Really this is my biggest qualm with the update. I didn’t love the update when it first switched, but I’ve gotten used to it for the most part… only, this feature being gone kinda hurts.
There was a feature in the old version that you could toggle how distracting certain apps were or weren’t, and there was a little switch that gave you the option to take it off of your screen time results. I didn’t use that feature for too many apps, but there were a few.
I like to leave my audiobook apps and music apps open when I use them (especially if I’m using them while I’m embroidering or drawing). I always had them off of my screen time because I don’t actually look at the phone unless I’m saving a song or highlighting something. Now that that’s gone though, my screen time report is higher, despite the fact that I’m not actively looking at my screen.
Anyway, it’d be nice if there was a way to bring that back or at the very least add something similar.
Thanks for your request for the ability to be able to designate apps as Neutral, Distracting, and Productive to be reintroduced to the app. We’ve changed this feature so that you may now designate apps as Distracting, Always Allowed, and Never Allowed. There’s more information on how that works here:
Additionally, you can now see your time spent on Distracting Apps by navigating to your Home tab and tapping on “Focus.” There, you may see your Screen Time, as well as your Distractions. If you do not see those options reflected, please update to the newest version of the app here:
In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions about how the app works, or if you run into any other issues with the newest version of the app.
This still doesn’t exclude them from screen time. I have to use some apps for work and them being lumped in sucks. Going to look for another option and see if I can get a refund, this is a rollback of one of the best features. Dumb.
Thanks for letting us know! Our engineering team is currently working on reintroducing this feature. We’ll let you know when it goes live; it should be in the coming month!
I was using YouTube for study music and also for understanding concepts for my education by watching lectures from other institutions. My focus hours have drastically reduced since you guys have determined all of YouTube to be “distracting”. A lot of people with different learning styles rely on YouTube as a resource to understand concepts that are difficult to them. Stop blanket categorizing apps. It’s cheap behaviour.