Subdomain Blocking: YouTube Shorts, Facebook business, Instagram Reels

[Doooch_Doocho]

I would love to see specific app restrictions added to opal, what I mean by this is for example I love YouTube! but I hate Youtube Shorts, I still want to see long formatted content but I want to Youtube Shorts disabled or on restriction mode same stuff with Facebook I love Facebook Market place but hate their reels/Video area.

[kenneth]

Thank you for sharing! in the current toolset we have access to with Screen Time API this isn’t possible, unfortunately.

[Sara_Altmann]

I’d love to be able to block parts of website, such as YouTube shorts, often being able to watch a YouTube video is required for productive work but having access to Shorts would reduce distraction.

[Sarah_K]

Hey there,

Thanks for the feature request! I’ve passed this suggestion along to our engineers to consider as we continue to upgrade the app. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Team Opal

[Alephosio]

Best solution until they will implement that into the app: you can click on the 3 dots in shorts in your recommendation page and choose ‘not interested’ on all shorts. you won’t have Shorts recommended to you for a month, thus the temptation to watch is reduced if not gone completely (at least in my case).

[Nolan_DP]

Make it so we can block specific parts in an app like YouTube shorts but not the whole app

[Sam-stays-focused]

Hello, my biggest issue with my screen time is doom scrolling, specifically on instagram. I am in my opal trial now and it helps to be able to block apps, however instagram DMs is how I communicate with 90% of people, and I also enjoy posting on my story, so I don’t want to block that altogether. I wish that I could have access to my own profile/stories/posting abilities, as well as seeing other people’s stories and DM’s… the problem is that when I watch someone’s story and there’s a reel it’s so much harder to control and next thing you know I’m mindlessly scrolling reels for a half hour. Or even resist the ability to click on that tab once in the app. I wish there was a way to block reels only (and ideally explore page too) but have access to the rest of the app… anyway a feature like this would be possible in the near future? Thanks

[Ethann]

I was wondering if you guys could make a feature where you block reels because I like the app but the reels make it to addicting now and it’s started to feel like I am using TikTok.

[Sarah_K]

Hey @Peds,

Sorry for the trouble! I’m afraid we’re not able to break down blocking on this hyper-nuanced level, but we’d certainly like to in the future! That said, I’ve merged your requests into the same thread so other Gems can vote on this, and I’ve passed this suggestion along to our engineers to consider as we continue to upgrade the app. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Team Opal

[Charles_Ferguson]

A way to just block watching reels/ shorts but still be able to post on and message on these apps.

[Michal_Borzdynski]

Hi, I don’t think it’s possible to block it within apps. However if you are willing to use it with a browser you could use apps like Social Focus: Hide distractions, Untrap for Youtube, Shorts blocker for YouTube - by Yevhen Tretiakov. They are available on IOS, not sure about Android.

[Sarah_K]

Hey @Charles_Ferguson,

Thanks for reaching out! I’m afraid we’re not able to break down blocking on this hyper-nuanced level, but we’d certainly like to in the future! That said, I’ve merged your requests into the thread on the topic so other Gems can vote on this, and I’ve passed this suggestion along to our engineers to consider as we continue to upgrade the app. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Team Opal

[Nerdsgummycluster]

Basically I am addicted to reels but I don’t want to delete Instagram because it’s how I chat with friends, group chats, and see photos. It would be great to have reels blocked but still able to access the instagram app.

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[clement_mouchot]

Got a feature you’d love to see in Opal? Suggest it here, and let the community vote on it!

Here’s how you can do this:

Sometimes I would only use instagram to send a message and not to watch reels for 30 minutes
What if when I ask 5 minutes in the app I could also explain with different categories why I want does 3 minutes

After 2-3 minutes you send a notification for example still sending a message ?

[Sarah_K]

Hey @here,

Hey there,

Thanks for the feature request! I’ve passed this suggestion along to our engineers to consider as we continue to upgrade the app and merged the requests for Instagram into the same thread, so our engineers can track them. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Team Opal