Auto-Close Timer for Instagram, TikTok & More

The Problem: You Set a Limit. The App Ignores It.

Google Digital Wellbeing lets you set a 10-minute Instagram limit. At minute 10, a gray screen appears. You tap "Ask for 15 more minutes." Then you tap it again. The limit becomes a notification you dismiss.

This is not a design flaw. It is the design. These apps are engineered to make you forget time. Variable-ratio rewards, infinite scroll, and auto-play create what anthropologist Natasha Schull calls "the zone" — a trance state where duration ceases to exist. Your brain did not decide to scroll for an hour. It forgot to decide to stop.

You need something that closes the app for you. Not asks. Closes.

How Auto-Close Actually Works

PullBack uses Android Usage Access — the same permission Google Digital Wellbeing uses — to detect which app is in the foreground. When your target app opens, your timer starts counting down. At zero, we show a brief "Pulled back" screen. Two seconds later, you are at your home screen. The app is not blocked. It is not locked. It is closed.

You can reopen it immediately if you want. We are not a prison guard. We are the friend who taps you on the shoulder and says "you said 10 minutes." The exit you would have given yourself if you had remembered to.

Why This Beats Built-In Timers

The difference is mechanical, not motivational. A timer you can ignore is not a timer. It is a suggestion.

Instagram

Instagram makes $30+ billion a year from your attention. A popup that asks "are you sure?" is not a serious intervention. It is theater. When PullBack closes Instagram after your timer expires, the reopen friction is higher than the continue-scrolling friction. You have to find the app icon, tap it, wait for it to load. That gap is where the impulse dies.

Pro tip: Set Instagram to 10 minutes. That is enough to check DMs and stories. Anything longer and you are in the zone.

TikTok

TikTok is engineered for time blindness more aggressively than any other app. The For You Page is a variable-ratio reward machine: you never know when the next dopamine hit will come, so you keep scrolling. PullBack breaks the loop externally. The timer expires, the app closes, the trance ends.

Pro tip: Set TikTok to 5 minutes and Instagram to 10. You know which one eats more of your evening.

Also Works For

YouTube, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Reddit, Threads. The same mechanic across every app designed to keep you scrolling. Set custom timers per app on Pro: 20 minutes for YouTube, 10 for Instagram, 5 for TikTok.

Setup in 30 Seconds

1. Open PullBack. Grant Usage Access (Android Settings > Apps > Special Access > Usage Access).
2. Tap the app you want to limit — Instagram, TikTok, or any other.
3. Pick your timer: 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes.
4. Close PullBack. Open the app. Scroll. Wait for the tap on the shoulder.

No account. No email. No data leaves your phone.

Free vs Pro

Free: 4 apps at a time, one shared timer, all core features. No ads. No time limit.

Pro: All 8 curated apps + any installed app, per-app custom timers, App Groups, schedules with destination apps, weekly stats. Upgrade inside the app.

FAQ