To set a Screen Time passcode in iOS 27, go to Settings → Screen Time → Manage Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings and enter a 4-digit code. In iOS 26, it's Settings → Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings. If you want your limits to hold, ask someone you trust to type the code so you don't know it.
A Screen Time passcode is a 4-digit code that protects your Screen Time settings, separate from the passcode that unlocks your iPhone. Without it, you can change or ignore your own limits in seconds. Steps below are from Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and iOS 27 (October 2026).
How do I set a Screen Time passcode?
In iOS 27:
- Open Settings → Screen Time → Manage Screen Time.
- Tap Lock Screen Time Settings.
- Enter a 4-digit passcode, then enter it again.
In iOS 26: open Settings → Screen Time, scroll down and tap Lock Screen Time Settings, then enter the code twice.
After you set it, you can turn on Screen Time Passcode Recovery, which lets you reset the code with your Apple Account if it's forgotten.
Why should someone else choose the code?
Because a lock you hold the key to is only a speed bump. If you set the code yourself, you'll type it the first time a limit gets in the way. If your spouse, a parent or a friend types it, you have to ask them for more time, and you usually won't.
This is an old idea. Scripture puts a lot of weight on not walking alone: "Two are better than one... For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow" (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10, KJV). An accountability partner holding your Screen Time code is a small, practical version of that.
Agree on a few things first:
- What it's for. Which limits or schedules you're asking them to protect.
- When they'll give more time. For example, for work or a real need, not for "one more video."
- How often you'll check in. A weekly conversation about how it's going helps more than the code itself.
How do I change or turn off the passcode?
Open Settings → Screen Time and tap Change Screen Time Passcode. You can change it or turn it off after entering the current code.
How do I reset a forgotten Screen Time passcode?
- Open Settings → Screen Time → Manage Screen Time (iOS 27) or Settings → Screen Time (iOS 26).
- Tap Change Screen Time Passcode, then tap it again.
- Tap Forgot Passcode?
- Enter the Apple Account email and password you used when you set the passcode. It may differ from the account you're signed in with now.
- Enter a new passcode twice.
This only works if passcode recovery was set up with an Apple Account. If someone else holds your code, this is also how you could get around it, so be honest with each other about that.
What does the passcode protect?
It protects your Screen Time settings: limits or time allowances, schedules (Downtime in iOS 26, Screen Time Schedule in iOS 27) and Content & Privacy Restrictions. In iOS 26, when you set a passcode, Block at End of Limit and Block at Downtime become available, so blocked apps stay closed until someone enters the code.
Is there a Screen Time passcode on Android?
Android's Digital Wellbeing has a similar App limits PIN: open Settings → Digital Wellbeing → App limits → App limits PIN and set a 4-digit PIN. Exact menus vary by phone. See how to lock apps on Android.
Is there a gentler way than a passcode?
Yes. Some people don't want a hard block, just a pause that turns a reflex into a choice. Prayer Latch locks the apps you choose each morning until you pray, and it always offers a free emergency unlock for real needs. It pairs well with a Screen Time passcode on the apps you struggle with most.
Pray before you scroll
Prayer Latch locks your chosen apps each morning until you pray. Your first 7 days are free, no card needed.
Updated October 22, 2026 by the Prayer Latch team at Janus Works LLC.