8 Best Digital Detox Apps to Support Mental Health & Wellbeing
While mobile technology continues to improve our lives, digital dependence is on the rise. According to Gallup, more than half of people canât even imagine life without a smartphone. What exactly is digital dependence? Answer a few of these questions and you might get the idea:
Can you take a walk in a new neighborhood without impulsively pulling out Google maps to tell you where to go?
Have you tried and failed to âquitâ social media, deleting and re-downloading again and again to get your fix?
Do you check your smartphone frequently, simply to satisfy the urge to look?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, it might be time to switch gears and start building healthier digital habits.
We know that certain apps are designed to keep you coming back for more, but is it enough to try and stay mindful while using the most addictive apps? Studies show that too much screen time can cause eye strain and headaches, worsen symptoms of depression, and disrupt your sleep cycle when you scroll and surf in the night hours.
Itâs safe to say we can all use some support to invest IRL - and thatâs what digital detox apps are all about.
Weâve rounded up a collection of the best digital detox apps out there to help you stay focused while working and savor your screen-free time moments. Many mobile apps these days come with browser extensions as well to fully integrate with your digital life. Keep reading to find our favorites!
Why Use an App to Help You Stay Off Your Phone?
The starting point for digital detox apps is that the average person is online a lot; for work, social and personal purposes. While quitting digital completely - at least for periods of time - may seem appealing, itâs not a realistic, or even helpful solution for most people.
The 50%+ respondents who literally canât imagine life without a smartphone are proof that our lives are embedded in digital space more than ever.
As with everything we do regularly, suddenly changing habits can be incredibly difficult. And this is even more true when it comes to contact with the digital world, which is embedded in our smartphones, working lives, navigation, and leisure activities; changing digital habits overnight can be a challenge, if not an impossibility, for many people.
As paradoxical as it might sound, the solution might be closer to the problem than you might think. There are a wide variety of apps that truly allow you to break the toxic attention-consuming cycle that keeps you on your phone when you really donât want to be there, helping you to change your digital habits slowly and consciously, one step at a time. Many of these apps are designed to monitor your screen time and help you gain more control over your digital habits across devices and platforms. They help you to gradually unplug from your phone and plug into real life.
What Is a Digital Detox?
Also known as a tech cleanse, digital cleanse, off-screen time, or simply breaking up with technology, a digital detox is essentially a mindfulness practice focused on limiting digital dependence and training your attention to be more present IRL (in real life). The trending dopamine detox is a spin-off of the original digital detox. During a typical digital detox, you commit to limiting your use of digital devices including your phone, computer and TV. By consciously taking time away from digital screens, one can also prevent information overload, reduce anxiety linked to constant connectivity, and promote a better work-life balance.
Less screen time, more âbeâ time: This intentional break aims to reduce stress, enhance focus, and improve overall well-being by reducing what many people experience as digital addiction. Depending on your goals, a digital detox might involve going completely dark for a specific period of time (for example, over vacation), limiting tech use in specific spaces like the bedroom to encourage rest and relaxation, or perhaps limiting tech use during specific hours of the day so that youâre more available to authentic, non-mediated engagement with friends and family.
8 Digital Detox Apps to Help You Stay Present
Each of the apps on our list are specifically designed to help you monitor, manage, and reduce your screen time by focusing on a different aspect of behavior-change. Many of them come with features such as screen time tracking, setting usage limits, and scheduling non-interruption periods, which are all intended to help you build awareness of and control of your digital consumption. Some of these apps integrate mindfulness and relaxation exercises with their scheduling features that are intended to help you kick your bad digital habits by replacing them with new ones. The âbestâ digital detox app is ultimately the one that clicks with you, so letâs explore some of the options!
App Type: Mobile app + browser extension
Good For: Finding the right motivation to stay away from your phone while helping the environment!
This is perhaps one of the most unique and revolutionary digital detox apps on the list. In the Forest App, your mission is to build a digital forest, earning virtual coins when you disconnect and focus on specific activities for a certain period of time without distractions. What happens if you don't? Your virtual tree will die đ The longer you don't use your phone and stay focused on your task, the more coins you earn. But it doesn't end here: once you've earned enough coins, you'll get to spend them to plant real trees in Africa! So you'll feel motivated to stay focused on your goal because you're doing it for a really good cause!
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2. Flipd App
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: Allows you to track time spent on tasks, enhancing your productivity and connecting you with other users to help you feel motivated
This famous productivity app has gained its fame for good reasons: it helps you to stay focused and productive tracking your time spent on a specific task while allowing you to also keep track of the time spent off from your screen. One of its amazing features is that it relies entirely on your self-control as you can set your preferred amount of daily screen time. Once the timer runs out, your social media apps will be blocked but youâll still be able to receive calls and texts. Further, this app also allows you to connect with other users, so as to help you stay motivated. But perhaps the most unique feature of this app is that it has also a wellness hub, where you can do guided deep breathing, meditations, therapeutic sounds, and even pep talks!
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3. Siempo
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: disconnecting from your phone and relaxing while staying focused on your goal through daily motivational messages
This app challenges you to break up with your smartphone and its many attention-stealing apps. To do so, Siempo replaces your home screen with more relaxing ones and allows you to choose when and which notifications can be displayed on your phone, so as to shut down any distractions. But perhaps, the most unique feature of this app is that it allows you to also set daily motivational messages, almost like mantras, that can be displayed on your home screen to help you stay focused and motivated. The only downside is that this app is available only for Android users.
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4. Space
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: having a personalized behavior change program that can help you find healthier digital habits
This app's main feature is that it offers the chance to join a personalized behavior change program, helping you understand what âtypeâ of phone user you are, from the "boredom battler" to the "busy bee". Additionally, it gives you the chance to set short-term goals for phone usage while allowing you to keep track of your progress day by day. On top of that, it also has a social hub where you can share your progress with friends, families, or colleagues, so you can motivate and challenge each other to achieve healthier digital habits. And, as if it wasn't enough, you can also get to unlock some special tips that can help you achieve a better phone-life balance!
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5. OffScreen
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: tracking your screen time and setting up your daily screen time goals
Offscreen is a great app if you want to become more mindful of your phone use and avoid getting lost in your daily scrolling. It comes with the function of screen-time tracking, and it even enables you to track the number of pickups per day, so you can always keep your digital habits under control. But there's more because this app, unlike the others, allows you to even monitor time spent using your phone while walking! And this is truly meaningful because it can help you prevent potential walking and texting collisions!
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6. Cleverest
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: Learning to cultivate healthier, more mindful habits and stay away from your phone with this smart and playful app!
Cleverest is a free and user-friendly digital detox app that was created to help you playfully take a break from your smartphone and cultivate a more mindful behavior. This app is based on the famous Pomodoro Technique, which helps you stay focused and be more productive. Plus, you'll have the option to choose a category you would like to focus on, be it social, relax, or work. But perhaps the most innovative aspect is that you'll be able to set the time when you DONâT want to use your phone! And finally, another nice detail is that you'll also have to feed your cute avatar to keep it happy, so the longer you don't use your phone, the happier your avatar will be!
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7. Digital Detox App
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: challenging yourself and staying focused on your target so you can fully live in the now!
This app is only for those who are truly dedicated to changing their digital habits because it genuinely wants you to unplug and reconnect with the outside world. And that is so because when you use this app you're asked to have consistency and discipline, two key factors in setting healthy habits. How? Simply by taking it as a challenge. In this app you'll get to set limited access to your phone during the challenge, so you can stay fully focused on your target. But the real cherry on top is that it offers various levels of difficulty, from easy challenges where you shut down your phone for 2 hours, to the hardest ones where you have to stay away from your mobile for a whole day! Still, it comes with a little con, as just like the app Siempo, it's available only on Android... Really sorry dear IOS user!
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8. Minimalist phone App
App Type: Mobile app
Good For: staying away from your phone in a more simple, minimalistic way
Are you more of a minimalist? Well if so, this app is really made for you. Since it's meant for real minimalists, this app is really easy and intuitive to use because it has the simple yet useful function of stripping down those flashy, attention-stealing app icons as it displays them as text-only links. Plus, it also comes with a screen-time tracker and a social media block, so you won't be tempted of getting caught in that automatic scrolling. Still, this app still gives you some degree of control over your device because you can still use your phone for the most basic functions, like making a call sending important texts, and checking your notifications. This way you won't ever run the risk of missing out on something important!
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Tips for A Successful Digital Detox
Itâs time to detox, yay! Before you dive in, keep in mind that even the tiniest bit of preparation and planning will take you a looong way toward establishing healthier habits with tech. Here are some curated tips to guide you through a successful digital detox, from your planning phase, to the detox itself, and finally, to the important (but often overlooked) post-detox period.
Pre-Detox
Set a Clear Goal: Decide what you specifically want to achieve with your digital detox, such as reducing stress or improving focus. While setting the goal for your detox, make sure to choose how long youâre committing to stick with it; a few hours, a day, specific days of the week, a week, or longer.
Name Your âHot Buttonâ Devices: Identify which digital devices youâll be taking a break from - smartphones, laptops, tablets, or all of them.
Find the Right Digital Detox App: Look for a digital detox app that has good user reviews and features that match your goals. Ensure the app has features like screen time trackers, reminders, or mindfulness exercises to aid your detox process.
Plan Replacement Activities: Schedule alternative activities to keep you engaged and prevent you from reverting back to your devices, like reading, going for a walk, or calling a friend.
Loop In Your Close Contacts: Social accountability for your plan is crucial to your success! Let friends, family, or co-workers know about your detox plans so they can support you and adjust expectations. If youâre highly motivated by social incentives, you might consider joining an accountability group or starting one yourself to help stay on track.
Set AutoResponses: Use automated email replies and similar tools to manage communication expectations during your detox period.
During Your Digital Detox
Be Unconditionally Kind to Yourself: Rest assured that you will be tempted to do all of the things you committed to abstain from at some point. Instead of beating yourself up when these moments arise, speak to yourself with kindness. Acknowledge your urge, and if you can - try to be curious about whatâs driving your impulses to scroll endlessly. Negative self-talk will only tank your motivation.
Create a Comfortable Environment: Once youâve gotten started with your detox, youâll notice that there are certain times and places when youâre most likely to break your screen fast and reach for your phone. Design these physical spaces around non-digital activities, for example moving your couch to face a window instead of the TV or setting your devices out of reach in a drawer when you enter.
Reflect Continuously: Take time during your detox to reflect on how things are going. Youâll inevitably be tempted by tech, and you might even break your detox a few times. Reflect on these experiences to understand what is working and what is not. Use the prompts of who, what, when, where, and why to get started.
Post Digital Detox
Practice Gradual Reintroduction: Donât rush back into your old habits; reintroduce devices gradually, being mindful of the time spent.
Apply Learned Lessons: Use insights from your detox to make long-term changes to your digital habits and routines.
Set Boundaries Post-Detox: Post-detox, establish boundaries for device use to maintain a healthy relationship with technology. Consider making digital detoxing a regular part of your routine, doing it monthly or quarterly.