Many of us spend a lot of our time staring at screens, whether it's staring at a desktop computer at work or staring at our phones at home scrolling through Instagram. In a lot of ways, modern life requires you to do so.

But prolonged screen time can have some negative health effects as many of us are aware of. Given that, it might be a good idea to set an app timer to limit your screen time and control your exposure to digital media. Let's see how you can do that on your Android device.

How to Set an App Timer on Android

It's easy to set a limit on how long you can use certain apps each day.

  1. Go to your device Settings.
  2. Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
  3. Tap Dashboard.
  4. Tap the hourglass icon for your desired app.
  5. Set a timer and tap OK.

How to Set an App Timer on Samsung Phones

The process to set up an app timer is slightly different (and perhaps better!) on Samsung phones. Follow these steps to do so on your Galaxy device:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > App timers.
  2. Here, you'll see all your apps divided into different categories. That way, you can quickly select an entire category of apps that usually distract you such as Games or Social.
  3. Next, tap Set timer and customize it to your needs, and tap Done to confirm.
  4. Once done, you'll be able to view, edit, or delete your app timer from the App timers menu.

Once you've set a timer for your desired app, its appearance in your phone UI will fade—indicating that the time you spend on that app is limited and must be used mindfully. Ideally, you should only put a timer for apps that aren't crucial to your daily life but still end up taking a lot of your time.

If you are using an app icon pack on your phone, their appearance in your phone's UI may not change.

Apps like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media apps are good candidates for restricting screen time. That is unless your work revolves around those platforms, of course. The goal here is to become more mindful about how and how much content you consume in a day.

Control Your Screen Time

An app timer is an incredibly useful tool for time management if you are someone who struggles to get off an app. It can help you save time and become more disciplined about how you spend it. Done wisely, it can also help boost your productivity, reduce stress, and help with practicing digital detox.

You can even set goals to make this process more fun. For instance, start by setting a goal to save two to four hours in your first week and make the goals harder as you go along. Don't make it too hard too quickly; you might not be able to keep up. Instead, start small and build up over time for best results.