Set App limits in Android with Wellbeing controls

If you are anything like me, the combination of COVID, Politics and everything else going on in 2020 may be a bit overwhelming. There are days when I have found myself glued to Facebook and at the end of the day accomplished nothing. Well, I found a way to set up my Android phone to limit the amount of time that I spend on Facebook. You can set up your Android phone to limit your time on Facebook, or any other app. This article will walk you through it. I have also learned that there is a setting called “Screen time” in Apple IOS phones.

Step-by-Step guide to set up your Android phone to limit your time on Facebook.

Step 1: Go to your Settings App

Then within the Settings, look for Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls. Click on that option.

This is where you can set up your Android phone to limit your time on Facebook, or any other app. When you get inside, the first thing you are going to see is a graph of how much time you have used your phone today, and what you were doing. There are some interesting things in here that allow you to control your experience with your phone, such as notifications and of course the “Ways to disconnect” that we will be going into. Go into Ways to disconnect now.

We want to go into the Dashboard within Android’s Wellbeing and parental controls to set the timer.

And within the dashboard, you will see that it starts on “Screen Time”. You can view how much time you have spent in front of your phone today, and for 7 days. This is where you can set the timer. Click on the hourglass next to Facebook (or any other app), and you can tell set the timer for how long you want to set limits for each app. In the image below, you can see that I set Facebook at 90 minutes or 1 hour and 30 minutes.

On this same screen, if you click on each day of the week, it will tell you the details from all your apps for whatever day you have selected.

Once you have Set the timer, it starts working immediately. When you start getting close to the time limit, it will provide you with a timer that you can see in the app that tells you how long you have used it, and how much time you have left. This does not show up until you are approaching the time limit.

When you have exceeded the time limit, it will grey out the icon on your phone screen for that app, and it will not let you launch it again until the next day. I imagine you can override this setting by going in and turning off the timer in the settings location (I have not tried that).

So if you feel like you are spending too much time on Facebook, or any other app, You can set app limites with the Wellbeing and Parental controls. This is a way you can take control of your time and let the technology help you limit that screen time. Go outside, wear a mask, peace.