i’ve tried a lot to get my screen time down (including the iphone app limits ofc) and i hate to admit that the thing that’s finally worked is using opal, which you do have to pay for. but holy crap i’m down to less then three total hours of screen time per day for over a month now and a max of 40 mins spent on ig and tt combined
That's great to hear! What was it about Opal in particular that helped you over iPhone's stock screen time app? I'm personally trying to avoid paid subscriptions (that's a whole 'nother post entirely), but it's always good to have other screen time reduction strategies to try if what's working right now ends up not working.
the iphone screen time worked for me for a little while, but its just too easy to bypass.
opal does this thing to where you have to wait a set amount of time before unlocking your apps for however long you want them, which really helped me for like random 30 second pick ups. i guess for me the problem wasn't just net screen time it was also when that screen time was? like i didn't like to hit 5pm and have used all 30 mins of the iphone tiktok time in random three minute bursts, whereas opal means that i have to be a lot more intentional about when those apps are open for me to access and they're never without some level of blocking which really works for me.
i sound like im writing an add for opal haha, but i actually think its really good. it feels like my brain is actually getting rewired out of wanting/needing to pick up and go to distracting apps and i'm hoping i can delete it in a few months and transition either to no app limits or back to iphone screen time limits.
Ah, I see. Makes sense! Thanks for expanding on Opal a bit. That app delay on pickup feature does sound quite useful. I have a bad tendency to doomscroll in the morning while I'm having my tea... All part of a complete breakfast, y'know? 🙂 This is perfectly fine on days when I'm at work, as I do intense twelve hour shifts and don't really have much downtime to look at my phone. It's annoying on my days off, though, as I tend to blow through my Reddit time limit (now down to an hour and a half) pretty quickly.
I see Opal has a free tier, so I'll probably check it out. Thanks again.
i’ve tried a lot to get my screen time down (including the iphone app limits ofc) and i hate to admit that the thing that’s finally worked is using opal, which you do have to pay for. but holy crap i’m down to less then three total hours of screen time per day for over a month now and a max of 40 mins spent on ig and tt combined
That's great to hear! What was it about Opal in particular that helped you over iPhone's stock screen time app? I'm personally trying to avoid paid subscriptions (that's a whole 'nother post entirely), but it's always good to have other screen time reduction strategies to try if what's working right now ends up not working.
the iphone screen time worked for me for a little while, but its just too easy to bypass.
opal does this thing to where you have to wait a set amount of time before unlocking your apps for however long you want them, which really helped me for like random 30 second pick ups. i guess for me the problem wasn't just net screen time it was also when that screen time was? like i didn't like to hit 5pm and have used all 30 mins of the iphone tiktok time in random three minute bursts, whereas opal means that i have to be a lot more intentional about when those apps are open for me to access and they're never without some level of blocking which really works for me.
i sound like im writing an add for opal haha, but i actually think its really good. it feels like my brain is actually getting rewired out of wanting/needing to pick up and go to distracting apps and i'm hoping i can delete it in a few months and transition either to no app limits or back to iphone screen time limits.
Ah, I see. Makes sense! Thanks for expanding on Opal a bit. That app delay on pickup feature does sound quite useful. I have a bad tendency to doomscroll in the morning while I'm having my tea... All part of a complete breakfast, y'know? 🙂 This is perfectly fine on days when I'm at work, as I do intense twelve hour shifts and don't really have much downtime to look at my phone. It's annoying on my days off, though, as I tend to blow through my Reddit time limit (now down to an hour and a half) pretty quickly.
I see Opal has a free tier, so I'll probably check it out. Thanks again.