7 Smartphone Addiction Apps That Boost Productivity


In a tech-dominated world, it is very hard to stay away from the digital life we are all leading on the internet. Not only social media, but all the things we do when we pick up our phones. Sometimes it’s just scrolling through our accounts, sometimes mindlessly playing games, or even just unlocking the phone and glancing at the notifications.

The phone obsession is real as there are reports of people touching, swiping or tapping their phone on average 2,617 times a day. The addiction is very distracting, it limits the person’s ability to focus, not to mention mindless activities like those can lower the IQ.

As Nir Eyal, the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products describes: “The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions. It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later.”

It’s very hard to stay in control but there many techniques and practices that can help you lower, if not eliminate the over usage of your phone. Some of those methods include phone apps that monitor the usage and set restrictions. Check them out below:

1 – Forest- (Free, iOS and Android)

Forest App Display Smartphone Addiction App

Make sure your tree doesn’t die. App for iOS and Android.

The way Forest helps you stay away from your phone is by providing an interesting solution. Once you install the application, you plant a seed in the Forest. That seed then continues to grow and starts turning into a tree. In order for the tree to grow, it takes half an hour and your goal is not to touch your phone in the meanwhile. This means no Facebook and Instagram scrolling. There’s an option to check your history, but also to create a whitelist. This list contains the activities you can do in the meanwhile, without killing your tree. The app is great for staying focused and getting things done.

Download App for Android | iOS

2 – Moment – (Free for iOS)

Moment App Display Smartphone Addiction App

Free app for iOS and Android. For a paid premium you can get a “Phone Bootcamp” that will help you learn more about the addiction and how to overcome it.

Moment is a new app that shows you how much time you spend using a smartphone per day. It tells you not only the hours spent altogether but also how many times you picked it up and started using it. If you spend more than 3 hours on the phone daily- it is considered a bad habit and you will get a red score. The Insights page tells you the overall statistic of your phone use and the best part about the app is that’s invisible. You can even forget it’s there and it will do the job of evaluating your addiction.

Download App for iOS

3 – QualityTime – (Free, Android)

 QualityTime App Display Smartphone Addiction App

Free for Android.

Here is one more app that will give you insight into your daily phone usage. With QualityTime, you can check different stats like total usage in time, the number of times you unlocked the screen and how much time you spent on an individual app. All the stats are available for daily, weekly and monthly cycles. Besides the numbers, the app helps you reduce the time spent on your phone by taking scheduled breaks and setting your own alerts.

Download App for Android

4 – OFFTIME (Free, Android)

OFFTIME App Display

Free for Android.

OFFTIME is an app that lets you control how much you’re connected with the digital world. You’ll get the full analytics of your phone usage so that you can learn what you’re doing on your phone, when you’re doing it, and for how long. If you learn that an app is distracting you more than you would like, then you can set a restriction on it and limit your access to it. There’s also an option to block calls, texts, and notifications but select the people who can still reach you.

Download App for Android

5 – UnPlug – ($2, iOS)

UnPlug App Display

App for iOS, $2

UnPlug is an app that will show you how much time you spend on certain apps and automatically track the percentage of your phone usage. It allows you to stay focused by limiting this amount of time as well as motivates you by giving you rewards for using it less than usual. All the statistics are very well detailed and you can export it and compare in order to track your progress.

Download App for iOS

6 – Dinner Mode – (Free, iOS)

Dinner Mode App Display

Free for iOS

We all know how annoying it can get when you gather with friends to have a meal and everyone starts checking their phone. Dinner Mode inspires you to disconnect while you eat and it’s very easy to use. Once you open the app, you can choose the time you’d like to ignore your phone- 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour. Then you have to turn the phone face down until the time expires.

Download App for iOS

7 – Onward – (Free, iOS)

Onward App Graph

Free for iOS

Onward is designed to bring you life-tech balance and change the overuse behavior you have with your phone. It’s very easy to navigate, uses latest brain science and provides you with the personalized AI coach. The idea is to focus on your relationship with a certain aspect and then sets a personalized program to help you overcome it by offering tips about the addiction, helping you be aware of the triggers and stay away from them. Here are the aspects you can focus on: screen time, social media, porn, dating apps, shopping, gambling and video games.

Download App for iOS


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