Questions parents usually ask first.

Is Open Screen Time open source?

Yes. The goal is for families and technical reviewers to inspect how the app handles setup, pairing, policy sync, permissions, and enforcement.

Where is my family's data stored?

Open Screen Time uses a Bring Your Own Firebase model. Family schedules, profiles, pairing records, and sync state are stored in a Firebase project controlled by the parent or guardian. The app can provision your Firebase project automatically with a one-click setup flow, or you can use assisted or fully manual setup. Open Screen Time is designed to work with the free Firebase Spark plan and should not require billing information for normal use.

Does the developer see our schedules?

The core model does not require Open Screen Time to host or receive family schedule content. Some third-party services still process technical data for authentication, push delivery, provisioning, and platform operation.

Does it work instantly?

Open Screen Time uses the official Apple Screen Time APIs: FamilyControls, ManagedSettings, and DeviceActivity. These provide access to fine-grained supervision controls similar to Apple's native Screen Time features.

Schedules and policies saved on the child device stay active locally. That means scheduled downtime can apply at the scheduled time even if the app is not open or the device is offline. App limits and schedules live in iOS settings and continue to work after they are applied.

When a parent saves downtime schedules, app limits, or manually places a device into downtime, update speed depends on the Enforcer app state. If the Enforcer app is open, changes from the Controller usually apply almost instantly. If it was recently backgrounded, updates are still usually fast but may take a few seconds longer. If the app has been closed for a longer period, iOS background delivery can delay updates, sometimes up to about 15 minutes. After a reboot, the device usually picks up new rules within a few minutes.

Who should use it?

Parents, guardians, or authorized adults supervising devices they are legally permitted to manage. It should not be used to monitor or control devices without consent or authority.

What Platforms are Supported?

Open Screen Time can currently run in Controller mode on Android and iOS devices. The initial goal of this project is to focus on iOS device supervision, and for the time being we have no plan to introduce supervision capability for Android or Amazon devices. Future plans include Controller applications for Web, MacOS, Windows, and a terminal CLI.