Warden
What Always Allowed does
In iOS 27, Apple describes Always Allowed as the apps you can use and the contacts you can communicate with at all times, regardless of any Screen Time schedules or Time Allowances you have set. Apple suggests family members or the Health app for emergencies.
In iOS 26, the same list keeps apps and contacts available during Downtime and after you reach your App Limits.
Apple’s Always Allowed list concerns Apple Screen Time. Do not assume it exempts an app from a separate Warden rule. Review each app selection and test the communication tools you need.
Where App Limits and Downtime went in iOS 27
How to add or remove apps and people
You manage the list in Screen Time settings. In iOS 27 it also appears in each time window of your schedule.
Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
Tap Always Allowed.
Tap Add Apps or Add People, then choose what to add.
To remove an app or person, tap Edit, then the remove button next to it.
What belongs on the list
- People who must always reach you: family, anyone you care for, a partner.
- Apps you need for safety or health, such as the Health app, or maps when you travel.
- Tools you rely on at every hour, for example an authenticator app for work sign-ins.
- Not apps with a feed inside them. Anything with endless content undoes the schedule.
The gap it can open
Always Allowed is broad by design: an app on it stays open through every schedule and allowance. Add a messaging app with stories or a video tab, and the evening block you set for social media now has a door in it.
If your limits seem to stop working, check this list before anything else, and remove anything that is there for convenience rather than need.
Warden has its own Always Allowed list
Warden keeps its own Always Allowed screen, for apps that stay available while any Warden rule is active. It takes individual apps rather than whole categories. If you use both Screen Time and Warden, check both lists when something stays open that you expected to be blocked.
Example: the chat app that became the scroll
A 10 PM to 7 AM schedule blocks social apps, and it works for a week. Then the late scrolling moves to a chat app that was added to Always Allowed so a sibling could message at night, and that app has its own short video tab.
Remove the chat app, add the sibling as a contact on Always Allowed instead, and ask them to use Messages or a phone call after 10. The person stays reachable and the video tab closes with everything else.
