Compared
DetoxDroid vs Digital Wellbeing
Digital Wellbeing is the one you don't have to install. Open Settings and it's there: a chart of your day, a timer per app that closes it at the limit, Bedtime mode that fades the screen to gray and switches on Do Not Disturb, Focus mode that pauses a list of apps. For a lot of people that is enough, and I'd say try it first. DetoxDroid is for the day you notice the timer gets deleted and set again, the gray only comes at bedtime, and nothing on the phone cares how long you've been scrolling.
The short version
Digital Wellbeing's timers reset at midnight and can be removed with four taps; the only thing in its way is a PIN you set yourself. Its grayscale covers the whole screen, on a schedule or while charging, and not the one app you actually wanted dull. DetoxDroid grays, dims and blurs per app from morning on, makes you wait a few seconds before a feed opens, interrupts a scroll that goes on too long, and keeps Do Not Disturb on for as long as it runs. Digital Wellbeing's site timers only know Chrome; DetoxDroid's block lists work in Chrome, Firefox and most browsers built on them. What Digital Wellbeing has and DetoxDroid doesn't: it is already installed, and it needs no accessibility service.
Where Digital Wellbeing is better
- Already on the phone, no install, no accessibility service to grant.
- A clean overview of the day: screen time, times opened, notifications received, per app.
- Bedtime mode as a routine: a schedule, or on while charging, with grayscale, a dimmed wallpaper and Do Not Disturb together.
- Focus mode with "Take a break" for a few minutes, from Quick Settings.
- Works with Family Link for a child's phone.
Where DetoxDroid is better
- Gray per app, all day, not the whole screen at night. Plus dim and blur.
- A doomscroll interrupt by how you scroll, in any app, with a cooldown on the feed.
- A wait before an app opens, and a budget that tightens as it runs out instead of a timer that just closes the app at midnight.
- Website blocks by list and by path, in more browsers than Chrome.
- A pause with a minimum gap, a commitment password you can hand to someone else, an emergency brake. A Digital Wellbeing timer is undone in four taps.
- Open source, and nothing collected.
Side by side
| DetoxDroid | Digital Wellbeing | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A boring phone by default, paused on purpose | Android's own screen time tools in Settings |
| Gray, dim, blur | Per app, from install. Real grayscale with Shizuku, adb or root | ~Whole screen gray at bedtime, on a schedule or while charging |
| Breaks doomscrolling | By how you scroll, in any app | Not listed |
| Wait before an app opens | A few seconds, per app | Not listed |
| Daily time budget | Per day or per clock hour; stricter as it runs out | App timers; the app closes at the limit, until midnight |
| Schedules | Always, nights, nine to five | ~Bedtime mode and Focus mode; app timers have none |
| Blocks websites | Paths and ready-made lists; Chrome, Firefox and most browsers built on them | ~Site timers, Chrome only |
| Do Not Disturb | On while the app runs | At bedtime; Focus mode mutes its apps |
| How you get out | A pause with a minimum gap; a password; a brake | Delete the timer; an App limits PIN if you set one; "Take a break" |
| Stats | Screen time, opens, scroll distance; two widgets | Screen time, opens, notifications; a widget with the top three apps |
| Open source | GPL-3.0, since 2020 | Closed source |
| Data it collects | Nothing, per the Play listing | Personal info, app activity and three other types, per the Play listing |
| Price | Free, donations | Free, built in |
| Where to get it | Google Play, F-Droid, GitHub | Already in Settings on most phones |
Every Digital Wellbeing cell comes from its own listing, website, docs or code as they read on 27 October 2026. "Not listed" means I couldn't find it there. German law asks a comparison to be objective and checkable, which is also simply the honest way to do it. If a cell has gone stale, tell me.
Which one
Try Digital Wellbeing first, it's already there. Set a timer on the app that eats your evenings and see whether you leave it alone. If you find yourself deleting it a week later, that is the moment for DetoxDroid: it doesn't ask you to keep a promise, it just makes the phone dull. They don't fight each other, so leave Bedtime mode on.
Get DetoxDroid Try it on the page first
Sources
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.wellbeing: Digital Wellbeing on Google Play, the description and the data safety section, read on 27 October 2026.
- support.google.com/android/answer/9346420: The Android help page on Digital Wellbeing: app timers, site timers in Chrome, Bedtime mode's screen options, Focus mode and the App limits PIN, read the same day.
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flx_apps.digitaldetox: DetoxDroid on Google Play, for its own data safety section. The rest of the DetoxDroid column is the app itself.
The other comparisons: Curbox · Reef · one sec · ScreenZen · AppBlock · Stay Focused · Lock Me Out · Freedom · Digital Detox