{"id":137519,"date":"2026-06-08T18:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=0d2gpmml"},"modified":"2026-06-08T18:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:19:33","slug":"introducing-time-allowances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/06\/08\/introducing-time-allowances\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Time Allowances"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/introducing-time-allowances.jpg\" data-img-dark=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/introducing-time-allowances.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\" alt><\/div>\n<p>New Time Allowances in iOS&nbsp;27, iPadOS&nbsp;27, and macOS&nbsp;27, or later, give parents more flexible ways to manage the time their kids spend in apps across categories, including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media. Time Allowances are developed based on expert research and tailored to a child\u2019s age to give parents a helpful starting point. Parents can adjust these settings based on what they determine is best for their child. Time Allowance categories are different from categories for user discovery on the App&nbsp;Store.<\/p>\n<h3>Entertainment and Games <\/h3>\n<p>Your app or game will appear in a Time Allowance category based on the information you provide in App Store Connect. Apps and games with Entertainment or Games selected as a primary or secondary category in App&nbsp;Store&nbsp;Connect will be sorted into the corresponding Time Allowance categories. <\/p>\n<h3>Social Media <\/h3>\n<p>The Time Allowance category for Social Media will be based on whether your app or game offers social media capabilities, regardless of the category selected in App&nbsp;Store&nbsp;Connect. This includes the ability to redistribute, amplify, or interact with user-generated content through a social feed or similar discovery method that visibly spreads content to many users. Starting July&nbsp;2026, the age rating questionnaire will be updated to let you indicate whether your app or game includes social media capabilities. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you indicate that your app or game includes social media capabilities, it will be placed in the Time Allowance category for Social Media and receive a minimum age rating of 13+. <\/li>\n<li>If you indicate that your app or game includes social media capabilities but they are disabled for anyone under 13, it won\u2019t be included in the Time Allowance category for Social Media for users under 13. You&#8217;ll also need to use the Declared Age Range API (at a minimum) to check users\u2019 age ranges. If you select this option, your overall responses in the age rating questionnaire determine your age rating and may result in a rating lower than 13+. Your app or game may still be grouped in the Time Allowance category for Games or Entertainment based on the primary or secondary category selected in App&nbsp;Store&nbsp;Connect, and will remain in the Social Media category for users 13 and above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Starting September 2026, you\u2019ll be required to indicate whether your app or game includes social media capabilities in order to submit new versions or updates to the App Store, or for notarization for distribution on alternative app marketplaces. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/kids\/\">Design safe and age\u2011appropriate experiences for your apps <span class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright nowrap\">and games<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/help\/app-store-connect\/manage-app-information\/set-an-app-age-rating\/\">Set an <span class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright nowrap\">age rating<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/documentation\/declaredagerange\">Declared Age Range <span class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright nowrap\">API documentation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Time Allowances in iOS&nbsp;27, iPadOS&nbsp;27, and macOS&nbsp;27, or later, give parents more flexible ways to manage the time their kids spend in apps across categories, including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media. Time Allowances are developed based on expert research and tailored to a child\u2019s age to give parents a helpful starting point. Parents can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}