How to Limit Time on Specific Apps (Without Locking the Whole Phone)

The short version: On an iPhone with iOS 26 or earlier, go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit, tap a category to open it, select only the apps you want, tap Next, and set the time. On iOS 27, App Limits gave way to Time Allowances (Settings > Screen Time > Time Allowances), which set daily budgets for categories such as Social Media and Entertainment, and Manage Categories lets you shape what those categories hold. On Android, open Settings > Digital Wellbeing > App timers, tap the timer icon next to the app, choose a time, and tap OK. Add a Screen Time passcode on iPhone if you want the limit to hold.

The phone itself is rarely the problem. Ours is full of things we would hate to lose: the bus times, the shared shopping list, the photo of the parking spot. The problem is two apps. For one of us it is a short-video app; for another it is a news app refreshed so often it should count as a hobby.

Locking the whole phone feels like using a sledgehammer on a splinter. What most people want is narrower: thirty minutes of the feed, then it closes, and everything else carries on as normal. Both iPhone and Android can do that with built-in settings, and they handle it in slightly different ways.

Which setting limits one app?

If you want apps closed during certain hours rather than capped by minutes, that is a schedule, and our guide to blocking apps for certain hours covers it.

How to limit screen time for apps on iPhone (iOS 26 and earlier)

Most iPhones on iOS 26 still use App Limits, and it is the most direct way to cap a single app. Apple's iOS 26 guide says it works for categories of apps and for individual apps.

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time. If Screen Time is off, our setup guide turns it on first.
2. Tap App Limits, then Add Limit.
3. Tap the name of a category (Social, say) to see the apps inside it.
4. Select the one app you want to limit. If you select several, Apple says the time you set applies to all of them together.
5. Tap Next, then set the time allowed.
6. Optional: tap Customize Days to give weekends a different limit.

That is the whole setup for one app. Repeat it for a second app if you want each to have its own budget. Put both in the same limit if you would rather share one pool of time between them.

Make the limit hard to wave away

Here is the part that catches people. Apple notes that by default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once they are reached. You get a screen telling you the time is up, and a way to carry on.

Apple's way to make limits firmer runs through a Screen Time passcode. On iOS 26, tap Settings > Screen Time > Lock Screen Time Settings and set a code (on iOS 27 it sits one level deeper, under Manage Screen Time). The strongest version is a code you do not know, typed in by a partner or friend. If you ever lose track of it, use Apple's passcode recovery with your Apple Account.

How to limit time on specific apps on iPhone (iOS 27)

iOS 27 rebuilt Screen Time around two ideas, as Apple's iOS 27 guide describes. Time Allowances decide how long you can use apps each day. Screen Time Schedules decide when.

Time Allowances work by category. Apps sit in Entertainment, Games, or Social Media based on what they do and where they live in the App Store. You set a daily total, then a budget for each category, and apps work until either the category runs out or the daily total does. If an app is linked to its own website, Apple says the allowance covers both, so the limit follows you from the app to the browser.

To set it up:

1. Open Settings, tap Screen Time, then Time Allowances.
2. Drag the top slider, or tap the plus and minus buttons, to set your daily total.
3. Under Time Allowances, tap a category and set its own time.
4. Tap Manage Categories to add a new category with the plus button, or tap a category to see your average daily use of it and of the apps inside it.

What about one single app?

This is the honest gap in iOS 27 for adults. Apple's guide for your own iPhone describes allowances for categories rather than for one named app. Apple's Time Allowances overview says you can add new categories and change which apps belong to a category, and that is the route to a single-app limit: a category that holds just the app you want to cap. The exact taps for moving an app between categories are not spelled out in Apple's guide, so look under Manage Categories on your phone.

For a child's iPhone, Apple's family setup guide adds Additional Time Allowances, for apps that are not in any category. Our guide to limiting screen time on a kid's iPhone or iPad walks through that side.

One requirement before you start: Apple says Time Allowances need version 27 on all your Apple devices. If an older iPad or Mac on your Apple Account has not updated, you stay on App Limits.

Limit an app only at certain times

Back in Time Allowances, turn on Match Screen Time Schedule. Your budgets then apply inside the time windows of your schedule. This is how you allow twenty minutes of social media in the evening and none during the working morning, without a separate rule for each.

And whatever you set, apps listed under Settings > Screen Time > Always Allowed stay open regardless. Check that list once. A feed app sitting in Always Allowed will quietly ignore every allowance you give it.

How to limit screen time for certain apps on Android

Android does single-app limits well. Google's Digital Wellbeing guide sets it out:

1. Open Settings and tap Digital Wellbeing (on some phones, Digital Wellbeing & parental controls).
2. Tap App timers.
3. Next to the app you want to limit, tap the Set timer icon.
4. Choose how much time you can spend in that app, then tap OK.

When the time runs out, Google says the app closes and its icon dims. Timers reset at midnight. To use the app again before then, you would have to go back and delete the timer, which is a small but real pause, and sometimes that pause is enough.

Google also notes that some work and school accounts may not work with app timers.

Phone makers move the menus around. Samsung, Xiaomi, and others put Digital Wellbeing in slightly different places, and our guide to checking screen time on Android has the paths for the common brands. The same screens also show your daily use per app, which is the best way to decide what to limit.

How much time should you give an app?

There is no official number for adults. A useful way to pick one is to start from what you actually use now:

1. Look up your daily average for the app. On iPhone it is in Screen Time; on Android it is on the Digital Wellbeing dashboard.
2. Set the first limit at about half of that, or at least 30 minutes below it.
3. Live with it for a week before adjusting.

Large cuts on day one tend to get dismissed by day three. We have done exactly that, set a ten-minute limit on a two-hour habit, and tapped past it before lunch.

The research on smaller cuts is more encouraging. In a 2022 trial from Ruhr University Bochum, people who used their smartphone one hour less per day for a week reported better well-being, and four months later they were still using it about 45 minutes a day less. Our guide to reducing screen time as an adult has more on setting a target you can keep.

Why per-app limits slip, and what helps

A few patterns come up again and again:

• The web version. Close the app, open the same site in the browser. On iOS 27, allowances cover a linked website. On older versions and on Android, you may want a separate limit or website block for the browser version.
• The swap. Cap one feed and time flows into the next one. Limiting the category, or two apps together, helps here.
• The easy override. If ignoring the limit takes one tap, it becomes a habit within days. A passcode someone else holds adds the step that matters.
• The empty gap. The limit closes the app at 9pm and leaves a blank evening. Plan what goes there: a book on the sofa, the walk you keep meaning to take, a call.

Where Unglue fits

Built-in limits count minutes and then close the door. Unglue works from the other direction. The apps you choose stay blocked, and you open them by earning minutes with something in real life: a walk, a glass of water, a focus session. On iPhone it does the blocking through Apple's Screen Time framework, so it sits alongside the settings above.

If the problem is that you keep changing your own limits, Selection Lock gives you a Buddy Code to hand to someone you trust. Adding apps to the blocked list is free; taking them off needs the code. Yes, it is an app on your phone to help you use apps less. We notice the irony every day.

Common questions

How do I limit screen time for specific apps on iPhone?

On iOS 26 and earlier, go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits > Add Limit, tap a category name to open it, select only the app you want, tap Next, and set the time. On iOS 27, use Settings > Screen Time > Time Allowances, which sets budgets by category, and use Manage Categories to shape which apps a category covers.

Can I limit screen time for certain apps but not others?

Yes. On iOS 26, an App Limit applies only to the apps you select. On Android, app timers are set one app at a time. On any iPhone, apps in Always Allowed stay available whatever limits you set, so that is where to put maps, messages, or your bank.

Can you put a time limit on one app on Android?

Yes. Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing > App timers, tap the timer icon next to the app, choose a time, and tap OK. When time runs out, the app closes and its icon dims until the timer resets at midnight.

Do App Limits still exist in iOS 27?

On iOS 27, Apple's guide covers Time Allowances and Screen Time Schedules in place of App Limits and Downtime. Apple says these need version 27 on every Apple device on your account, or on every device in your Family Sharing group. Until then, you keep the older App Limits.

Why can I still open an app after the limit?

On iPhone, Apple lets you ignore a limit once it is reached unless you lock Screen Time with a passcode. Also check Always Allowed, because apps on that list skip limits entirely. On Android, an app timer closes the app, but deleting the timer brings it back the same day.

Do app limits reset every day?

Yes. Android's app timers reset at midnight, and iPhone's limits and allowances are daily amounts. On iPhone you can also set different limits for different days of the week.

Sources

• Apple, Set Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances in Screen Time on iPhone, iOS 27.
• Apple, Set schedules with Screen Time on iPhone, iOS 26.
• Apple, About Time Allowances and Set up Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances for children.
• Google, Manage how you spend time on your Android phone with Digital Wellbeing.
• Ruhr University Bochum, Fewer smartphones, more well-being, 2022.