PeepHow to Lock Apps on Your Kid's iPhone or iPad Until Chores Are Done
What Apple Screen Time can and can't do
Screen Time on iPhone and iPad gives you App Limits (a daily time budget per app or category), Downtime (a schedule when only allowed apps work), and Ask to Buy. None of those know whether the dishes are done. You can lock apps manually and unlock them later, but then you're the one doing it, every day.
What you need
- Your kid's iPhone or iPad on iOS or iPadOS 16 or later.
- Your kid signed into a child Apple Account that's part of your Family Sharing group. A regular adult account won't let any app enforce locks. Here's how to check.
- No other parental control app holding Screen Time on that device.
Pick apps, not whole categories
When you choose what to lock, open each category and pick the specific apps (YouTube, Roblox, Fortnite, TikTok). Locking an entire category can catch things you didn't mean to, and new apps your kid installs land in categories you might not expect.
Keep homework apps open
Only lock the apps that are the reward. Leave school apps, the browser if homework needs it, Messages to family, and anything they need to actually do the chores and homework.
How to use Peep for this
Peep holds the lock for you. Selected apps stay locked until every mission for the day is approved. When you tap approve on your phone, they unlock right away and relock when the earned time runs out or at midnight.
- Install Peep on your iPhoneDownload Peep, create your family, and add each kid. You'll get a nest code for every kid.
- Set the daily missionsPick the chores and tasks that have to happen each day, and how much screen time they earn (up to 4 hours a day).
- Connect your kid's deviceInstall Peep on your kid's iPhone or iPad, enter the nest code, and choose the apps to lock. Peep checks that the lock is really working before setup finishes.
- Approve with one tapYour kid checks off missions. You get a notification and approve from your own phone. Their apps unlock automatically.
Common questions
Can my kid change which apps are locked?
Not without you. In Peep, changing locked apps on the kid's device is protected by your Parent PIN and needs your OK from your own phone.
Will this lock Phone, Messages, or emergency calls?
No. Peep only locks the apps you pick, and the Phone app stays available.