I installed and deleted three detox apps. They all looked alike until I used them, and then they split cleanly in two: apps that make other apps unopenable, and apps where you set a time and keep it. Knowing which kind fit me would have saved all three deletions.
Digital detox apps split into two kinds. Hard-limit apps make chosen apps or websites unopenable for a set period. Time-promise apps set a length, 10 minutes or an hour, and score whether the phone stayed down for it. The first fits someone whose problem is one specific app and who'd rather not depend on will. The second fits someone who doesn't want to delete anything and wants to clear a whole stretch, like the evening. Sumbi is the second kind.
A hard-limit app is a wall: the short-form app won't open from nine to morning, or locks after 30 daily minutes. A time-promise app is an agreement: 30 minutes down, starting now, and the kept-or-broken result is what remains. I ran the wall first. I try to get my phone into the drawer after nine, and one night I caught myself watching the same feed in the browser the wall didn't cover. I deleted the wall.
| Hard-limit | Time-promise | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Makes chosen apps and sites unopenable for a set period | Sets a length and holds you to keeping the phone down |
| Its unit | The app | The stretch of time |
| The shape of failure | The workaround: the same feed through another app or the browser | Opening the phone mid-promise, breaking it |
| Its strength | The wall stands even in the will-less moments | Nothing gets deleted, and anything can be watched: only the time counts |
| Its weakness | One detour and the wall is scenery, and urgent moments can't get through | Nothing happens unless you press start |
| Who it fits | Someone whose problem is one specific app | Someone clearing a whole stretch, like the evening |
Neither is the better kind. Whether the problem is an app or an hour of the day decides which tool fits.
Take Sumbi as the worked example and the structure shows. You pick a length between 10 minutes and 2 hours, called a dive, and start. Turning the screen off or locking the phone is fine mid-dive. Your remaining breath shrinks only while another app is open, and you pre-choose that breath: 60, 30, or 10 seconds. Breath at zero means the dive failed. An incoming call never counts as surfacing.
The tell of the whole category is there: not one app gets walled. Watch whatever you want, whenever: the only question is whether the phone stayed down for the promised time. So there's nothing to work around. The cost is that pressing start belongs to you.
Three questions mostly settle it. I landed on the right side of all three.
One more thing to check while choosing: what the app calls failure. Apps that shame or penalize a miss don't survive on a phone long, because a failed day was still a day you tried to put the phone down.
Sumbi is the time-promise kind: set the length, put the phone down. Start a 10-minute dive and the screen can go dark, your remaining breath shrinking only while another app is open. No app gets walled, so there's nothing to delete and nothing to sneak around.
Try your first 10-minute dive →Being unopenable at urgent moments is the hard-limit kind's strength and its flaw. Check whether an emergency unlock exists, and how tedious it is: too easy and it isn't a wall, too hard and the app gets deleted. The promise kind opens freely and just logs the break, so it skips this problem.
Whichever kind, confirm that incoming calls get through. With a kid, a tool that can't take the school's call is unusable. I skipped this check once and deleted that app in two days.
Red screens and alarm sounds at a miss make the app unpleasant to open within days. Apps that log the miss and offer the next start are the ones that stay. Screenshots won't show you this: one real failure will.
Filter out lines about focus improving or habits rewiring in days. An app can measure time or stand in a doorway. The changing is done by the person, with the app nearby.
Three deletions taught me my kind was the promise, not the wall. Plenty of people are the reverse. Either way, the apps deleted while finding your kind weren't waste.
Menu names and locations can vary a little by device model and software version. This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sumbi