Instructions

1. If you don't already have a ScreenKin account, create one here. If you already have a Best Accountability or Truple account, you can use that instead.

2. Make sure your child's Apple account birthdate is set correctly. You can update it by following Apple's official guide.

3. If you haven't already, set up Family Sharing and add your child's Apple account to your Family Sharing Group.*

4. Install ScreenKin from the App Store.

   

5. Open the ScreenKin app and tap Add Device to Account.

6. Enter your subscribed account email and choose a device name, then tap Add Device to Account.

7. The owner of the subscribed account needs to login here and accept the "Add Device" request. This can be done from the ScreenKin, Best Accountability, or Truple website.

8. Go back to the app and tap Check if Granted.

9. Important! Enable alerts from other apps (e.g. Messages) by following the steps in the video walkthrough. Once completed, press and hold the button at the bottom of the screen to move to the next step.

10. Tap Request Permission.

11. Follow the prompts and enter the Parent's Apple Account credentials when prompted.

12. You can now use ScreenKin. To take advantage of all the app's features and close up loopholes, open ScreenKin, go to Settings, and complete our How-To Guides.

13. Optional Watch this video for a video guide explaining how the app works.

14. Optional Go to the device settings page to customize settings like image blur, text redaction, and screen capture frequency.

* If the parent doesn't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can skip this step. ScreenKin will still work, but some built-in Apple features will be unavailable.

Notes

Unblock apps delay

ScreenKin allows full device wide screenshots. The only way to accomplish this on iOS (iPhone/iPad) is using the broadcast permission. Apple controls the broadcast permission popup, and requires a 3 second delay.

Always Allowed Apps

If there are apps your child needs to use without monitoring running, add them to the Always Allowed Apps list inside ScreenKin (open the app, tap Settings, then Always Allowed Apps). Be conservative--many innocent-looking apps have hidden browsers built in.

Don't use the "Always Allowed" list found in the iOS Settings app under Screen Time. Keep that list empty. Using it conflicts with the app's own lists, and changes made to it aren't reported.

If your child's Apple account is a child account in your Family Sharing group, you manage their Screen Time settings and they can't change them, so nothing more is needed. Otherwise, we strongly recommend setting a Screen Time passcode that your child doesn't know, which blocks the ability to change Screen Time settings. The How-To Guides found in the app's Settings walk you through it.

Lock Screen Apps

When apps are blocked (which happens whenever monitoring isn't running, including each time the screen locks), iOS also blocks their notifications and background audio. To let your child keep getting notifications and background audio from specific apps while the device is locked, open ScreenKin, tap Settings, then under App & Website Lists tap Lock Screen Apps and select those apps (up to 25).

Apps on this list still require monitoring in order to be opened. If one of them is opened while monitoring is off, the device blocks all apps on the Lock Screen Apps list for 15 minutes, or until monitoring is started again. Using the Lock Screen player controls (play, pause, skip) doesn't trigger this.

See Notifications and music on the Lock Screen for details.

Music apps / background players

Music apps / background players won't be able to play in the background unless they're added to the Lock Screen Apps list (recommended, see above) or the app's Always Allowed Apps list. Apps on the Lock Screen Apps list can play in the background but still require monitoring to be opened and used, while apps on the Always Allowed Apps list can be fully used without monitoring. Music apps will still function while connected to a car via CarPlay even if they aren't on either list. Before you add these apps to either list, please note that there is visual and audible pornography found in music apps.

* Please Note: We're investigating issues with Apple Music currently, which prevents you from listening to music while a broadcast is running (which is what this app does when apps are unblocked). This creates an issue where each time you start a broadcast Apple Music will continue playing but it doesn't actually produce sound through speaker/headphones. This is not an issue with YouTube Music, Spotify, and other music streaming apps--only with Apple Music. If you wish to use Apple Music, you can use it in the background and it works fine. However, if you wish to use Apple music while being monitored using other apps, you'll need to use a web browser and go to music.apple.com (or beta.music.apple.com if music.apple.com only redirects to the app) instead of using the Apple Music apps. We'll continue searching for ways to improve this.

Video streaming apps

Some video streaming apps (Netflix, etc) use digital rights management (DRM) features to block screenshots from being captured in order to protect their copyrighted video content. When this occurs, it will be indicated in the event timeline. We recommend you use the app's built-in parental control features, or use a web browser to watch the films instead of the app.

Snapchat

Since ScreenKin monitors using a screen recording broadcast, Snapchat will report that your child is recording the screen to anyone they're receiving Snapchats from. If you wish Snapchat to be monitored, the child must put up with this. If you trust your child with Snapchat, you can add Snapchat to the Always Allowed Apps list inside the ScreenKin app (see above).

Compatibility

ScreenKin requires iOS 18+ on the iPhone or iPad (if the phone was newly purchased after 2019, you should be good to go).