Over the past few years, smartphone usage has skyrocketed across the world. Screen sizes have increased, battery capacities have increased, and along with it, the time spent by a user staring at their phone screen has also gone up. Especially with the onset of the pandemic leading to lockdowns, people have spent more time in front of screens than ever before. While it’s inevitable since most classes and meetings now happen online, taking a break from screens is equally vital. If you find yourself addicted to scrolling endlessly on your Instagram feed or you lose track of time while playing COD Mobile, it’s time to set up daily app usage limits.
It’s pretty easy to infer what daily app limits are. If you think you’re using an app on your phone for too long and whittling away time while also harming your eyes, you can set a timer for the app. The app will work only till the timer lasts. Once the timer elapses, you won’t be able to open the app again till the next day. It’s a good way to curb your social media addiction or at least a way to start your journey towards spending less time in front of a screen.
You can set app usage limits on Android as well as on iOS. The steps to do this are different on both operating systems, so we will go over them individually. The steps for Android can be used on both an Android phone as well as an Android tablet. Similarly, the steps for iOS can be used on an iPhone and an iPad. In fact, Apple’s integration is so good that performing the steps on one device will activate the timer for the app/service on all your Apple devices. For example, if you set an app timer for Facebook on your iPhone, you won’t be able to access it even on your Mac if the time has elapsed.
That being said, let’s get to the procedure and tell you how to set up daily app usage limits or app timers on your smartphone via Digital Wellbeing on Android and Screen Time on iOS.
How to set up Daily App Usage Limits on Android via Digital Wellbeing
Setting up daily app usage limits on Android is quite straightforward. We’re going to be using Digital Wellbeing for this. Here’s the procedure.
- Head over to the Settings app on your Android device and scroll down till you find Digital Wellbeing.
- Tap on it and you will be able to see your app usage stats here. This includes how much time you’ve used an app for and the number of notifications you’ve received from each app.
- Using these metrics, you can determine which app you use for a long period of time and set a limit for that particular app.
- Under the Ways to Disconnect section, select Dashboard.
- You will now see a list of all the installed apps on the device. Select the hourglass icon next to the app you want to set a usage limit for.
- Set the timer for the desired duration. If you wish to use an app only for 10 minutes a day, you can do so. Once done, hit OK.
- You can repeat this step for any number of apps you want.
- Once the timer is set, you can continue using the apps normally. If you launch an app after you’ve already used it for the stipulated time, you will get a prompt saying the app has been paused and you’ve run out of time.
How to set up Daily App Usage Limits on iOS via Screen Time
Screen Time is a feature Apple introduced with iOS 12 to keep track of your screen usage as you use your phone throughout the day. Just like Digital Wellbeing on Android, you can use Screen Time to set app limits on your iPhone or iPad. Here’s how you can do it.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone and scroll down till you find Screen Time. Tap on it.
- Here, you can see the amount of time for which you’ve used your phone. You can tap on the See All Activity option to get detailed info about per-app usage.
- To set usage limits for apps, tap on the App Limits option and then select Add Limit.
- You will now see all your apps categorized based on the utility. Select the relevant category and the app you want to set a limit for. You can also set limits for websites.
- Choose the duration for which you want to set the timer. You can also select the app limit to recur on certain days of the week, like over the weekend.
- You can repeat this step for any number of apps you want.
- Once the timer is set, you can continue using the apps normally. If you launch an app after you’ve already used it for the stipulated time, you will get a prompt saying you’ve reached your limit on the app. You can then tap on OK or snooze the timer by choosing the Ignore Limit option. Don’t do this though, as it beats the entire purpose of setting the limit.
Congrats on taking the first step towards curbing your smartphone addiction! Setting up daily app usage limits can go a long way in helping you stay away from your smartphone, or just from any screen in general. The only challenge is to not snooze the timer!
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