DetoxDroid

Make digital detox your default

What DetoxDroid does

Most digital detox apps are opt-in: you start a timer, then try not to break it.

DetoxDroid is the opposite. It makes a calmer phone your default state:

• fewer colors
• fewer notifications
• fewer distracting apps

You can still take intentional pauses when you need them.

Features

1. Make Apps Boring
   Grayscale, dimmed and blurred. The apps you list lose their color, and on Android 12+ they go blurry as well. This works the minute you install the app. Real grayscale is an upgrade, see Installation.
2. Do Not Disturb by default
   Stays on for as long as DetoxDroid runs.
3. Break Doom Scrolling
   Detects long scrolling sessions, interrupts them, and keeps that feed locked for a cooldown.
4. Disable Apps
   Let an app make you wait a few seconds before it opens, block it behind a warning screen, or deactivate it outright, launcher icon and notifications included. With a daily time budget, every open costs the wait until the budget is gone, then the app locks.
5. Pause Button
   Pause from Quick Settings, the assistant, or a long-pressed hardware button. Auto-resumes, with a minimum gap between pauses.
6. Commitment Password
   Lock selected settings behind a passphrase.
7. Minimal Launcher Widget
   A text-only launcher for the apps you actually meant to open.

Installation

Install the APK from Releases and grant the accessibility service when the app asks. That is the whole setup, and every feature runs: where the system color filter is out of reach, DetoxDroid draws its own screen filter that washes the color out of distracting apps and blurs them (Android 12+, and the system drops the blur while battery saver is on).

Optional: real grayscale

Android only lets an app touch the system color filter if it holds WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS, and there is no permission dialog for it. Grant it once and the overlay is replaced by actual grayscale, plus Extra Dim, which takes the screen below its normal minimum brightness. Grayscale, Extra Dim and the screen filter are separate switches, so you can also run the overlay on top of the real thing.

Three ways to grant it:

Shizuku, no computer involved. The app ships a step-by-step wizard for this. It takes about five minutes, and Shizuku has to be restarted after every reboot (the permission itself stays).

Root. One tap inside the app.

From a computer:

1. Enable developer mode and USB debugging:
   1. Go to Android Settings → About Phone
   2. Tap Build Number repeatedly until developer mode is enabled
   3. Open Android Settings → Developer Options and enable USB debugging
      (Some devices also require USB debugging (Security Settings) for pm commands. Some Xiaomi devices require a Mi account sign-in.)
   4. Connect your phone to your computer
2. Download, unzip, and run the installation script for your OS
   • If you are on Windows, you should be able to run install_windows.bat by simply double-clicking the file.
   • On Mac/Linux, run bash install_<os-name>.sh
   • If your phone asks to allow USB debugging for your computer, tap Allow
3. Optionally, disable USB debugging again.

If the script does not work, or you would rather see what it does, there are manual installation steps in the wiki.

Support

If DetoxDroid helps you, you can support development:

• Submit feature suggestions and bug reports
• Buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi
• Become a patron on LiberaPay
• Donate via PayPal
• Send Bitcoin to bc1qj4r8srgx4arf3qxrmqqnsqnkc3rwdspx5ewvg7

Troubleshooting

“App was denied access” on Pixel / Android 12+

On some Pixel and Android 12+ devices, you may see this dialog when DetoxDroid cannot access usage data:

Fix:

1. Open Settings → Apps → DetoxDroid.
2. Tap the overflow menu (⋮) and select Allow restricted settings.
3. Grant the permission.

After this, DetoxDroid should read usage data normally.