home-assistant
Broken for screen time users
iOS device model, version and app version
Model Name: iPhone 13 Software Version: 26.1 App version: 2025.12.0 (2025.15.43)
Home Assistant Core Version Installation method Home Assistant OS Core 2025.12.0 Supervisor 2025.12.2 Operating System 16.3 Frontend 20251203.0
Describe the bug
Kids phone with "screen time" restrictions.
Home Assistant is set to "always allow"
Upon opening the app, "screen time for
Due to this, it is completely unusable. No other apps exhibit this problem where screen time is seeing it as a simple browser.
Adding the server address to the allow list makes zero difference.
To Reproduce
stated above
Expected behavior
When the app is "always allowed" in screen time, it should be possible to use it.
Additional context
I have already added the urls to the always allowed list and as was stated in the bug report. it makes zero difference. Both ip and domain, neither work
Apologies, misread and understood you have added only the App itself.
I have no clue why this happens, I'll try to find the root cause.
I have tried various formats, it seems to strip the port (8123) always. Perhaps something to do with it?
The whole having to add a web address too is a bit wierd? I can understand it happening in chrome or safari, but why does it even know a certain address is in use. I've never had to unblock urls outside browsers.
On a quick test, I didn't need to allow anything else besides Home Assistant App, I wonder why for you is different.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/90345902-e668-419f-847b-64282ff98a9b
The whole having to add a web address too is a bit wierd? I can understand it happening in chrome or safari, but why does it even know a certain address is in use. I've never had to unblock urls outside browsers.
It's possible due to Home Assistant running on local IP and not a well known URL linked to the App like Google maps and maps.google.com
I'm using duckdns.org domain. does your instance use port 8123 or 80/443? ssl?
Hello,
I have watched the video and can confirm the same issue as @dogmatic69 and repeating the video steps doesn't change things, my son's phone cannot access home assistant once downtime is active, even tho it's on the always allowed list.
Steps I have tried:
- reboot phone
- uninstall, re-install HA app
- enable app limits
- set HA app to 24hr limit
- set all apps to have a 24hr limit, and HA has no limit
- add HA url to always allowed in app limits
Are there any logs or other info that I could gather to help troubleshoot?
EDIT to Add -- this was working before the phone auto-updated to IOS26.
Unfortunately it's not something we can fix in Home Assistant side, if you have added Home Assistant App and URL to the list of approved access, from there it's up to Apple, please file a bug to them.
Unfortunately it's not something we can fix in Home Assistant side
I don't agree. No other apps with screen time open up and then say "
I’m happy to implement a possible fix if anyone knows what causes that. On my understanding besides allowing the app and URL, there is nothing extra that needs to be done, this is all handled by Apple, apps don’t need to make anything extra so this can work. As I showed in my previous video, it works fine for me, so it’s possibly something to do with your HA domain configuration.
The whole having to add a web address too is a bit wierd? I can understand it happening in chrome or safari, but why does it even know a certain address is in use. I've never had to unblock urls outside browsers.
Since HA is just an app with a WebView inside showing the web interface, you can think of it as a browser that displays just one URL 😄
I was talking to other coworkers about this issue and apparently there is no "general rule" in screen time where you can set URLs that are always allowed, only App limits to websites, which then does not fit the down time situation. I am afraid that all leads to be an iOS limitation unfortunately :/
apparently there is no "general rule" in screen time where you can set URLs that are always allowed
Eh? Yes there is:
Screentime -> Content & Privacy Restrictions -> App Store, Media, Web & Games -> Web Content -> "Always Allow"
I have added my HA URL to this but no avail.
I don't know enough to comment who owns the fault, but at least this thread should be used to document the similarities as >1 people have found the issue so far. I'm sure Apple will blame HA unless we can prove otherwise.
My Son's screen-time is part of a family setup, i.e. sync'd across devices. @bgoncal is that the same for you? or is your screentime solo/singular? (Just a thought, or an idea to start digging)
Are you certain that the configuration you mentioned isn’t being overriden by the downtime? It doesn’t appear to have a higher priority than the permitted apps.
No, I don’t have children. My screen time was enabled solely to assist in debugging this issue.
I can leave the issue open, but for now, there’s nothing I can do to improve the situation. As I mentioned, if you discover any additional information or suggestions, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to help make it happen.
Please always compare the behavior of HA to a browser app like Chrome. We all use the same WKWebView. If you find a way to make it work there, we can find a way to make it work in HA as well.
@linickx if you don't file a bug to Apple, they may never fix. I won't do myself because I can't reproduce, but I recommend you doing so. To me the rule should be, if the app is allowed, all webpages inside should be allowed as well.