We're here to help.
First off, we know this can be frustrating. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Steps to troubleshoot:
1) Reload
Tap "Help (top of any screen) > Reload Blocking".
If you are having to reload constantly please contact us: "Roots > Profile > Account Settings (top of the screen) > Help Center (under Help & Support) > Scroll down to Contact Us".
2) Turn off "Share Across Devices" on ALL iOS devices
Open your "iOS Settings > Screen Time"
Turn off "Share Across Devices"
In some cases, we have seen this needs to be turned off on all devices. Due to limitations with "Apple Screen Time" this is required for using Roots. Learn how to turn off share across devices here.
3) Remove any blocking you have set up outside of Roots
If you have any blocking active in iOS "Screen Time" or other screen time apps, it can cause issues and make the Roots "Time Limits" and "Time of Day" blocks to not work properly
Remove any existing blocking you have outside of the Roots app
Remove screen time permissions from other screen time apps
4) Check if Apple is reporting usage correctly
Open your "iOS Settings > Screen Time"
See if the app usage report is accurate
In some cases Apple may over or under report screen time leading to blocking issues
5) Update Roots app and iOS
Update to the latest version of Roots
Update to the latest iOS version
6) Force quit apps running in background
A lot of issues are related to memory issues on the Apple side. Swipe up and hold, and then close as many apps as possible. This will make the blocking run more smoothly. Click here if you don't know how to do that.
7) Force quit the Roots app
Force close Roots and open it again to reset the connection
Click here if you don't know how to do that
8) Restart your phone
Restart your phone
Click here if you don't know how to do that
9) Reset "Screen Time" permissions
Go to "Settings > Screen Time"
Scroll down and find "Roots"
Remove access, then re-open the Roots app
Give access to screen time permissions when prompted
Note: Reconnecting may result in the loss of historical screen time data within the app.
10) Check if you have overlapping "Time of Day" blocks
Overlapping app blocks should not cause an issue. However, we have seen a pattern related to this. If you are having issues, please try the following:
Edit the times so they don't overlap, or stop and start at the same time
Then, tap "Help > Reload"
Here is an example:
Morning Block: 6:00am - 9:00am
Work Block: 9:01am - 5:00pm
11) Turn off "Low Power Mode"
Turn off "Low Power Mode" for better performance
12) Make a slight edit and re-save
Tap the edit icon on your app blocks
Make a slight edit to the time
Open the app selector, remove one, then save
Open the app selector, add it back, and save
13) One more thing to try:
If none of the suggested troubleshooting works, please try giving screen time permissions to a different app. In some cases the screen time API can get hung up on the Apple side, and doing this can force things to reset:
Keep Roots open but in the background
Download another screen time app, such as this one
Go through onboarding until you give screen time permissions
Once approved, re-open Roots
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Need more help?
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