What the in-app limit actually does
It shows you a screen when you reach the number you set. There is a button to dismiss it. That is the whole feature.
It is not a bad feature. Being told you have been there forty minutes is genuinely informative the first few times, and for some people the information is enough.
Why it stops working
The limit is set by you and dismissed by you, seconds apart, on the same device. There is no gap between the decision and the reversal for anything to happen in.
After a week the screen is furniture. You dismiss it the way you dismiss a cookie banner, without reading it, and it has stopped being a limit and become a small delay.
Screen Time is a step up, not a solution
iOS App Limits sit outside the app, so Instagram cannot simply show you a nicer version of the screen. That is a real improvement.
The weakness moves rather than disappearing: the passcode is still one you chose. Better, and defeated by the same mechanism a little more slowly.
- In-app limit
- dismissed in one tap
- Screen Time limit
- dismissed with a passcode you know
- Someone else holding it
- dismissed by asking, and they can say no
What changes when it is not yours
The interesting shift is not that it becomes harder. It is that it becomes visible.
Dismissing your own limit is free and private. Asking somebody costs a message and a small amount of face. Most evenings the second cost is enough on its own, and the block is never actually tested.
A reasonable setup
Leave the in-app limit on for the information. Add a blocked window at the hours that are actually the problem, which for most people is the evening rather than a daily total.
Then hand the ability to lift it to somebody else, and stop tuning it.
Common questions
Does blocking Instagram block the website too?
Only if you select web domains as well as the app. Otherwise the browser is the obvious route round it, and you will find it.
Will I miss messages?
Yes, during the blocked hours, which is the point. If the messages genuinely cannot wait, that app is the wrong one to block and you should pick a different one.