UPDATE: You can exclude apps from screen time calculation by setting them to NEUTRAL right from the Opal home.
You can tap on any app and edit wether you think this app is Productive, Neutral or Distracting. Hit Save, and your score and chart will update.
Productive: Apps that help your Focus
Distracting: Apps that hurt your Focus.
Neutral: Apps that neither hurt not help your focus. They are not counted towards your screen time. You can use this for example for apps you use in the background like Google Maps or audio like Spotify.
I donât consider navigation, music, meditation, audiobook, or other passive consumption apps as âscreen time.â Iâd like to be able to exclude them from my total time.
You can remove apps from your screen time calculation on your Home tab by setting them as âneutralâ. You can do that by following the instructions here:
Currently we can only set an appâs score to neutral to make it not count to overall screentime, but given how the score is a gauge over productivity, itâd be fair if our most productive apps could actually be not counted to screentime, rather than make it neutral.
For example I use timer apps such as Forest, and it doesnât make sense how using that labels me with a high screen time (or like I used my phone too much), when I was just working with a timer. And if I set that to neutral to not count it then whatâs the point of the productivity score?
I really appreciate the app but it does cost somewhat higher on the budget, and this has been a concern for me for quite some time, since I started using the app. With the higher price Iâd like to expect some more changes and fixes. But overall the app is good.
Thanks for the feedback! Iâm afraid currently the only way to exclude an app from your Focus Score on your home tab is by setting it to Neutral, and we donât currently plan to change it so that both productive and Neutral apps are not counted. That said, Iâve passed this suggestion along to our engineers to consider as we continue to upgrade the app. Stay tuned!
Overall I like the app, but there is one element thatâs a huge problem for me. On the home page, when I categorize an app as âneutralâ, the screentime is not counted - great. However, on my profile page, the app does count the amount of time spent on an âneutralâ. This is a problem because the apps that I put on neutral are those that run in the background - for example I use a pomodoro app that helps me keep track of the time that I spent studying. So in my weekly count, the hours spent on my screen is much higher than it should be and itâs really discouraging when I know that this portrayal is not accurate since these hours were spent studying and not on my phone
Ditto! It looks like people ask about this issue a lot and they donât have any plans to fix it. Seems like a pretty basic feature for a screentime app to get rightâŚ
If you would like to edit your App Ratings, follow these steps:
Open the Opal App
Tap on the âHomeâ tab
Tap on each app name
A prompt asking âHow distracting is this app?â will appear
Select the level of focus level (âVery Distractingâ/ âDistractingâ/ âSlightly Distractingâ/ âNeutralâ/ âSlightly Productiveâ/ âProductiveâ/ âVery Productiveâ)
Tap âSaveâ
How To Exclude Apps From Screen Time Calculation on your âHomeâ tab
If you set apps as âNeutralâ, they will not count towards your screen time calculation displayed on your âHomeâ tab, although it will continue to be reflected in your overall Screen Time that is shared with Friends, on the Leaderboard, and in your Focus Report. For apps like navigation, music, meditation, audiobook, or any other apps you consider as passive consumption, this can be very helpful.
