Instructions

1. If you don't already have a Best Accountability account, create one here. If you already have a ScreenKin or Truple account, you can use that instead.

2. Install Best Accountability from the App Store.

   

3. Open the Best Accountability app and tap Add Device to Account.

4. Enter your subscribed account email and choose a device name, then tap Add Device to Account.

5. The owner of the subscribed account needs to login here and accept the "Add Device" request. This can be done from the Best Accountability, Truple, or ScreenKin website.

6. Go back to the app and tap Check if Granted.

7. Important! Enable alerts from other apps (e.g. Messages) by following the steps in the video walkthrough. Once completed, press and hold the button at the bottom of the screen to move to the next step.

8. Tap Request Permission.

9. Follow the prompts and enter your biometric authentication, Apple Account credentials, or passcode when prompted.

10. You can now use Best Accountability. To take advantage of all the app's features and close up loopholes, open Best Accountability, go to Settings, and complete our How-To Guides.

11. Optional Watch this video for a video guide explaining how the app works.

12. Optional Go to the device settings page to customize settings like image blur, text redaction, and screen capture frequency.

Notes

Unblock Delay

Best Accountability allows full device wide screenshots. The only way to accomplish this on iOS (iPhone/iPad) is using the broadcast permission. Apple controls the broadcast permission popup, and requires a 3 second delay.

Always Allowed Apps

If there are apps you need to use without monitoring running (banking, healthcare, etc), add them to the Always Allowed Apps list inside Best Accountability (open the app, tap Settings, then Always Allowed Apps). Be conservative--many innocent-looking apps have hidden browsers built in.

Don't use the "Always Allowed" list found in the iOS Settings app under Screen Time. Keep that list empty. Using it conflicts with the app's own lists, and changes made to it aren't reported.

We strongly recommend having your accountability partner (not you) set a Screen Time passcode, which blocks the ability to change Screen Time settings. The How-To Guides found in the app's Settings walk you through it.

Lock Screen Apps

When apps are blocked (which happens whenever monitoring isn't running, including each time the screen locks), iOS also blocks their notifications and background audio. To keep getting notifications and background audio from specific apps while the device is locked, open Best Accountability, tap Settings, then under App & Website Lists tap Lock Screen Apps and select those apps (up to 25).

Apps on this list still require monitoring in order to be opened. If one of them is opened while monitoring is off, the phone blocks all apps on the Lock Screen Apps list for 15 minutes, or until monitoring is started again. Using the Lock Screen player controls (play, pause, skip) doesn't trigger this.

See Notifications and music on the Lock Screen for details.

Music Apps and Background Players

Music apps / background players won't be able to play in the background unless they're added to the Lock Screen Apps list (recommended, see above) or the app's Always Allowed Apps list. Apps on the Lock Screen Apps list can play in the background but still require monitoring to be opened and used, while apps on the Always Allowed Apps list can be fully used without monitoring. Music apps will still function while connected to a car via CarPlay even if they aren't on either list. Before you add these apps to either list, please note that there is visual and audible pornography found in music apps.

* Please Note: We're investigating issues with Apple Music currently, which prevents you from listening to music while a broadcast is running (which is what this app does when apps are unblocked). This creates an issue where each time you start a broadcast Apple Music will continue playing but it doesn't actually produce sound through speaker/headphones. This is not an issue with Youtube Music, Spotify, and other music streaming apps--only with Apple Music. If you wish to use Apple Music, you can use it in the background and it works fine. However, if you wish to use Apple music while being monitored using other apps, you'll need to use a web browser and go to music.apple.com instead of using the Apple Music apps. We'll continue searching for ways to improve this.

Video Streaming Apps

Some video streaming apps (Netflix, etc) use digital rights management (DRM) features to block screenshots from being captured in order to protect their copyrighted video content. When this occurs, it will be indicated in the event timeline. We recommend you use the app's built-in parental control features, or use a web browser to watch the films instead of the app.

Snapchat

Since Best Accountability monitors using a screen recording broadcast, Snapchat will report that the user is recording the screen to anyone they're receiving Snapchats from. If you wish Snapchat to be monitored, the user must put up with this. Otherwise, you can add Snapchat to the Always Allowed Apps list inside the Best Accountability app (see above).

Compatibility

Best Accountability requires iOS 18+ on the iPhone or iPad (if the phone was newly purchased after 2019, you should be good to go).

With those settings in place, Best Accountability is all setup. Congrats!

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas to help us improve, open a ticket at app.bestaccountability.com/support.