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Do not lose control of your time, with these apps you will know how to increase your productivity and well-being.
In recent times we have heard many health professionals talk about how technology influences our personal well-beingnot only physically but also mentally and emotionally.
We know that spending too many hours in front of the mobile or PC screen can be harmful, even affect our sleep and the quality of our rest.
Control your urge to look at your phone every five minutes with this minimalist launcher
As paradoxical as it may seem, it is the mobile itself that can help us not to overuse it, for this certain apps are needed that are intended to collaborate with us to control the time we spend using our device at the same time that they contribute to improve our productivity, personal welfare and quality time.
Applications to take care of digital well-being
We can find many applications that contribute to our personal welfare, some of coaching help us to increase motivation and combat stress and others focus on knowing how we are using our time. We are going to tell you about those today.
- screen time
- QualityTime
- AppBlock
- StayFree
- phone use
- Forest
- Stay Focused
- DTox
screen time
This app helps to become aware of how much time we spend using the phone. To do so, it gives us a detailed view of the daily use of the mobile, showing hour by hour how much time we have spent with each application.
You can also opt for a weekly report that shows us usage statistics in the last seven days and the most marked trends according to the daily use of different apps.
Usage limits can be set for each app individually and even set different limits for each day of the week. When the established limit is reached, the app shows us a screen notifying us that we are making use of extra time.
You can also create a white list with the apps that you want to always allow.
QualityTime
Another of the free apps that we can find with the purpose of improving our digital and personal wellness is QualityTime.
The app shows us a mobile usage report in real time. We can also obtain daily or weekly reports with the details of the time used in each application.
Alerts can be set for usage time of the device or of a particular application.
Something to highlight is that we can configure alerts associated with our favorite online services through IFTTT.
Another interesting detail is the widget “Take a break” that automatically disconnects us from the mobile and captures all missed notifications during “rest” so that we don’t miss anything important.
AppBlock
AppBlock temporarily blocks applications and web pages that can distract us.
It can be configured to activate at precise times and dates, once the time is up, the apps and web pages can be used normally again.
A detail to highlight is that you can configure the profile according to the Wi-Fi connection or location, so the blocking starts automatically when you arrive at work, school, etc.
You can temporarily block social media and mute email or other notifications, and then check your list of missed notifications to make sure you don’t miss any important ones.
You can also set a daily usage time limit for apps and web pages.
StayFree
StayFree helps stay focused and be more productive restricting the use of applications that easily distract us.
The app can send us reminders of excessive use (notifies us when we have spent too much time with an app or with the phone) and temporarily blocks any application when we exceed the time limit that we have defined.
We can view daily and monthly usage reports in a pie chart and then export the history in CSV or Excel format.
You can see a widget on the screen that shows the most used apps and the total time we have spent on them.
phone usage
As its name implies, this app helps us to know how much time we spend using the phone and allows us to track the use of applications and control how many times we open them during the day.
Something interesting about this app is that it shows a floating bubble on the screen that indicates in real time the amount of time we spend with the device or an application.
You can set goals for time without the cell phone and see interesting statistics such as: average time we spend per day with the phone or with applications, the worst day, the most used apps, percentage of hours of the day on screen, total time of the week , total time of the month.
Forest
This application has a quite striking interface and its operation is more playful. It is based not so much on blocking apps but on meeting challenges and training more productive habits.
To combat cell phone addiction, Forest proposes “plant a tree” that will grow as the predetermined period for not using the mobile expires, if you unlock the phone before time, the tree will die and you will have to start over.
If you keep your commitment not to use your cell phone, over time you will have a beautiful forest full of trees that you will unlock as a reward for staying focused.
In the app you can see your daily, monthly and yearly progress and learn about your own concentration habits.
You can create a white list of always allowed apps and classify tasks with labels to know how you have been using your time.
You will be able to consult a record of the time of use of the mobile and compete with thousands of users from all over the world.
One of the most fun aspects of this app is that you can plant trees with your friends and if one of them fails, the tree will die for all of them.
Google will warn you that you are using your mobile a lot by blurring the screen
Stay Focused
Stay Focused works as a blocker for apps, websites and keywords. Using certain keywords blocks the URLs of the sites you want to avoid.
In addition to restricting the use of apps, you can limit the general use of the phone by setting a timer.
Block email and turn off notifications to avoid distractions during work or study hours.
You can also set a time limit for the use of social networking and messaging apps.
DTox
This app focuses on increasing quality time and digital detox. The proposal is to choose how long the digital detox session will last, it can be between 30 min., 1 hour, 4 hours. or 8 hours. or customize the duration to our liking.
Then you can select an activity to do during the detox time, there is a list with the following options: walk, run, gym, meditation, reading, cleaning or cooking. You can also take advantage of this time to breathe and relax.
At the end of the session time, you can take a screenshot of the progress and share the achievements.
The idea is to spend less and less time with digital devices and more time in the real world, sharing quality time with family, friends or doing something that we like and relax us.
Related topics: free apps
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