5 apps that help you control your smartphone addiction
If you’re like most smartphone owners across the world, your average day is probably filed with a lot of scrolling, swiping and tapping. It really can be difficult to tear yourself away from your smartphone or tablet. With games, social media and emails at the tip of your fingers, it’s easy to be constantly distracted by your smartphone.
A combined research from Nielsen, Pew Research Center, comScore, SmartInsights, and other organizations showed that the average person spends over four hours a day on their mobile device. Even if you don’t fall into this category, it can be really annoying when you’re out with friends or family and everyone has their eyes glued to their phone.
This smartphone addiction has grown so much over the years that Google and Apple decided to add screen time monitoring features to new versions of their OSs — Android P (Google) ios12 (Apple).
If you don’t have an Android P or ios12 enabled device, not to worry. Here are 5 apps to help you control your smartphone addiction:
1. Off time — Android | ios
The award winning Offtime lets you monitor your smartphone usage and take dedicated timeouts from the digital world alone or with others. The app’s analytics make it easy to identify your smartphone usage pattern and take action to change them.
2. Flipd — Android | ios
Flipd is the app for you if you need a more aggressive approach to unplugging from the digital world. Flipd allows you to lock your phone for a set period of time, and once you do, there’s no going back. Even restarting your phone won’t unlock it, so it’s impossible to cheat. Flipd can also be used remotely to “flip off" another user’s device, which can be helpful for friends & family that want to keep one another on track.
3. Forest — Android | ios
Forest provides a gamified solution to beat your phone addiction. You start by planting a seed in Forest and in the following time, this seed will gradually grow into a tree. However, if you leave this app to check Facebook or play a game, your tree will wither away. With this sense of achievement and responsibility, users will find it easier to stay away from their phone.
4. Break free — Android | ios
BreakFree incorporates the usage of tracking features found in many similar apps but differs in that it breaks down the information into an easy-to-understand "addiction score." It also comprehensively logs your smartphone usage for the day. This makes it a good choice for those who like a good challenge.
5. App Detox — Android
App detox enables you to set restrictions on certain apps e.g a certain social media account or game. Every time you break one of your rules, AppDetox will send you a notification to inform you and ask you to take a break. You can also keep track of these violations in a log.
That’s it guys! I hope you found this useful and I hope you get to spend more time away from the digital world. If you know any other apps that can help control smartphone addiction share in the comments section below.
