Screen Time is a handy tool that helps you track how both you and your family members are using your time on your devices. It can help you monitor use better so you can meet your personal time use and health goals. But sometimes it makes sense to reset or clear your Screen Time data. Below we’ll go more into what screen time is, why you’d want to clear the data and how to clear or rest Screen Time.
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Screen Time
Screen Time can tell you all sorts of useful things. It can track which apps and websites you use. It can even tell you how often you pick up your device. Screen Time can even tell you how long you are spending on certain activities like creativity or productivity and finance.
You can use this information to improve how much and when you are using your device. For instance, Screen Time can tell you the horrifying truth of just how much time you sink into doom scrolling on social media. It can also alert parents to just how much time their kids are using gaming apps.
Why Clear or Reset Screen Time Data?
Clearing and resetting Screen Time can actually serve a number of uses:
- You have new usage goals and you want to see what you’re doing right now without old data cluttering the read.
- You have a new schedule and want to see what you are doing with your screen while in school or at a new job, or what kids are doing now that school has started.
- Let’s be honest, maybe there’s something embarrassing recorded on there.
- You have an app you deleted that was taking up a lot of time and you want to fully see what life looks like without it starting from a blank slate.
Whatever the reason you want to clear or reset Screen Time, it’s actually a pretty straightforward process.
How to Clear or Reset Screen Time on iPhone
The nice thing about Screen Time is you just have to turn it off and on again, and it automatically clears the data for you. To do so on an iPhone:
- Select the settings App on your iPhone.
- Tap on Screen Time.
- You can see the last couple days logged in data in my case.
- Scroll down to Turn Off Screen Time and tap it.
- It’ll ask you again if you want to Turn Off Screen Time, tap it again to confirm.
- Now in the same screen, select Turn On Screen Time.
- When you turn Screen Time Back on and follow the prompts, the data should have cleared automatically.
Clear or reset Screen Time on a Mac
- Select the Apple logo on the top left of the screen.
- Select System Preferences.
- Select Screen Time, which should have an hourglass logo.
- You can see the data that’s been logged over the last over an hour of use in my case. Select the Options menu on the bottom left of the screen.
- Select the Turn Off… button.
- After a few seconds, click the same button that now reads Turn On…
- The data should all be wiped on the main screen, which you can get back to by selecting App Usage.
Now you can begin tracking what you’re doing on your devices from scratch.
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