Apple Screen Time – Monitor Usage

If you’ve updated your Mac to the Catalina OS, there’s a nifty new feature called Screen Time that you can use to track and limit usage on your computer. Screentime is also available for your iPhone and iPad.  Let’s check out how to use it.

Click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen and choose System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

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Then choose Screen Time.

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The Screen Time window will open.

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Click the three-dot menu icon at the bottom left.

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Click the on/off button at the right to turn Screen Time off or on. This is where you can also choose to share the same Screentime settings across all of your Apple devices (Mac, iPhone, and iPad).  You also have the option to set a passcode for your Screen Time settings. If you have kids it’s a very good idea to passcode protect the settings.

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You can also set up Family Sharing from here to keep control over the activities of younger family members on their own devices.

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Let’s start by tracking usage on your device. Click on App Usage.

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Information about your app usage will appear in the right window.

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You’ll see a graph representing your usage. You can navigate by date, day, and hour of the day. You’ll be able to see how much time was spent using various types of app.

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Below that you can see exactly how much time was spent using each app.

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You can also see any use limits and edit or add limits. I’ll explain more about setting limits later on.

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In addition to monitoring app usage, you can also see what types of notifications you’ve received.

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As with usage, you can filter by date, day, and time. This is a good way to make sure you haven’t missed any notifications.

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You can also monitor Pickups. That’s how many times a day you picked up and used your devices.

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You’ll be able to see when your device was used and what apps were opened first when accessed it.

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In part 2 of this series, I’ll show you how to set usage limits.

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