access must have been disabled and have some sort of penalty for it to disincentivise us from doing it.

Could be as simple as ending our streak, or as severe as some financial penalty (this would work for me).

Please understand this is the only thing preventing me from buying the pro version, as without any disincentive to disable screen time access in settings, it is totally useless.

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Is there currently anything in the works to solve the bypass for the shortcuts solution via turning the phone on and off again? Like some sort of consequence for disabling the app permissions? I like the app a lot but this seems like a big problem for it especially for how much it costs. It makes me hesitant to subscribe.

has any methods been found to fix this issue, i mean it’s very easy to access it through control centre.

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This needs to be fixed. I feel like an idiot paying for the app.

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