(USNewsBreak.com) – An increasing number of children have cell phones these days. Parents use them to keep in touch with their kids and provide them as a social tool. Many like to install parental controls that prohibit their children from accessing harmful or adult material or set time limits to minimize usage. However, there is apparently a way around the precautions. Now, the tech giant has promised to close the loophole.
An article in The Wall Street Journal by Joanna Stern went deeper into the issue. She said that in 2020, a security researcher in Vienna, Andreas Jägersberger, realized he could get around the parent controls by entering a nonsensical phrase in Safari, Apple’s web browser. The following year, he and a colleague, Ro Achterberg, sent in a security report to the tech giant twice, once in March and again in August. Apple told them it wasn’t a security issue and to submit a report through the feedback tool.
Apple to close years-old loophole that lets children bypass parental controls https://t.co/CpFrjBSrbV
— Guardian Tech (@guardiantech) June 6, 2024
Yet, three years later, that loophole still exists. It allows users to disable the Screen Time function, giving them access to the entire World Wide Web rather than just a limited version that locks down sites deemed inappropriate for young eyes. However, it is not believed that a high number of people have been taking advantage of the loophole.
Some complained that Apple simply didn’t care about the loophole and did nothing to fix it. The tech giant did acknowledge the flaw publicly, saying it “take[s] reports of issues regarding Screen Time very seriously and ha[s] been consistently making improvements.” A spokeswoman for the company said the “work is not done, and [Apple] will continue to make updates in upcoming software releases.” It has promised to release a fix in its next software update.
Apple has also received criticism about Screen Time because it essentially removed many other apps that offered the same functions, citing a security concern. It said the type of access that an app of that caliber would need would put a lot of data in someone’s hands, which they could use for criminal purposes.
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