Kairoo and Apple Screen Time: what each does

Where Screen Time goes further

Screen Time does several things Kairoo does not do. If you need any of them, Screen Time is the tool for it. Each point is from Apple’s own pages, checked on 25 October 2026, and describes the iOS 27 version.

• Built in. Screen Time is part of iPhone, iPad and Mac, so there is nothing to install. One Family Sharing set-up covers your child’s iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
• Who your child talks to. With Allowed Contacts you decide who is in your child’s contacts. A message from someone new stays hidden until a parent approves. Kairoo does not manage contacts.
• Content and websites. Ask to Browse is on by default for children under 13, and Limit Adult Websites for under-18s. Communication Safety blurs nudity and violence in shared photos and videos, and on live FaceTime calls. Kairoo does not filter content.
• Apps, one at a time. You can start your child with a few essential apps and approve new ones through Ask to Buy.
• Starting points by age. Time Allowances suggest how long to allow for Entertainment, Games and Social Media, based on your child’s age.
• Quick controls. You can pause the device, allow unlimited use for a special day, or change the schedule from your own phone.
• Location. Your child can share their location with you through Find My, with alerts when they arrive at or leave a place. Kairoo does not track location.

What Kairoo does differently

Kairoo is two free apps: Kairoo Parents on the grown-up’s phone and Kairoo on the child’s. Its job is the daily part of screen time, so that you no longer have to be the one who says no every evening.

• The rules are written together, and both of you sign. You and your child agree when screens start and stop, how long, which apps, and how extra time can be asked for. It takes about ten minutes. In Screen Time the parent sets every rule, and there is no record both of you sign.
• A heads-up, then the agreed limit, with a reason. Kairoo gives a heads-up before time is up and then does what was agreed. Every no comes with a reason: what was asked for, what the agreement says, and how today’s time was spent.
• Your child asks Kairoo, with a reason. If the agreement has room, Kairoo says yes and nothing reaches your phone. A bigger ask is decided inside the ceiling you set, and you hear about it afterwards. A new app comes to you, with your child’s reason attached. Your child can also ask for the agreement itself to change.
• A choice at the limit. Your child can stop and bank the spare minutes in a jar, ask for more, or carry on and spend it.
• First things before screens. Homework and chores can come first. Your child ticks them off, you choose whether their word is enough, and games and other fun apps can stay locked until they are done.
• Ideas for when they are bored, and jobs that earn. An I’m bored button gives ideas away from the screen. Extra jobs earn coins. Coins buy Roo, the child app’s character, new looks, and can become pocket money if you switch that on.
• Time and apps, and nothing else. Kairoo never reads messages, looks through photos or tracks location. Your child knows what it can see, because they signed it.
• iPhone and Android, mixed. An iPhone parent can set up an Android child, and an Android parent can set up an iPhone child. The child’s app is also on iPad. Kairoo is free, no card needed.

Using both

Screen Time and Kairoo do different jobs, so some families with iPhones keep both. Screen Time covers the safety settings: who your child can contact, content limits, Ask to Buy and location through Find My. Kairoo covers the evening: the agreement, the heads-up and the reason for every no.

On a child’s iPhone, Kairoo works through Apple’s own Screen Time permission. Kairoo asks to be allowed to count time in other apps and to rest them when the agreement says so. If your child’s iPhone is in your Family Sharing group, you approve the Kairoo download through Ask to Buy. The support page covers both steps.

Kairoo’s suggestion is to keep one set of time limits. If Screen Time’s allowances and the agreement in Kairoo both run, your child cannot tell which one counts. Keep Screen Time’s contact, content and app settings, and let the agreement carry the time.