Lock Opal's Screen Time Access Behind Screen Time Passcode

Feature Requests šŸ‘€
#1

I love the Deep Focus feature of Opal and have been productive while blocking distracting apps. It was working well when I didnā€™t know of any way to bypass the blocks. However, I discovered I can remove ā€˜Opalā€™ from ā€˜Apps With Screen Time Accessā€™ in ā€˜Settings->Screen Timeā€™ during a Deep Focus session and unblock the distracting apps.

Removing Opal from Screen Time Access only requires the device passcode. This means whoever is self imposing the restrictions and uses the device (so will know the device passcode) can bypass the Deep Focus blocks. I think it would work better if turning off Screen Time Access for Opal required the separate Screen Time passcode rather than the Device passcode. The Screen Time passcode can be given to someone else to ensure the device user cannot bypass the restrictions.

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#2

Hello !
Thanks for your feedback, this is indeed a great idea, and seems logical !

Iā€™m gonna send a feedback to apple about this, you can do the same to add some weight to it using that link, and selecting ā€œBug reportā€ as report type ā†’ Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Regards

Peter, Opal Dev team

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#3

Itā€™s super easy to disable the app by just going into the setting and turning it off. Please add settings to the block list or find a way to disable the turning off.

#4

I realised after activating a deep focus test on every app, they I needed to use my phone in the time that it was blocked, so I just disabled the app.

Is there a way to say use the screen time password to prevent me from doing that? Or is there another way to completely prevent it?

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#5

I second that. Itā€™s too easy to go into settings, go to ā€œScreentime,ā€ and disable the app whenever I want. Is there a way of making that impossible to do when a session is running?

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#6

Iā€™m glad to see there are others with as little willpower as me.

I was another app to block the settings app when I really need to focus :joy:

But itā€™s more money obviously. It uses shortcuts though so it might be possible to do with a fancy shortcut, I donā€™t know. I donā€™t think opal will have a solution though, their hands will be tied by Apple.

#7

Iā€™ve noticed that it is possible to disable opal during a deep work session by turning off the ā€˜apps with screen time accessā€™ in settings. Iā€™ve found that this is simple enough that I have to fight the temptation to do this during the day. Not sure of possible work arounds for this, but perhaps if the app notified users when it did not have screen time access more frequently (I think currently it only does so once or twice a day)? I have alarms which notify me incessantly until I reactivate the app, so that might help to break the habit loop of turning the screen time access off.

#8

Thatā€™s a very interesting idea, we will look into this.

#9

This issue single handedly destroys the whole point of this app. This needs immediate attention. Please fix this asap!

#10

Hey,
We are a bit limited by what apple allows us to do here, but I may have solution for you to make settings harder to reach while in a session:

  • Setup a personal automation in the shortcuts app that is triggered when opening the settings app,
  • Add an if condition, and use the ā€œIs Opal protection Onā€ shortcut as input
  • Add an ā€œOpen Appā€ block inside the if condition, so Opal will open instead of settings while in a session

You can always take a break if you still want to access settings.

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#11

It helps but it doesnā€™t change much, because to circumvent it is simply to deactivate the automation in 10 seconds

#12

Wouldnā€™t having Opal block the shortcuts app prevent you turning off the automation?

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#13

You right, but I use Opal block 24h day, its mean settings 24h block with this configs, a solution would be, block only ā€œscreen timeā€ session from ā€œsettingsā€, but its not possible.

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#14

@here we now have a solution for this (it came from an idea on this community forum!)

To enhance the security of your Opal sessions and prevent the disabling of Opalā€™s Screen Time during a session, follow these steps. This process should take less than 5 minutes to set up.

https://www.opal.so/help/how-to-lock-opals-screen-time-access

Please be aware that you wonā€™t be able to access your phoneā€™s Settings while in a session (unless youā€™re on a break).

#15

Morning Guys,

Is there any continued work on this issue? Whilst yes, there is the shortcuts workaround, this isnā€™t a solution to the problem. (canā€™t connect to bluetooth devices, wifi, hotspot etc) during session. I purchased a lifetime membership and now regret doing so, knowing the app can just be ā€˜turnedā€™ off. Any information would be great thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

#16

Hey !
Apple doesnā€™t provide us any way to do this, so the shortcut is the best alternative we got so far.

We are monitoring changes in the Screentime api at every iOS update, and will inform you if this behaviour change in the future.

In the mean time, you can submit an improvement request to Apple if you want to increase the chances they implement this possibility in the future ā†’ Product Feedback - Apple

Peter

#18

Hey, have just realized you can get out of any block session by simply turning off screen time access for Opal in the iOS settings. Would love it if at least during a deep focus session it was impassible to change this/disable it. This might be an Apple issue - even if make a screen time passcode it doesnā€™t prompt me for it when I disable screen time access to apps. It just auto FaceTime IDā€™s me. So yeah if you guys can do something to address this, it would be too on my list of new features. Would rather not block the whole settings app either which is listed as an option on your website by using shortcuts.

Thanks!