Got an app limit already?This is how you lock it with no way out.You set an app limit, it held for a day or two, and then the limit screen turned into a speed bump. That is rarely the limit’s fault. The problem is the way past it: a button that lets you carry on, or a Screen Time passcode you know by heart.This guide keeps your limit and takes the way out away. It takes about ten minutes, plus, on some versions, a short visit when your first lock opens.Which names you will see. In iOS 27 and macOS 27, App Limits became Time Allowances, set per category with a daily total, and on iPhone the passcode settings moved to Passcode & Management. Apple says these need version 27 on all your devices, so if you still see App Limits, follow the steps for iOS 26 and earlier, Block at End of Limit included.Before you lock itOnce the passcode is set, every change needs it, so get the limit right first.

Check the limit. In Settings, tap Screen Time, then App Limits or Time Allowances. For App Limits, check the apps, the daily time and the days. For Time Allowances, check the categories and their daily time, and the days in Screen Time Schedule.

Check Always Allowed. Apps on that list are never limited. Keep what you truly need, like maps, your bank or your authenticator app, and take out anything you only open out of habit.

Decide on Share Across Devices. With it on, your limits and schedules apply to every device on the same Apple Account. With it off, each device keeps its own, and an unlocked Mac stays a way around a locked phone.

If you don’t have a Screen Time passcode yet

Add a Screen Time PIN in Detox. Detox makes four digits you never see and plays them as a keypad video. For this first lock, let it open later today: on iOS 26 and macOS 26 and earlier, a limit needs one more setting, and the last section explains why.

Open the passcode screen. On iOS 27: Settings, Screen Time, Passcode & Management, then Lock Screen Time Settings. On iOS 26 and earlier, tap Lock Screen Time Settings near the bottom of Screen Time. On a Mac, it is a switch near the bottom of Screen Time in System Settings.

Follow the video. Tap each key as it lights up. iOS asks for the passcode twice, and the video covers both rounds.

Decide about Passcode Recovery. iOS then offers Screen Time Passcode Recovery, which asks for an Apple Account. Whoever knows that account’s password can reset the passcode later, so if you enter your own, that is your way out.

Skipping recovery. You can skip it. Apple advises against that, because without recovery a forgotten passcode can’t be reset. With Detox the passcode isn’t forgotten: it waits in your vault until your lock opens. That makes your Detox sign-in the key, so keep your password and recovery key somewhere safe.If you already have oneChanging a Screen Time passcode always starts with the current one, so this part is on you, once.

Use the old passcode one last time. On iOS 26 and macOS 26 and earlier, turn on Block at End of Limit in your limit while you still know the passcode (see the last section).

Have the video ready. Add the Screen Time PIN in Detox, as above.

Open Change Screen Time Passcode. On iOS 27: Settings, Screen Time, Passcode & Management, then Change Screen Time Passcode, and the same again in the menu. On iOS 26 and earlier, it is near the bottom of Screen Time.

Type your current passcode yourself, then follow the video for the new one.

One catch: changing the passcode keeps the Passcode Recovery account from when it was first created. If that account is yours, it can still reset the new passcode. For a clean start, turn the old passcode off instead (Change Screen Time Passcode, then Turn Off Screen Time Passcode) and create a new one with Detox.Make sure the limit blocksApple says Lock Screen Time Settings requires the passcode to change Screen Time settings and to allow more time when limits expire. On iOS 26 and earlier, each limit also has a switch, Block at End of Limit; on macOS 26 and earlier it is a checkbox, Block at end of limit, where you add or edit a limit. With it off, the limit screen offers Ignore Limit. With it on, you see Ask For More Time: iOS may still offer one more minute, and anything beyond that needs the passcode.The iPhone shows that switch only once a passcode exists, and from then on changing a limit asks for it. If your Mac shows the checkbox before the passcode, select it then. Otherwise, this is what the short first lock is for:

When your first lock opens, go to the limit on your phone or Mac.

When it asks for the passcode, Detox walks you through typing it with a keypad video, so you still never see the digits.

Turn on Block at End of Limit, then tap Lock again in Detox.

From then on, past that one minute, the limit asks for a passcode you don’t have. That is the whole idea.Digital Detox keeps your Screen Time passcode locked until the time you pick. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript turned on.