Jun 09, 2025 07:00:00

'Screen Time Network' is an API that measures iOS screen time independently and makes it available on the web

iOS has a feature called '

Screen Time ' that measures the time spent on an iPhone or iPad and the apps used, allowing users to know how much time they spend on their smartphone. The developers of Clearspace , an app that controls smartphone screen time, have released the 'Screen Time Network,' an API that allows users to measure iOS screen time independently and use it from the web.

API Documentation - Screen Time Network
https://www.thescreentimenetwork.com/api/overview

Show HN: iOS Screen Time from a REST API | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44194120

iOS Screen Time helps you understand your digital device usage habits and can also be used to prevent overuse of your smartphone by setting daily usage times for each app. Clearspace is an app for controlling screen time, and has a variety of useful features such as 'blocking or limiting apps,' 'setting an app usage schedule,' and 'pausing and waiting for a while before opening an app.'

Oliver and Lois, the developers of Clearspace, have received requests for a variety of features from users, including the ability to automatically donate to charity when users exceed or try to circumvent screen time limits, the ability to visualize screen time within groups with the same goals, and the ability to automatically report excessive screen time usage to therapists.

Since it's not possible to meet all of these demands, Oliver and Royce released the Screen Time Network, a REST API that can access data on the web, allowing users to access iOS screen time.

The Screen Time Network enables you to primarily do things like access your own or any other user's today's screen time, access your own or any other public user's past screen time data, and subscribe to your own or any other public user's screen time-related events.

Looking at screen time in the Screen Time Network UI looks like this.

Using the API, you can create tools that visualize screen time or send notifications when screen time exceeds a certain amount of time.

Since the data sent from the device to the Screen Time Network is sent via Clearspace, you need to install Clearspace to use the API. If you create a Screen Time Network account first, the API setup screen will be displayed when you log in to Clearspace, so Oliver and his colleagues recommended creating an API account first.