If you’re looking to keep an eye on your kids while they use their phones and tablets, as expected of most modern day smartphones, iOS comes with built-in parental controls. These parental controls are designed to help prevent children from overusing their devices, browsing content they’re not supposed to, and so on.However, it seems that in the latest update to iOS, which is iOS 13.3, there is a bug within the update that might have rendered one of the new features useless. The new feature in question, called Communication Limits, is designed to help parents limit who their kids talk to, especially strangers who are not on their contacts list.
However, in a bug that was discovered, it seems that kids can potentially bypass the feature. This seems to have to do with iCloud, where you need to have your contacts stored to iCloud by default. If contacts are not stored, it was discovered that when an unknown number is sent to the phone, the child is given the option to add the number to their address book, which in turn bypasses Communication Limit and lets them call, FaceTime, and/or text that number.
Apple has since issued a statement to CNBC in which they state that they are working on a fix that should be released in an upcoming update. “This issue only occurs on devices set up with a non-standard configuration, and a workaround is available. We’re working on a complete fix and will release it in an upcoming software update.”