This Android App Blocks the Most Addictive Sections of Social Media.
I open Instagram to check friends’ Stories, news from my neighborhood, and the latest dog video my wife sent me last night. But after all that, I find myself trapped in endless scrolling. It got so bad that I eventually deleted the app and started using the website exclusively. It’s a similar story with YouTube, where I end up scrolling through endless Shorts. When YouTube introduced a limit on Shorts, I rushed to turn it on .
But I’ve found a better solution for both apps, at least for my Pixel. Switchly has a hidden setting that blocks certain addictive elements of popular apps. Switchly is completely free, open-source, and ad-free: its main purpose is to serve as a free alternative to devices like the Brick . It blocks apps and websites to help you focus, and the only way to unblock them is with an NFC tag and QR code—similar to the iPhone app Foqos on Android. Here’s how it works.
How to Block Addictive Features of Social Media Apps on Android
Switchly can block Reels, the Explore page, comments, and Stories on Instagram. On YouTube, it can block Shorts, the Subscriptions page, the You tab (YouTube’s discovery feed), and picture-in-picture mode. On X, it can block the homepage, search, Grok AI, and notifications. On Snapchat, you can disable the map, Stories, Spotlight, or the Subscriptions page. You can really disable the features that distract you the most. For me, that’s Reels, search, and comments on Instagram, as well as Shorts and the You page on YouTube.
Switchly is an app locker, so it requires accessibility and screen sharing permissions to function. Since it’s free and open-source and hosted on GitLab , third-party testers can verify Switchly’s security, so I consider it safe to use.
After granting the app the necessary permissions, go to the “Blocking” tab, then to the “In-App Blocking” section. Here, enable the features you want to block in each app (this will only work if Switchly’s global blocking is currently disabled). Then, go to the main page and click “Enable” at the top. Blocking will remain enabled until you manually disable it.
If, like me, you want to block these features permanently, you can leave them as is. But if you only want to disable them during work hours or on weekdays, you can set up a schedule. If you want to block specific apps and websites, you can add them in the “Manage Apps” and “Blocked Websites” sections. To set up a schedule, go to “Manage” > “Schedules ,” tap the “Plus” button, create a new schedule, and customize it to your needs. As we discussed, the app offers many more strict blocking controls. You can go to “Blocking” > “Manage Blocking” to switch to a different blocking method.