Bedtime & Screen Time Rules

Short answer: Rules → Time Rules → Restricted Windows, set a start and end time, save. The phone locks itself every night from then on.

Calls, messages, the alarm clock, maps and the calculator keep working while it's locked.

Set a bedtime tonight →

The problem is the last hour, not the day

Most parents come to screen time thinking about totals. Then they check when the phone is actually being used and find the answer is 11pm to half past midnight, under a duvet, on a school night.

A daily limit doesn't touch that. Four hours of screen time is four hours whether it's used after school or after lights out. What fixes the sleep problem is a window where the phone simply doesn't work — and that takes thirty seconds to set.

Setting the bedtime lock

1. Rules → Time Rules
2. Open Restricted Time Windows
3. Add Window — start time, end time, days
4. Save

Done. The device shows a bedtime screen at the start time and comes back on its own in the morning.

Choosing your child's age sets a starting point automatically:

Windows are per day of the week, so weekdays and weekends can differ. Most families run something like 9:30pm on school nights and 11pm on Friday and Saturday — the flexibility is what stops the rule feeling arbitrary.

What still works while the phone is locked

Five apps come through every restriction: Phone, Messages, Clock, Calculator and Maps. Your child can always call you, always hear their alarm, and can always find their way home.

WhatsApp is not in that list by default, because in most families it's the thing keeping them awake. If your family runs on it, add it as an essential app in the time window settings — one tap, and it comes through too.

The three controls, and how they stack

There are only three, and they work independently:

1. Restricted windows — bedtime, school hours, tuition. The phone is locked during these regardless of time remaining.
2. A daily device limit — total screen time for the day. When it's used up, the phone locks.
3. Per-app limits — a budget for one app. YouTube gets an hour even if three hours of device time are left.

Age defaults for the daily limit:

Those are ceilings, not targets, and they're deliberately generous — a limit your child hits at 4pm every day just teaches them the tool is unreasonable. Adjust in Rules → Time Rules.

School and homework windows

The same Add Window screen covers the rest of the day. Set 8am-3pm Monday to Friday and recreational apps stop working during class; set 4pm-6pm and tuition time is protected. Mark your child's learning apps as always allowed in App Rules so homework still happens.

When the rule needs to bend

It will — exam week, a delayed pickup, a film that runs long.

Your child taps Request More Time, you get a notification, and you grant 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour or two hours. Their phone unlocks straight away. You can also extend from the dashboard without being asked, and Unlock Device pauses everything for a holiday or a long journey.

Permanent limits don't change when you do this, which is the point: bending a rule once is a decision, and lowering it forever is a different one.

What we'd tell you not to do

Don't move bedtime around. A time that changes every week isn't a rule, it's a negotiation, and you'll have it every night.

Don't start strict. Beginning generous and tightening later works. Beginning tight and loosening after a fight does not.

Read the usage times before changing the limit. If most of the screen time is in the hour before sleep, the daily limit is fine and the bedtime is what's wrong. That's the single most common misdiagnosis.

Frequently asked questions

Can my child change the phone's clock to get past bedtime?
No. ParentalEdge blocks the date and time screen in Android Settings specifically because moving the clock would otherwise be a bypass.

Does it still lock in airplane mode or with no signal?
Yes. Time rules are enforced on the device itself, so turning off Wi-Fi and mobile data changes nothing.

What counts toward the daily limit?
Active use — apps, browsing, video. Calls and the essential apps don't, and neither does music playing with the screen off.

How do I turn everything off temporarily?
Open your child's device and tap Unlock Device. All restrictions pause until you switch them back on.

My child says they need more time for homework.
Check the activity for the day before deciding. If the study apps are at twenty minutes and YouTube is at two hours, you have the answer — and showing them the same screen is a better conversation than a flat no.

Does this work on iPhone?
Yes, bedtime windows and daily limits work on iOS. Reporting on which apps were used is Android-only, because Apple doesn't permit it.

Lock bedtime on your child's phone →

The other two pillars: Web Safety and App Controls.