How to Reset Your Screen Time Passcode If You Forgot It

If you forgot a Screen Time passcode, use Apple’s account-based reset before erasing anything. Work only on a device and Apple Account you own or are authorized to manage; for a child’s device in Family Sharing, the organizer performs the reset.

Attempting to access or alter Screen Time controls on someone else’s device or account without permission may violate their privacy rights, applicable law, and workplace, school, or organizational policy.

#What Does the Screen Time Passcode Protect?

Screen Time can lock app limits, downtime, communication rules, and content or privacy restrictions. It uses a separate passcode so someone who can unlock the device can’t quietly change those limits.

According to Apple’s current Screen Time setup guide, a parent can manage a child’s settings through Family Sharing or configure them on the child’s device when the applicable account and regional rules allow it. The passcode protects the settings; it isn’t the same code used to unlock the iPhone or iPad.

If you’re reviewing the feature before resetting anything, start with our Screen Time overview. For content filters specifically, see the separate guide to parental controls on iPhone and iPad.

#How Do You Reset Your Own Screen Time Passcode?

According to Apple’s current Screen Time passcode reset guide, use this path:

1. Open Settings > Screen Time.
2. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode, then tap it again.
3. If asked, enter the Apple Account email address and password used when the Screen Time passcode was created.
4. Enter and confirm a new Screen Time passcode.

The important detail is account identity, not merely the account currently signed in to the device. If more than one Apple Account is in use, the recovery prompt needs the one that originally set up Screen Time Passcode Recovery.

Menu labels and availability can vary by OS version, device, region, and account configuration. Update the device and follow Apple’s current guide rather than an older screenshot or a removal utility.

#Reset a Child’s Passcode Through Family Sharing

For a child in Family Sharing, the organizer starts the reset on the organizer’s device:

1. Open Settings > Screen Time on the organizer’s iPhone or iPad.
2. Under Family, select the child’s name.
3. Under Restrictions, tap Manage Screen Time.
4. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode twice.
5. Enter and confirm the replacement passcode.

Apple’s parental-controls guide also places a child’s Content & Privacy Restrictions beneath the child’s name in the organizer’s Screen Time settings. That distinction matters when the child and organizer use different Apple Accounts.

If a restriction blocks account changes after the reset, follow the focused guide for sign-out restrictions instead of weakening unrelated controls.

#Fix Apple Account and Sync Problems

If authentication fails, check the account used when recovery was configured. Apple’s reset page says it may be a family member’s account or the child’s account rather than the account shown elsewhere in Settings.

• Confirm the Apple Account email address used during setup.
• Let the Family organizer perform a child-account reset.
• Update devices in the Family Sharing group before changing shared controls.
• If Share Across Devices is enabled, allow the replacement passcode to sync rather than creating different codes on each device.

Compare the symptoms with our forgotten Screen Time passcode guide before changing anything else.

#Don’t Erase the Device as the First Fix

The old version of this article pointed an erasure claim at Apple support ID 111766. That page is actually about Apple One subscriptions, so it couldn’t support any reset instruction.

Apple’s current factory-reset guide states that restoring a device from a backup won’t remove the Screen Time passcode. Erasing also destroys local data and may still leave you with the same code after a restore.

Use the account reset above. If it still fails, use the Get suggestions route on Apple’s reset page or contact Apple Support. A third-party program that asks for a device trust prompt, account credentials, or a security-control workaround adds privacy and account risk without changing which Apple Account owns the settings.

If your goal is simply to stop using the feature and you still know the code, turn off Screen Time normally. Don’t confuse that choice with recovering a forgotten code.

#Prevent Another Recovery Problem

Save the new passcode and its recovery Apple Account in a secure password manager.

Keep family devices updated before changing shared settings. Apple’s setup guide says this helps Screen Time settings sync across the Family Sharing group. For non-Apple devices, use the platform’s own recovery flow; our Android screen-time guide explains the separate Google controls.

#Bottom Line

Reset a forgotten Screen Time passcode through Settings > Screen Time > Change Screen Time Passcode with the Apple Account used during setup. For a child, make the change from the Family organizer’s device. If the account isn’t accepted, verify its identity or ask Apple for support; don’t erase the device or trust a removal tool as the first response.

#Frequently Asked Questions