Mello: Shorts & Reels Blocker

OneDiv Labs

Contains ads

About this app

Mello is a Reels and Shorts blocker that limits only the short-video feed, not the whole app. Give Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok a few minutes each; when an app runs out, it goes on curfew while your DMs, normal YouTube videos and the rest of your phone keep working.

Most app blockers lock the whole app. That's why people switch them off: Instagram is also where your friends message you, and YouTube is also where you learn things. Mello tells the difference. In Instagram and YouTube it counts only the minutes you spend inside the Reels or Shorts player, so the tutorial you're watching or the chat you're answering never eats into your limit.

How it works
• Choose your apps: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X are built in
• Give each app its own minutes (10 by default)
• A small floating counter shows the minutes left while you scroll
• Run out and Mello sends you to your home screen and starts a curfew for that app only (1 hour by default). Then its minutes come back
• Need a moment? Once per curfew you can watch a short ad for 5 more minutes, so the block never feels like a trap

See where your time goes
• Minutes left for each app on the Today screen
• A calendar of your short-video time, day by day
• Charts of time watched over 7 days, 2 weeks, 1 month or 3 months, split by app
• Streaks for days you stay under your limits
• Mello, a friendly owl, reacts as you get close to your limit: calm, never shaming

For shared and family phones
• Optional PIN locks your limits and settings
• Optional "ask before uninstalling" makes Mello harder to remove
• English, Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic, switchable in the app

Free, or Mello Pro
Free covers Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok and X, plus one more app of your choice, with every feature included. TikTok, X and apps you add are timed as a whole. Mello Pro is a monthly subscription that lets you limit up to 10 more apps, such as games or other social apps, and removes ads.

Private by design
Mello checks only whether a short-video player is on screen, never what you watch, type or send. Your limits, minutes and history stay on your device and are deleted when you uninstall. No account, no sign-in. The free version shows ads from Google AdMob, and anonymous usage statistics are collected with Firebase Analytics; see the privacy policy for details.

Honest about what it is
Mello is a digital wellbeing tool that adds friction to the doomscrolling loop, not a parental control lock. Anyone with access to the phone can switch off its Accessibility Service. It's there to make scrolling a choice again.

Why Mello needs Accessibility
Mello uses Android's Accessibility Service only to detect which app is in front and when the Reels or Shorts player is on screen in the apps you choose, so it can count that time and start a curfew at your limit. It is not used for anything else, and nothing it sees leaves your phone.

Made by OneDiv Labs, a small independent studio. Questions or ideas: [e-mail]

What’s new

• Redesigned lock screen: simpler, and it appears the moment your time runs out
• The Back button now takes you out of the lock screen
• Fixed the lock screen popping back up right after you left it
• Add any app you want Mello to watch during setup
• Meet Mello Pro during setup: more apps and no ads
• Stability fixes and crash reporting