How to Check Screen Time on Android and iPhone
Short answer, and it explains why you could not find it: Android has no feature called Screen Time. It is called Digital Wellbeing, and it lives in Settings, then Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. On iPhone the feature really is called Screen Time: Settings, Screen Time, See All App & Website Activity, then pick Week or Day.
If the numbers look wrong or missing, it is usually one of two settings rather than a bug. An iPhone showing nothing normally has App & Website Activity switched off, which is the master reporting switch. A total that looks impossibly high normally has Share Across Devices on, which adds the iPad and the Mac into the same figure. Both are covered below. Verified July 29, 2026.
Android: it is called Digital Wellbeing
This is the whole reason this search exists. People go looking for a Screen Time menu on an Android phone, cannot find one, and assume it is missing. It is not missing, it is named differently.
- Open your device's Settings app.
- Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
- The chart at the top shows your use for the day. Tap the chart for the detail.
Google describes what the dashboard reports in three parts: screen time, meaning what apps you have had on screen and for how long; times opened, meaning how often you have unlocked your device; and notifications received, meaning how many you have had and from which apps.
⚠️ Carry this hedge with you, because it is Google's own: "Some of these steps may vary based on your device." Samsung, Xiaomi and others put their own layer over Android and can rename or relocate the menu. If Settings does not show it where we describe, search the Settings app for "wellbeing" rather than for "screen time". The screen time widget is scoped by Google to Android 9 and later.
⭐ The number most people ignore is notifications received. Time on screen tells you what a person chose; notification count tells you how often something chose for them. An app that interrupts a child two hundred times a day is shaping the day more than one they deliberately open twice.
iPhone: Screen Time, and the switch that has to be on first
On iPhone the name matches what you searched for, but there is a step people skip.
First, make sure reporting is on. Go to Settings, tap Screen Time, tap your child's name if you are setting this up for them, tap App & Website Activity, then tap Turn On App & Website Activity. This is the master switch, and it is the reason most empty Screen Time screens are empty.
Then view the summary.
- Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
- To see your child's, tap your child's name.
- Tap See All App & Website Activity, then tap Devices to choose which device you are looking at.
- Tap Week for a weekly summary or Day for a daily one.
Apple groups the activity into categories such as Entertainment and Creativity, and you can swipe left and right through your history. Activity that does not fit a category may appear grey in the summary, which is Apple's own note and explains the mystery block that belongs to nothing.
⚠️ One consequence worth knowing before you switch anything off: Apple states that turning off App & Website Activity also turns off Downtime, App Limits and Always Allowed. So the master switch does not just stop the reporting, it takes your limits with it. If a teenager has been unusually helpful with the settings lately, that is the switch to check.
Why the numbers often look wrong
Two settings cause most of it, and both are on the Apple side.
An empty report nearly always means App & Website Activity is off, as above. There is no history to show because none was being recorded.
A total that looks impossible usually means Share Across Devices is on. Apple syncs Screen Time settings and usage across the iPhone, iPad and Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, and shows you the combined activity. Nine hours of screen time reads very differently when three of them were a Mac doing homework. With it off, each device keeps its own separate Screen Time. Either way, use the Devices option inside the summary to look at one device at a time before reacting.
And a limit that applies to every tool on this page: these numbers cover the phone you are holding. A tablet nobody set up, a console, a school laptop and a friend's phone are all outside them.
Checking a child's screen time, honestly
On iPhone, if your child's device is set up under Family Sharing, tapping your child's name inside Screen Time shows their summary, and the same Week and Day views apply. That is Apple's own documented behaviour.
On Android, the parent-side controls sit in Family Link rather than in Digital Wellbeing on the child's handset, under Screen time. We are not going to walk you screen by screen through a report we have not read ourselves, so treat that as a pointer rather than instructions. Our guide to blocking inappropriate websites on a phone covers the Family Link paths we have verified, including how app blocking works.
Then the part worth being straight about. Every tool on this page answers the same question: how long. None of them answers what. A dashboard can tell you a child spent three hours in a messaging app; it cannot tell you that one of those conversations was with a stranger, or that a group chat turned cruel. If the reason you went looking for the screen time number is that something feels off rather than that you want a tidier evening routine, the number is not going to answer you.
Bark is the tool we track for that second question: it watches texts, social messages and email across more than 30 apps and surfaces the concerning parts rather than handing you a transcript, and it manages screen time as well. Our Bark review is honest about where it is weaker, particularly on iPhone, where Apple stops any third-party app reading social content.
See how Bark monitors messages
If a tidier routine genuinely is the goal, the free tools are enough and we would rather say so: set the limits inside Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing and skip the subscription. Our comparison of parental control apps covers the paid options if you decide you want more, including the ones we earn nothing from.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find screen time on Android?
Look for Digital Wellbeing, not Screen Time, because Android does not have a feature by that name. Open your device’s Settings app and tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. The chart at the top shows your use for the day, and tapping it opens the detail. Google notes that some of these steps may vary based on your device, which is worth taking seriously: Samsung and other manufacturers put their own layer over Android and can rename or move the menu. If you cannot see it in Settings, search the Settings app for "wellbeing" rather than "screen time".
What does the Android dashboard actually show me?
Three things, in Google’s own terms. Screen time, meaning what apps you have had on screen and for how long. Times opened, meaning how often you have unlocked your device. And notifications received, meaning how many you have had and from which apps. That last one is the most useful number nobody looks at, because an app that interrupts you two hundred times a day is shaping your behaviour more than one you deliberately open twice.
How do I check screen time on an iPhone?
Go to Settings, tap Screen Time, tap your child’s name if you are looking at theirs, then tap See All App & Website Activity. Tap Devices to choose which device you are looking at, then tap Week or Day. Screen Time groups activity into categories such as Entertainment and Creativity, and you can swipe left and right to move through your history. Apple notes that activity which does not fit a category may appear grey in the summary.
Why is my iPhone Screen Time empty or showing no data?
Almost always because the reporting switch was never turned on. In Settings, tap Screen Time, tap your child’s name if relevant, tap App & Website Activity and then Turn On App & Website Activity. Until that is on there is nothing to report, and Apple is explicit that turning it off also turns off Downtime, App Limits and Always Allowed. So if someone in the house has switched it off, you lose the limits at the same time as the numbers, which is worth knowing if a teenager has been unusually helpful with the settings.
Why do my screen time numbers look wrong?
On iPhone the usual culprit is Share Across Devices. When it is on, your settings and your usage data are shared across the iPhone, iPad and Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, and you see a combined figure rather than a phone figure, which is why the total can look alarming. When it is off, each device keeps its own separate Screen Time. Check which mode you are in before drawing conclusions, and use the Devices option in the summary to look at one device at a time.
Can I see my child’s screen time remotely?
On iPhone, yes: if their device is set up under your Family Sharing, tapping your child’s name inside Screen Time shows their summary. On Android the parent-side controls live in Family Link rather than in Digital Wellbeing on the child’s handset. We are not going to walk you through screens we have not verified ourselves, so check inside Family Link under Screen time. Worth setting expectations either way: every one of these tools reports how long, and none of them reports what was said.
How we reach these conclusions, and the sources behind them, is on our methodology page. The Android path, the name Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, the three things the dashboard reports, the hedge that some steps may vary based on your device, and the Android 9 and later scope for the widget were read from Google's own Android support documentation and verified July 29, 2026. The iPhone paths, the App & Website Activity master switch and its effect on Downtime, App Limits and Always Allowed, the See All App & Website Activity summary with its Devices, Week and Day options, the Entertainment and Creativity categories, the note that uncategorised activity may appear grey, and the behaviour of Share Across Devices were read from Apple's own iPhone support documentation and verified July 29, 2026; that documentation was read in its English Canadian edition and we make no claim about differences between regions. We deliberately do not give step-by-step instructions for viewing a child's activity report inside Family Link, because we have not read that screen: Google's supervised-account page describes what the child can manage, not what the parent sees. Apple and Google are named as sources in text and are not linked. We earn a commission if you sign up to Bark through our link; it appears only after the free tools, and the page says plainly that for a routine problem the free tools are enough.