If you catch yourself spending too much time on Instagram, you can unlearn that with the limits in the Instagram app.
- Activity
- Set limit
- Set pause
Set Instagram time limit
Apple has its own features that let you see how much time you’ve spent in an app. With app limits you can also set that you can only use a certain app for a maximum number of minutes per day. This is part of the Screen Time feature, which helps you avoid smartphone addiction. You’ll find similar features in the Instagram app, but they’re completely separate from Apple’s iOS system feature.
View Instagram activity
You can find the option for Instagram in the settings. To do this, follow these steps:
- Open the Instagram app and tap the profile icon at the bottom right.
- Then tap the three horizontal lines at the top right to open the menu.
- Tap the option Your activity > Time spent.
- You will see a graph with the daily average.
In the chart with your Instagram usage, you can put your finger on one of the days to see the exact number of minutes. Keep in mind that the graphs only take into account the time you have Instagramming on this device. The app does not account for usage on the web or on any other device.
Set Instagram limit
Below the graphs you will find additional options, namely for pause, daily time limit and notifications. Tap Set daily time limit and choose a value, such as 1 hour. This is the maximum time you allow yourself on Instagram per day. You can choose from 30 or 45 minutes and 1, 2 or 3 hours.
When your time is up, a notification appears in the app. You now have to tap OK to continue using Instagram. From here you can also immediately edit the reminder, if you find it too tight. Keep in mind that the Instagram app is not really blocked. If you tap OK, you can continue to use the app. It’s primarily a reminder feature, so you might as well use the pause feature we discuss below.
If you really want to set a hard app limit, you can do so via Screen Time. This will block the app when the time is up. You can then extend the limit by fifteen minutes, but the threshold for this is a bit higher than with the reminder from Instagram itself.
Set Instagram pause
In addition to setting a time limit, you can also set breaks on Instagram. You will then receive a warning after a certain period of time to take a break. To do this, tap the Set reminder for breaks option. Then choose one of the values: 10, 20 or 30 minutes.
Worried about browsing from Instagram straight to Facebook? Then you can also set a Facebook time limit!
