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Phone with TikTok logo on screen.
Users will also get access to a screen-time dashboard that shows how often they use the app. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Users will also get access to a screen-time dashboard that shows how often they use the app. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

TikTok addicts to benefit from in-app screen-time controls

This article is more than 1 year old

New setting will allow users to set enforced breaks once chosen daily limit on uninterrupted use is reached

TikTok addicts will be able to further limit their time on the app, the company has said, with a new pair of screen-time settings coming to the service imminently.

Like many of its competitors, TikTok already allows users to set a maximum screen-time allowance for each day, to help them stop idling away hours at a time scrolling through the “for you” page.

Now, the company will also let users set time limits before requiring a break after a certain amount of uninterrupted screen time – a figure the user can set themselves, if they wish.

A new screen-time dashboard will also provide feedback for TikTok users about the amount of time they spend on the app, how often they open it, and a breakdown of their day and night-time usage.

“At TikTok, we believe that our digital experiences should bring us joy, entertainment, connection and enrichment,” a TikTok blogpost said.

“Having a positive relationship with digital devices and apps isn’t just about measuring screen time, it’s also about feeling in control of how we use technology and ensuring that the time we spend online contributes positively to our sense of wellbeing.

“That’s why we’re taking a number of steps today to help support our community’s digital wellbeing as they create and discover on TikTok.”

The settings aren’t just being provided because of TikTok’s concern for users’ wellbeing. Social networks have a strong motivation to offer their own screen-time controls, in case people decide to activate the stricter controls built into both the iOS and Android smartphone platforms.

New requirements introduced last summer require technology companiesto be more aware of how their services are used by children.

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Earlier this week Apple announced a new set of options in its own screen time feature, aimed at making it easier for parents to manage the screen time of their children. Kids can now send a text request to their parents for extra screen time and have it approved in-app, rather than needing to hand their phone over and have a passcode entered.

And parents can now automatically set up phones with a single collection of recommended settings based on the child’s age, and with screen-time limits and bedtimes enforced automatically.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Ofcom investigates TikTok over parental control information

  • TikTok opens datacentre in Dublin in bid to combat European privacy concerns

  • TikTok to be fined for breaching children’s privacy in EU

  • TikTok stars clean up: the influencers saving Indonesia’s polluted rivers and beaches

  • ‘Ice-cream so good’: how are TikTok creators making money from bizarre gestures and phrases on a loop?

  • TikTok has matchmaking service for staff to play cupid for co-workers

  • TikTok introduces text-only posts as Elon Musk rebrands Twitter as X

  • TikTok received more requests to remove child bullying posts than any other social platform in Australia

  • TikTok is the most popular news source for 12 to 15-year-olds, says Ofcom

  • $7,000 a day for five catchphrases: the TikTokers pretending to be ‘non-playable characters’

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