Deleting Instagram and TikTok feels great for a day. Then you need to reply to a DM, reinstall "just for a minute", and you're back. Blocking works better: the apps stay, but they're closed when you've decided they should be.
Option 1: App Limits
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → App Limits → Add Limit.
- Choose Instagram and TikTok (under Social), set the time to 1 minute, and tap Add.
After a minute a day, the app shows a limit screen. The weak spot is Ignore Limit, which gives you 15 more minutes, or the rest of the day, in one tap.
Option 2: Downtime with exceptions
Turn on Screen Time → Downtime for the hours you want, and make sure Instagram and TikTok are not in Always Allowed. Same weakness: Ignore Limit.
Option 3: Screen Time passcode
Ask someone you trust to set a Screen Time passcode you don't know. Then Ignore Limit needs their code. It works, but it means asking someone every time you need an exception.
Option 4: ARCO
ARCO uses Apple's own Screen Time framework to shield the apps you pick. When you tap a blocked app, you see a pause screen instead of the feed.
- Focus sessions: start a timer and the apps stay shut until it ends. Strict mode can't be ended early.
- Blocked Hours: recurring windows, like evenings or work hours, that block on their own.
- Breaks: a short, counted break when you genuinely need the app, then the block comes back by itself.
Nothing is deleted, your accounts stay logged in, and DMs are there when the block ends. For the night-time version, see how to stop doomscrolling at night.