Frequently asked questions

Yes. snowscroll works like a focused browser: you sign in to each platform directly, exactly as you would in Safari, and your login and your social activity never leave your device. snowscroll has no account system, never sees or stores your passwords, and never records what you message, watch, or post. For the full detail, see our Privacy Policy.

snowscroll never sees or stores your data or logins. You sign in to Instagram, YouTube, and the other platforms directly inside the app's browser, and those credentials stay on your device. We never read, store, or transmit them. There's no snowscroll account, no tracking, no ads, and nothing about your social activity is ever sent anywhere. Full explanation in our Privacy Policy.

No. snowscroll doesn't automate anything, scrape anything, or touch your account. It loads the normal mobile website of each platform and simply hides the feed elements visually, on your device. Your account behaves exactly as it would in any browser. One note: signing in to some platforms from any non-native browser can occasionally trigger that platform's own "is this you?" security check. That's their security, not snowscroll, and it's the same prompt you'd see logging in on a new browser.

They see a browser session on their own mobile website, the same as if you'd signed in through Safari. Nothing is installed into their app, nothing is scraped, and nothing about your account changes. The one thing a platform can notice is a sign-in from a new browser, which is why Instagram sometimes shows its own "is this you?" check the first time. There's more on the mechanics in what a feed blocker actually does.

Yes. snowscroll is an independent app reviewed and approved by Apple, built by a small team that wanted this for themselves. It's not affiliated with Instagram, YouTube, or any platform; it's an independent tool that helps you use them more calmly. The facts we publish about ourselves, from the launch date to what the app still can't do, are collected in one place. Questions? Email support@snowscroll.com.

snowscroll opens the web versions of your social apps inside a focused in-app browser and hides the distracting parts (Reels, Shorts, Explore, and "For You" feeds) before they reach you. With your permission it also sets a Screen Time shield on the apps you choose, so a habit tap lands you in snowscroll rather than in the feed. It changes nothing inside your apps or your accounts, nothing is permanent, and the feed filtering all happens on your device. You can see it in action on the homepage, and read how your data is handled in our Privacy Policy.

No, and that's the whole point. snowscroll works on feed surfaces rather than walling off whole apps: it removes the addictive feeds (Reels, Shorts, Explore) and everything you actually opened the app for stays, including your DMs, stories, posts from people you follow, search, and long-form YouTube videos. Its shield does catch a habit tap on a supported app, but it redirects rather than refuses: you land in snowscroll with the feed gone, not at a locked screen. You keep the connection and lose the scroll.

No. Screen Time measures your usage and can put a daily limit on a whole app, so when the limit hits, your messages go with it, and there's a one-tap way past it. snowscroll works on the feed instead: it removes the feed inside the app and leaves your messages, search and the people you follow working, so there's nothing to ignore at the moment you're least able to. It does ask for Screen Time permission, but only so its shield can catch a habit tap and land you in snowscroll with the feed gone, and we never read your Screen Time figures. Plenty of people run both. We put them side by side here.

Because of the shield. snowscroll asks for Screen Time permission during setup so that when you tap a supported app out of habit, that launch is caught and you land in snowscroll instead, with the feeds already gone. It ships Family Controls extensions to do that, which is what the permission is for. We never see a Screen Time number, and the permission is not used to report on you or your usage to anyone. It is a redirect, not a wall: it sends you somewhere calmer rather than refusing to let you in.

snowscroll works with Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Feed removal happens on your device for each.

Yes. You choose which apps you open in snowscroll, and anything you don't add is untouched and keeps working in its normal app. Every supported app is included, so you can start with whichever one eats the most time, like Instagram with Reels removed or YouTube without Shorts, and leave everything else as it is.

Yes. Every feed is a switch in snowscroll's settings, so you can flip any of them back on whenever you want. Nothing is permanent and no feed is locked off. It's meant to change the default, not to trap you.

Yes. snowscroll hides the Shorts feed, Shorts shelves, and the Shorts button while leaving your subscriptions, search, and regular long-form videos fully working.

Yes. snowscroll only hides the feeds. Your DMs, group chats, stories, and posts from people you follow all work exactly as normal. You can open the app, reply to a message, and close it without getting pulled into an hour of Reels.

You can still open and watch a Reel someone sends you directly. That's a message from a friend, not the endless feed. snowscroll removes the infinite Reels feed, not your ability to see a specific thing someone shared with you.

You can post. snowscroll is a browser, not a viewer, so posting works the way it does on each platform's mobile site. A few things are limited right now, including Close Friends story posting, some reposting options, and sending videos in DMs. We keep the current list of what's limited up to date rather than let you find out later.

Not from snowscroll, no. Notifications aren't supported inside it yet, and we're working on adding them. If you keep the platforms' own apps installed, their notifications carry on as normal, so nothing goes quiet, it just doesn't come from snowscroll. If this is the thing holding you back, tell us, it genuinely affects what we build next.

No. snowscroll loads each platform's real mobile website, so it needs a connection, exactly like the apps do. There's no offline mode and nothing is stored for reading later.

snowscroll is $49.99 a year, which works out at about $4.16 a month, or $9.99 a month if you would rather pay month to month. Every feature is included in both: all six supported apps, every feed surface snowscroll can remove on each, per-app daily limits, and the shield. There is no unpaid version, and no free period before you subscribe. Both plans renew automatically until you cancel in your App Store settings. The one way to get time without paying is a referral code from someone who already uses snowscroll, which grants you free days.

Everything. One subscription covers all six supported apps (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, TikTok and LinkedIn), every feed surface snowscroll can remove on each of them, per-app daily limits, and the shield that catches a habit tap and lands you back in snowscroll. There is no upgrade to buy and nothing held back for a higher tier.

You manage and cancel your subscription anytime in your Apple ID and App Store settings. snowscroll can't charge, cancel, or refund on your behalf; billing is handled entirely by Apple, so refunds follow Apple's policies. See our Terms for more.

That's partly by design and partly the tradeoff of how it works. Because snowscroll loads the web version of each platform rather than the native app, it's a little slower, and honestly a small amount of friction is part of the point: it makes mindless opening less automatic. You'll still get everything you came for, just without the frictionless pull into the feed.

The platforms change their websites often, which can briefly bring a feed back. We push filter updates over the air, so it usually fixes itself quickly without an app update. If something looks off, email support@snowscroll.com or post it on our board at snowscroll.userjot.com. You'll reach a real person, not a ticket queue, and we usually write back the same day.

snowscroll is built for iPhone. Apple lists it as compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, so it will install on an iPad, and what you get there is the iPhone version rather than a layout designed for the bigger screen. If iPad is where you'd use it most, email support@snowscroll.com, it helps us decide what to build next.

Not yet. snowscroll is on iPhone today and Android is on the way. We don't have a firm date, because we'd rather build it properly than early. You can join the Android waitlist and we'll email you once, at launch, nothing in between. It also tells us how many people are waiting, which affects how fast we move.

No problem, everything is reversible. snowscroll never changed your apps or your accounts, and deleting it removes the focused browser along with the Screen Time shield it set, so your social apps open exactly the way they did before. On-device data such as settings and session cookies is removed when you delete the app.

It goes with the app. Your settings and the session cookies for the sites you signed in to live on your device, and deleting snowscroll removes them. There's no snowscroll account, and we never had your logins, messages, or browsing to begin with. What we do hold is small and anonymous: a random ID paired with a referral code, plus a fixed list of setup step names with your app version, OS, device model, locale and campaign tag. One thing worth knowing: your subscription lives with Apple, not with us, so deleting the app doesn't cancel it. Cancel that in your App Store settings. The full picture is in privacy and data, in plain language.

snowscroll displays your own logged-in session of these platforms' public mobile websites inside a focused browser, the same content you'd see in Safari, just with the feeds hidden on your device. It doesn't scrape, store, or redistribute their content. We reference platform names only to describe compatibility.

The best ways: keep your subscription if snowscroll is useful to you, leave an honest App Store review, and tell a friend who's stuck in the scroll.