# Cool Snail

> Cool Snail is a free Android app (Android 8.0 or later) with four tools to control social media addiction: it blocks short videos (Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok and the X video tab), limits your time, breaks up infinite scrolling on Reddit and X, and shows your time and posts seen in a bubble over the feed. Messages, search, stories and videos friends send you keep working. Made by Miriam, an independent developer in Spain.

Cool Snail goes after the parts of social apps built to keep you there, not the whole app. Instead of closing Instagram or YouTube, it takes you out of the endless video feed and lets you cap your time. Install it from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolsnail.blockshortvideos (package com.coolsnail.blockshortvideos; Play listing title "Cool Snail: Block Apps & Reels", previously "Cool Snail: Block Reels Shorts"; category Productivity; version 1.0.29, published 6 September 2026, updated 30 September 2026).

## The four tools

Each tool has its own switch on the app's home screen and works on its own. The app's own names are in brackets.

- Block short videos ("Exit shorts"): pulls you out of Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok's video feed and the X video tab about a second after you open them, plus short videos opened in Chrome. Videos opened straight from a chat still play. In the Instagram feed, a check-in after 3 Reels.
- Control your time ("Time blocking"): one daily limit for all social apps, a limit per app, and open hours. When the time is up, the app closes. On the free version, one ad buys 5 more minutes; open hours can't be bought.
- Block infinite scrolling ("One page at a time"): on Reddit and X, every 20 posts the feed pauses for 3 seconds with a card asking whether another page is worth it. You can always leave.
- Awareness ("The bubble"): a floating bubble over the feed with today's time in that app, the total across all apps, and posts seen. It blocks nothing.

## Key facts

- Platform: Android 8.0 or later. No iPhone version.
- Price: free forever, no trial, no account, no card. PRO, to fix your rules for 30 days, is a subscription (monthly or yearly; in Spain €3.49 a month or €34.99 a year; local prices in Google Play).
- Pulls you out of: Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok's video feed, the X (Twitter) video tab, and short videos opened in Chrome (TikTok links, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels).
- Friends get through: a Reel, Short or TikTok opened straight from a chat on WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Signal or Instagram's own DMs plays, with a note "Sent by a friend. Go ahead." On Instagram, swiping to a reel from someone else ends the pass; leaving the video or switching apps ends it anywhere.
- Limits: one daily limit for all social apps together, a limit per app, and open hours with a start and an end time (the same every day; outside them the social apps close; a window past midnight carries into the next morning).
- Friction instead of a wall: on the free version, when you reach your daily limit or an app's limit, one ad buys 5 more minutes counted from that moment. Open hours can't be extended. Every ad watched is counted in your statistics.
- Counts: time and opens on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, Reddit, Facebook and LinkedIn; posts seen on Instagram, YouTube, X and Reddit (not TikTok). On Reddit and X, every 20 posts the feed pauses for 3 seconds. In the Instagram feed, a check-in after 3 Reels.
- Bubble: a floating pill over the feed with today's time in that app, the total for all apps, and posts seen.
- PRO: its main purpose is fixing your rules for 30 days: limits, open hours and switches can't be loosened until the 30 days are over. The user confirms it in the app before it starts. PRO also removes the ad extension and unlocks full statistics (last 7 and 30 days, this week against the last one, the hour you lose most).
- Privacy: activity inside social apps, time, posts seen and statistics are processed and stored only on the phone and deleted on uninstall. No sign-up. The Accessibility service is used only inside the supported social apps, to detect short videos and count time. Data that does leave the phone: purchase history and an anonymous ID (Google Play and RevenueCat); a device token for notifications (OneSignal); the email of users who join the optional gifting waitlist (OneSignal); and, only when a free user chooses to watch the optional ad, the advertising ID, IP address (approximate location) and ad interactions (Google AdMob, with consent in the EEA, UK and Switzerland). Privacy policy: https://coolsnail.app/privacy/
- Limitations: detection depends on how Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are built, so a redesign of those apps can break it until Cool Snail is updated (TikTok's September 2026 redesign was fixed within days). Android only.
- Phones that kill background services (Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO, Samsung): set Cool Snail's battery use to Unrestricted, allow Autostart, and turn it back on in Accessibility settings.

## Links

- [Website](https://coolsnail.app/): overview, supported apps, pricing and FAQ
- [Sitio web en español](https://coolsnail.app/es/): la misma información en español
- [FAQ](https://coolsnail.app/#faq): how to block Reels, Shorts and TikTok on Android, permissions, pricing
- [Supported apps](https://coolsnail.app/#apps): what Cool Snail does in each app
- [Google Play listing](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolsnail.blockshortvideos)
- [Privacy policy](https://coolsnail.app/privacy/)

## Guides

- [How to block YouTube Shorts on Android](https://coolsnail.app/blog/block-youtube-shorts-android/)
- [How to block Instagram Reels without deleting Instagram](https://coolsnail.app/blog/block-instagram-reels-without-deleting-instagram/)
- [Cómo bloquear los Shorts de YouTube en Android](https://coolsnail.app/blog/es/bloquear-shorts-youtube-android/)
- [Cómo bloquear los Reels de Instagram sin borrar Instagram](https://coolsnail.app/blog/es/bloquear-reels-sin-borrar-instagram/)