Skip to main content

Blocks are unreliable in Low Power Mode, on older phones, or in games

Busy or older iPhones can pause background tasks. Open Slow Time Club at the start of a session to be sure.

A
Written by Abid A

Open Slow Time Club at the start of an important session. It checks the time and puts the right blocks up straight away, so you know they're in place.

Steps that help

  1. Turn off Low Power Mode when you're relying on a block: Settings → Battery → Low Power Mode. This may help on some phones.

  2. Close heavy games when you've finished playing.

  3. If you notice problems, restart your iPhone every few days.

  4. Keep iOS up to date: Settings → General → Software Update.

If a block still doesn't start, end or come back after a break, go through Blocking isn't working: start here.

Why this happens

Sorry about this. iPhone gives background tasks very little memory. When the phone is busy, say during a big game or with lots of apps open, it's more likely to stop them. That includes the part of Slow Time Club that starts and ends blocks, and the part of iPhone that counts screen time. Older iPhones are affected more. Apple knows about it, and other screen-time apps see it too. We keep our background work as small as we can, and we put things right when you open Slow Time Club.

Related: A block didn't start on time · My break ended but apps didn't lock again

Still stuck? Contact us from Profile → Help and Legal → Contact support and include your User ID (Help and Legal → User ID).

Did this answer your question?