Interlude: Replace Scrolling

plazane

About this app

Interlude doesn't block you. It gives you something better to do when you start to doomscroll.

You pick the apps where you lose track of time. Your messages, stories and notifications stay free: Interlude only limits the video feed, whether it is TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts or another short-video feed. At the first swipe, a short pause appears with the note you wrote to yourself and a choice: close the app, read a short text instead, or keep watching for a number of videos you set (5, 10 or 20).

For the moments you'd normally scroll
On the subway, in a queue, on the couch, in bed at night: a 5-minute read instead of 30 minutes of videos. Don't like reading? Many texts take about 3 minutes, and each one ends with a short quiz, so it feels closer to a game than homework. Texts are saved on your phone, so they work offline.

A pause that doesn't wear out
The question, the card and the length change every time, so you don't skip it without reading. Closing the app takes no effort. Continuing takes a deliberate tap, so a reflex doesn't carry you along.

A daily video budget
You set one budget, shared across your apps. When it's used up, a "No more videos for today" screen takes you back to your phone's home screen. Messages stay free. Interlude counts videos in TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat. For apps with no video feed to swipe, it counts time instead.

Something to read instead
The reading feed offers short texts you swipe through vertically: science, history, psychology, money, tech, philosophy, the body, relationships and well-being. Most take between 2 and 8 minutes. Every text ends with a small quiz, and the questions come back later at spaced intervals, when a refresher helps, with no notification.

What you see of your progress
Videos per day, screen time you got back, your trend over several weeks, and tips that work at your own pace. No streak that punishes you, no red badge.

Calm sounds
Rain, sea, birds, a fireplace: a background sound you start yourself and stop with one tap.

Your privacy
- Almost everything stays on your phone: no account, no ads.
- Usage statistics, without your name, are only sent if you accept, and you can change your mind at any time.
- Privacy policy: https://interlude-app.web.app/en/privacy

Accessibility service: what it does and what it doesn't
Interlude uses Android's accessibility service, although it is not an accessibility tool. It lets Interlude know which of your chosen apps is open and that the screen is scrolling, so it can count videos and show the pause. It never reads what is on your screen: not your messages, not the videos, not what you type. It doesn't tap, swipe or type for you in other apps. An explanation appears before you turn it on, you can say no, and the reading feed works without it.

Interlude is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the apps mentioned.

What’s new

• Optional backup of your data to your Google account (off by default, in Settings)
• A question after a 👎 at the end of a text, to tell us what was wrong
• Corrected texts and questions, plus a new text on unpredictable rewards
• Clearer setup about costs, in every language