Apple Time Allowances do not make kids earn screen time
Parents searching for Apple Time Allowances this week are reading a new Screen Time budget, not a quiz. Apple published the setup steps on 4 November 2026, and the iOS 27 update notes on 9 November 2026 list the same control under Child Safety. The minutes exist because a parent set them. The child does not earn them first.
That is the gap EarnPlay still fills. A parent picks the apps that stay locked. A short learning game adds minutes. When the timer ends, the shields come back.
What Time Allowances change in iOS 27
Apple's 4 November page says Time Allowances set a boundary on how long a child can use apps across categories such as entertainment, games, and social media. One daily allowance can cover every category, and the child can spend it on a single category or split it. A parent can also raise or lower one category on its own.
The same page explains Screen Time Schedules. A schedule chooses which apps and websites are available at different times of day, such as before school and after school. Weekdays and weekends can differ, or a parent can build a schedule for specific days. An optional switch, Match Screen Time Schedule, lets the allowance change with the schedule. Leave it off and the same allowance applies each day.
Parents can add their own categories, put apps into a category, and move an app to another one. A website that has already been added under Apps and Websites can move too. Apps marked Always Allowed stay reachable in an emergency even inside a time window.
The 9 November iOS 27 notes describe the same idea in the Child Safety list. Time Allowances bound Entertainment, Games, and Social Media, with guidance based on expert research and tailored to the child's age. Schedules choose which apps are available at different points in the day, on weekdays and on weekends. The notes also list Ask to Browse, which lets a parent approve each new website before a child opens it. That is a separate switch. It is not a learning game.
Before any of this works, the 4 November page asks for Family Sharing, a separate Apple Account for each person, and a Child Account for a child in the family group. The new parental controls need iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, or visionOS 27.
A category budget is not an earned minute
Read the setup in order. Open Settings, tap Family, tap the child, tap Time Allowances, move a slider. Nothing in those steps asks the child to name a letter, finish a maths question, or show that a chore is done. The budget is already there.
A different product answered a different search on 10 November 2026. The Windows app child-time, on its chores page updated that day, lets a parent create a task such as reading twenty pages or tidying a room. The child marks it done, with a photo if the parent asks, and the parent approves in a dashboard or in Telegram. Minutes are added after that approval. A daily cap can stop tasks from becoming unlimited games. That is a chore contract. Time Allowances do not describe it, and EarnPlay does not do it either.
What EarnPlay asks for before apps unlock
EarnPlay is an iPhone and iPad app for children of about 4 to 10. Parents choose the gated apps with Apple's Family Activity picker. YouTube, Minecraft, or another game can stay behind the shield until earned minutes are available.
The child opens EarnPlay and finishes a short game the parent has turned on. The landing page names letter names, beginning sounds, Make 10, age-banded maths for about ages 5 to 10, and geography. The App Store description read on 11 November 2026 also names reading words, continents and capitals, and English or Spanish. A pass adds minutes to one shared pool. The gated apps unlock for the length the parent configured. When that timer ends, Screen Time puts the shields back. Nobody has to stand over the iPad and lock it by hand.
The quiz loop runs on the device. Children do not get an EarnPlay account, and the app has no social feed. Parents still need Apple Family Controls and a child Apple ID in Family Sharing. The app asks for iOS 17 or later, which is a lower bar than the iOS 27 controls above. Older challenge packs are on the roadmap. Parents pick the games that fit each child.
The EarnPlay page does not describe a subscription, a free tier, or a paid add-on, and it does not print a price. The download button goes to the App Store listing, which is where the price for that store is shown. This post does not copy a number the landing page does not print.
The June comparison, EarnPlay versus Apple Screen Time, was written before these November pages. It still holds the basic split: Screen Time can limit, and EarnPlay asks for a short game before the gated apps open. Time Allowances are the new name of the limit. They do not add the game.
What EarnPlay leaves out
EarnPlay does not edit Time Allowances or Screen Time Schedules. Those stay in Settings, on a device that has the version 27 controls. If you want a category budget for Games that the child can spend without a quiz, that setting is Apple's, not EarnPlay's.
EarnPlay does not approve chores, homework, or a photo of a finished task. It does not pay pocket money. It does not turn on Ask to Browse, and it does not approve websites one by one. A child older than about 10 is outside the age the page is built for. An app the parent never selected is not locked by EarnPlay. Parent conversation stays on the community hub, outside the app.
Where to start
If the search is "what did Time Allowances add," use Apple's two pages from this week. If the search is "how does a child earn the minutes before YouTube opens," that is the EarnPlay loop: a short game, a shared pool of minutes, then an automatic lock. Download EarnPlay on the App Store when that is the loop you want. The listing is the place to confirm the price and the games in your language.