How to set up iPhone Screen Time for Ramadan

Ramadan changes the shape of the day. Suhoor before dawn, the long afternoon, iftar, taraweeh, and the quiet hours in between that are so easy to lose to a phone.

Your iPhone already has tools to protect those hours. This guide shows how to set them up for Ramadan, on the newest iOS and on older versions.

First, check your iOS version

Apple renamed parts of Screen Time in iOS 27. If you’re on iOS 27 or later, follow the iOS 27 steps; if you’re on iOS 26 or earlier, follow the older steps. You can see your version in Settings › General › About.

Step 1: Plan your Ramadan day

Before touching Settings, sketch your day. A typical Ramadan schedule might look like this:

• Suhoor and Fajr: protect the time before dawn for eating, praying and reading
• Work or study: apps you need, few distractions
• Before iftar: a quiet hour many people keep for Quran and dua
• Iftar to Isha: family time
• Taraweeh and late night: prayer, reading, then sleep

Decide which windows should be phone-light and which apps tend to steal them. For most of us, it’s social media and short videos.

Step 2 (iOS 27): Set a Screen Time Schedule

On iOS 27, a Screen Time Schedule splits your day into time windows and lets you choose which kinds of apps are available in each.

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
2. Tap Screen Time Schedule, then turn on Schedule.
3. Tap Add Schedule and choose the days (every day for Ramadan).
4. Tap a Time Window to rename it (“Suhoor”, “Before iftar”, “Taraweeh”), set its start and end time, and choose which Time Allowance categories are available in it.

Source: Apple, Set Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances on iPhone (iOS 27).

Step 3 (iOS 27): Cap social media with Time Allowances

Time Allowances set how long you can use a category of apps each day, such as Social Media or Entertainment.

1. Open Settings › Screen Time › Time Allowances.
2. Tap a category (for example Social Media) and drag the slider to the time you want. If you don’t see it, tap Manage Categories to add it.
3. Turn on Match Screen Time Schedule if you want the allowances to follow your time windows.

Step 2 and 3 (iOS 26 and earlier): Downtime and App Limits

Downtime makes most apps unavailable during set hours.

1. Open Settings › Screen Time.
2. Tap App & Website Activity and turn it on if it isn’t already.
3. Tap Downtime, then tap Scheduled.
4. Choose Every Day or Customize Days, then set the start and end times.

App Limits cap how long you spend in an app or category each day.

1. Open Settings › Screen Time › App Limits and tap Add Limit.
2. Choose a category (such as Social Networking) or tap into it to pick individual apps.
3. Tap Next, set the time, and save.

Apple notes that by default Screen Time limits can be ignored once they’re reached. If you set a Screen Time passcode, you can turn on Block at Downtime (Settings › Screen Time › Downtime) so restricted apps can’t be opened during downtime.

Source: Apple, Set schedules with Screen Time on iPhone (iOS 26).

Step 4: Keep the apps you need

Whatever your version, use Always Allowed (Settings › Screen Time › Always Allowed) so the essentials stay available: Phone, Messages, Maps, your prayer-times app and your Quran app. Family members can be added too, so nobody is unreachable.

Step 5: Add a Focus for prayer and reading

Screen Time controls the apps. A Focus controls the notifications that pull you back to them.

1. Open Settings › Focus and add a Focus (for example a custom one called “Ramadan” or “Salah”).
2. Choose which people and apps can still notify you.
3. Tap Add Schedule and set it to turn on at your reading or prayer times. You can also have it turn on when you open a specific app.

You can turn a Focus on by hand from Control Center at any time.

Source: Apple, Turn on or schedule a Focus on iPhone.

A tip: who holds the passcode?

A Screen Time passcode stops you changing limits on a whim. Some people ask a spouse, sibling or friend to set it for them during Ramadan, so “just five more minutes” needs someone else’s agreement. If you set it yourself, choose one you won’t type from muscle memory.

Where Screen Time falls short

Screen Time is good at clocks: it knows when it’s 9pm and how many minutes you’ve spent on Instagram. It doesn’t know whether you’ve read your Quran today.

That’s the gap Qurb fills. Qurb uses Apple’s Screen Time framework to lock the apps you choose at your reading time, and keeps them locked until you’ve completed your own daily Quran goal. Not a timer, not 30 seconds on one page: your actual goal. When you’ve read today’s verses, your apps open straight away.

For Ramadan, that might be a goal that completes the Quran in the month (about 208 verses a day; see how to complete the Quran in Ramadan) or a smaller amount you’ll keep after Eid. Qurb tracks every verse, so you can see how far through the Quran you’ve come.

The reader (Arabic, translations, transliteration, audio and offline reading) is free. App locking is part of Qurb Premium and works on iPhone only. The yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

You can use both together: Screen Time schedules for the shape of your day, and Qurb to make sure the Quran comes before the scroll. If you’re comparing options, see our honest round-up of Muslim app blockers.

A last word

None of these settings will read the Quran for you. They just clear the path. Set them up before the first night of Ramadan, then let the month do the rest, insha’Allah.