Screen Time showing Youtube even though it's not installed

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I don't have the Youtube app—or any other Google app—installed (iPhone 12 Pro) but Screen Time showing as 11 hours watched yesterday and more than 9 hours on a different day last week. I didn't watch anything on Youtube (web) yesterday, either (and certainly not for 11+ hours), so I don't think it's getting confused with a web app.

Any idea why this would be showing up?

 

[throAU]

Have you been using the website? If so that's why.


edit:
Hmm... no tab open in the background?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I do have one open YT tab/page (among about 30 other, non-YT pages), but since it's iOS I find it hard to believe that it would be showing as active for 11 hours on one day (esp. since I haven't watched that particular video in a few weeks) and not every day.

 

[casperes1996]

I do have one open YT tab/page (among about 30 other, non-YT pages), but since it's iOS I find it hard to believe that it would be showing as active for 11 hours on one day (esp. since I haven't watched that particular video in a few weeks) and not every day.

It’s definitely based on the website though. The YouTube app just says YouTube; The website will show as YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream like it does on yours.

 

[cupcakes2000]

It’s definitely based on the website though. The YouTube app just says YouTube; The website will show as YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream like it does on yours.

Why wouldn’t it just say safari, or whatever browser? No other website is explicitly labelled on screen time... I don’t think?

**edit. My bad. Of course it is. I don’t know what I was thinking of and this proves you mustn’t comment on something you know nothing about ?

 

[C DM]

It’s definitely based on the website though. The YouTube app just says YouTube; The website will show as YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream like it does on yours.

YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream is how the app is titled in the App Store.

 

[casperes1996]

Why wouldn’t it just say safari, or whatever browser? No other website is explicitly labelled on screen time... I don’t think?

**edit. My bad. Of course it is. I don’t know what I was thinking of and this proves you mustn’t comment on something you know nothing about ?

Safari at least is capable of extracting the info to Screen Time since different pages on Safari are quite different things and not just one monolithic Safari activity

YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream is how the app is titled in the App Store.

Sure but in my screen time the app always just shows as YouTube - Is yours different in there?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

It’s definitely based on the website though. The YouTube app just says YouTube; The website will show as YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream like it does on yours.

Yeah I think you’re right. These three are definitely all websites, but one shows more like an app. Must be something in the meta.

 

[casperes1996]

Yeah I think you’re right. These three are definitely all websites, but one shows more like an app. Must be something in the meta.

View attachment 1683128

To show with a proper icon and title it needs the appropriate title tag set and the appropriate favicon media linked in the HTML

 

[C DM]

To show with a proper icon and title it needs the appropriate title tag set and the appropriate favicon media linked in the HTML

In case of YouTube the title of YouTube's web site would be just "YouTube" or "YouTube - Home" rather than the full title that is being used in the App Store or by Screen Time (that being "YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream"). Something similar applies to Bleacher Report.

If individual website usage gets reported in Screen Time it seems to be getting reported using the App Store name of the associated app, which is at least somewhat awkward.

 

[casperes1996]

If individual website usage gets reported in Screen Time it seems to be getting reported using the App Store name of the associated app, which is at least somewhat awkward.

Individual website usage definitely gets reported. - But I suppose it could be going through the App Store Deeplink which some websites have - the thing that also shows that you can download the app from the top of the page

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

So now that we’re sure that it’s the YouTube website, I wonder what dark voodoo Google is doing to get it to be active in the background for that long a period. and how do I prevent it without blocking YouTube entirely? ?

 

[C DM]

So now that we’re sure that it’s the YouTube website, I wonder what dark voodoo Google is doing to get it to be active in the background for that long a period. and how do I prevent it without blocking YouTube entirely? ?

Perhaps "closing" Safari (removing it from recent apps)?

 

[realpras]

Perhaps it’s shared across from your other devices (Mac, iPad, etc.) and you accidentally left the Safari opened with YouTube playing in the background (esp if you’re Premium subscriber) or some sort in those other devices

 

[christyr474]

I'm having a similar issue to OP. I don't have the Youtube app installed, I have not watched any Youtube videos in-browser, I don't have any tabs open on Chrome or Safari for Youtube, my macbook has not been used in a week, and there's no way my phone accessed the Youtube app. The only things I watch Youtube on are my Smart TV and my Switch. However, when I woke up, my phone claimed I'd had the screen on since midnight, so according to Screen Time my phone has also been running Youtube on and off for hours at a time. I even tried to set a usage limit on the Youtube app through Screen Time, and it's still accruing minutes as though the Youtube app is open and running.
What's the issue? How do I fix it?

 

[lcran]

@christyr474 I am having the exact same problem now. How did you fix it?

I uninstalled YouTube, then reset screen time and its STILL reporting like, 90% of every hour is spent on youtube... I turned off device sharing, closed every app on my phone, closed every tab on my laptop... WTF is going on?!!

 

[jnappleseed]

I may be wrong here, but doesn’t screen time sync across devices? Do you have the app installed on another device?

 

[HDFan]

doesn’t screen time sync across devices?

Yes, if you have turned on that option.

 

[Maemae2]

Same issue here, but with PayPal. I don’t have PayPal installed on this phone, or any other Apple devices I own, so how could I have spent all day on it? ?

 

[G1Ravage]

This YouTube showing on ScreenTime glitch JUST started happening to me yesterday. It says I've watched the YouTube app for 40 hours over the past two days. I haven't opened the app once. I also have no browser tabs open, and no apps at all running in the background.

 

[pattikay]

In screen time, I believe unless Apple fixed this, which I doubt, if screen time settings allowed to delete and reinstall apps, the child can install an app use it then delete it so if a parent looks at phone/device it will appear to not be being used this also works to bypass time limits on apps (Delete/Reinstall). At the time I wrote this it could be fixed by removing the ability to delete apps and require the child to request approval for new apps from parent (all done in scree time setup). Additionally, if you share ’purchase sharing‘ (Apple ID>family sharing>purchase sharing) then the child can choose from App Store purchases you have made for your device and when they download any of those apps (the same apps you may have under time restrictions), they are not subject to the screen time limits Even though the app is the same one under restriction. Apple engineering is great! All an illusion of protection.