Doom Savermara.k•••
2,418 likes
mara.k the light this morning
Screen time app for Android
You already know you doomscroll too much. Now something watches you do it.
Open Instagram, TikTok, X, Reddit or any app you pick, and Grim appears: a small hooded knight with a running timer. He starts calm. He does not stay calm.
Free on Google Play. Android 8.0 and up. No feed, no streak, nothing to scroll.
0:00:00
There is a window in this room. Look out of it.
Calm
He is fine. For now.
See it work42 seconds
See how it works.
Grim, the timer and the four stages, from calm to the reaper, in under a minute.
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Nothing loads from YouTube before that.
The whole ideaFour stages
He keeps count. Then he falls apart.
One timer, per app, per day. It counts time actually spent in the app, and it resets at midnight whether you earned that or not.
-
0:00
Calm
Grim sits in the corner counting. Drag him anywhere you like. Tap him for the total.
-
30:00
Worried
The eyes go round and uncertain. He has grown since you started, and his ring pulses as he crosses the line.
-
1:00:00
Doomed
An hour. His eyes go dead and stay dead. There is nothing you can say to him about it.
-
1:30:00
The reaper
The mask comes off, the skull comes out, and the crows arrive. He stays this way until tomorrow.
You choose who he follows.
Tick the ones you actually have a problem with. He ignores everything else, including your camera, your maps and your bank.
- TikTok
- X
- YouTube
- Snapchat
- Threads
- Tumblr
- BeReal
Twelve supported apps. Turn each one on or off in the app, any time.
9:41●●●
Doom SaverWatchingS
Grim shows how long you have been in social apps today.
Usage access granted
Display over other apps granted
Notifications allowed
Track these apps8 of 13 on
IInstagram
TTikTok
XX / Twitter
fFacebook
▶YouTube
rReddit
Doom Saver ProFour extras
Free for good. Pro is extra.
Everything above costs nothing, and always will. Pro adds the parts that are yours to make: your own tasks, your own lines, your own face, and your say over how often Grim speaks. None of it is ever sent to us.
9:41●●●
Tasks3 waitingS
Things you keep putting off. Grim brings them up while you scroll.
+Write something you keep putting offAdd
Call the dentist backWritten today✕
Finish chapter nineWritten yesterday✕
Return the parcelWritten 28 September✕
Done
Water the monsteraWritten today✕
Pro
Tasks without limit
Two tasks at a time are free. Pro lets Grim carry as many as you like. He reads them back while you scroll; tap the reminder and he takes you to the list, tick one off and he stops.
9:41●●●
Phrases53 in rotationS
What Grim says while you scroll. Fifty come built in.
As it appears over your feed
You said you would go to bed at eleven.
Something only you would sayAdd
Yours3
You said you would go to bed at eleven.
The running shoes are by the door.
Nobody here will remember this post tomorrow.
Built in50
Your dishes have formed a small civilisation.✕
Blink. Seriously. You have stopped blinking.✕
The kettle takes two minutes. This has taken longer.✕
Pro
Your own lines
Write your own, mixed in with his fifty. Remove any of the built in ones you are tired of.
9:41●●●
GrimCalmS
Sits over your apps while you scroll.
State Calm
How it escalatesTap a step
Under 30m
30m
1h
1h 30m
Pro
Your face behind the visor
Choose a photo, frame it, and Grim wears it all the way to the reaper. It is never sent to us and there is no way to share it from the app.
9:41●●●
Phrases53 in rotationS
How often
Measured in time actually spent in a tracked app, not wall clock.
A message every
5m10m15m30m
Stays on screen for
5s10s15s30s
Make a sound
Stays quiet when your phone is on silent.
Stays quiet when your phone is on silent.
As it appears over your feed
Somewhere a task list is quietly judging you.
Pro
Your timings
Choose how often Grim speaks, from every five minutes to every thirty, and how long each message stays, from five seconds to thirty. Counted in time actually spent in a tracked app, not on the clock.
Stats are free. All of them.
Your day, week or month by day, by hour and by app: how often you open each app, how long a visit lasts, and the stretch you scroll most. Worked out on your phone from the sessions it has recorded, and never sent to us.
- Grim and his live timer, in every tracked app
- All four stages, calm to reaper
- The fifty built in phrases
- Two tasks at a time
- Stats by day, by hour and by app
- All twelve supported apps
The free app is not a trial. Everything on this list is free forever. Pro is optional: a one off purchase or a monthly subscription, bought inside the app through Google Play.
9:41●●●
Stats7 daysS
Today7 days30 days
Last 7 days38m less
5h 44m
Opens186
Per visit1m 51s
Tasks done4
By hourWorst 9 to 11pm
12am6am12pm6pm11pm
By app
Instagram2h 10m 38%
TikTok1h 32m 27%
YouTube58m 17%
Reddit41m 12%
You opened Instagram most, 74 times.
Messages you did not ask forFifty built in
Every so often, a suggestion. They are not gentle.
Fifty of them, dealt like a deck. Every one comes up before any of them comes up twice, and the order changes each time round. Out of the box he speaks every fifteen minutes of scrolling, for ten seconds. Pro lets you choose how often, and for how long.
- There is a window in this room. Look out of it.
- Your dishes have formed a small civilisation.
- The scroll is infinite. Your evening is not.
- A book has pages, not an algorithm. Wild concept.
- Fresh air is free. You've paid enough attention here already.
- Your legs still work, in case you were wondering.
- That walk isn't going to take itself.
- Sunlight: nature's ring light. Try it sometime.
- Water. Drink some. Revolutionary, I know.
- Somewhere, a houseplant is dying of neglect.
- Your friends still exist outside this app. Allegedly.
- One pushup takes less time than this scroll session.
- Somewhere a task list is quietly judging you.
- That laundry isn't folding itself, champ.
- Ever tried talking to a human? In person? Wild idea.
- Somewhere, a guitar is gathering dust.
- Your phone battery isn't the only thing running low.
- Even your thumbs deserve a break.
- Your plants are thirsty. So are you, probably.
- Your posture called. It is filing a complaint.
- Blink. Seriously. You have stopped blinking.
- That recipe you saved will not cook itself.
- The kettle takes two minutes. This has taken longer.
- Grim is starting to take this personally.
There is a window in this room. Look out of it.
Private by design
It cannot see your screen. It was never able to.
Android tells Doom Saver which app is in front and nothing else. That is the whole input. Your daily totals are worked out on your phone and never sent to us.
No
It does not see, read, record or transmit what is on your screen.
No
It does not collect what you type, view, post or search for.
No
It does not touch your contacts, photos, location or files.
No
Your per app totals are never sent to us. Analytics never records which app you were in.
No
Nothing about you is sold to anyone. There is no one to sell it to.
Why a witness, not a wallThree studies
The research behind Grim.
Doom Saver never blocks an app. It makes the time visible, inside the app where you are spending it. Three findings point the same way.
Watching the number changes the number.
A meta-analysis of 138 randomised studies covering nearly 20,000 people found that monitoring progress helps people reach their goals, and that the effect is larger when progress is physically recorded or made visible to others. Grim is that record, on screen, in the app.
A choice beats a lock.
In a six week field experiment with 280 people, an app that interrupted them before opening social media cut actual app openings by 57%. In a follow up test, the part that mattered most was the option to back out, not the waiting time.
Thirty minutes is a meaningful line.
When 143 students cut Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to 10 minutes each a day, 30 minutes in total, for three weeks, their loneliness and depression fell significantly compared with a control group. Grim starts to worry at 30 minutes.
Hunt et al., Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2018
What this does not show: none of these studies tested Doom Saver itself. They are why we think a visible witness works better than a blocker, not proof that it will work for you.
From the blogEight to start with
Reading for the evening you almost lost.
What Android already knows about your day, why the scroll wins, and how to get an hour back without a lecture.
What Is Doomscrolling?
The meaning of the word, where it came from, and what the research says it does to your mood.
How to Stop Doomscrolling
Ten ways to reduce it, each backed by a study, and why cutting down works as well as quitting.
What to Do Instead of Doomscrolling
Thirty ideas, sorted by how much time you have and what the scroll was really for.
Best Apps to Stop Doomscrolling on Android, Compared
Eight Android apps compared honestly: how each one stops you, the permission it needs, and who it suits.
Doom Saver, Digital Wellbeing, Opal and Forest Compared
Four answers to the same problem: blocking, gamifying, scheduling or making the time visible. Which one fits which person.
Why Willpower Loses to Infinite Scroll
You are up against an interface with no stopping cues. Willpower is the wrong tool for that problem.
What Is Usage Access on Android? What It Lets an App See
It sounds alarming and is narrower than it sounds. Exactly what an app gets, what it cannot see, and how it differs from Accessibility.
Is Usage Access Safe? Which Apps Should Have It and How to Check
One of the safer Android permissions, but your usage history is still personal. Which apps need it, how to check the list on any phone, and the warning signs.
The scroll is infinite. Your evening is not.
Doom Saver is free on Google Play. Setup takes three permissions and about a minute, and Grim is watching by the time you open your first feed.
Get it on Google Play
Questions first? Read the support page.