To use your phone less, start by checking your Screen Time report to see when and why you pick it up. Then add small barriers: keep the phone in another room at your trigger times, cut notifications, and schedule a Focus. Replace scrolling with something specific, and aim for about an hour less a day at first.
This guide covers everyday phone use as a whole, not one app. The habits come from a UNC Health psychiatrist and a Mayo Clinic Health System physician, and the settings follow Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27.
Most phone use isn't a conscious decision. "Scrolling has become an automatic habit for us, and we often do it without intending to," says Dr. Nadia Charguia, a psychiatrist at UNC Health. UNC Health's article notes how often a quick look "for a minute" turns into 30 minutes or an hour.
That time comes from somewhere. As Mysoon Ayuob, MD, a family medicine physician at Mayo Clinic Health System, puts it: "When using a device, you disengage with something else." That something might be family, exercise, work or a hobby.
You don't have to quit. Small, specific changes are easier to keep, and they add up.
Before you change anything, look at your numbers. Screen Time on iPhone gives you a weekly report with an overview of your time on the device, your most used apps, how often you pick up your phone and more.
Open the Settings app and tap Screen Time. If it's off, tap Manage Screen Time, then tap Turn On App & Website Activity.
Tap Daily Average.
Tap Week for a weekly summary, or Day for a single day.
Scroll down to Pickups and Notifications to see how many times you picked up the phone and how many notifications you received.
Then ask why. Dr. Charguia suggests looking at what drives you to reach for the phone rather than something else. Maybe you're putting off getting up, trying to wind down or avoiding a chore. For one week, jot down a quick note each time you catch yourself reaching for it:
When and where: "7:10 a.m., still in bed."
What happened just before: "Alarm went off, didn't want to get up."
What you opened: "Email, then a video app."
The times that keep showing up are your trigger times. Start there.
Dr. Charguia's advice is to start by cutting your screen time by an hour, then try to hold that for at least two weeks before setting a new goal. Use your Screen Time daily average as the starting point. If it says five hours, aim for four.
"Put it in another room at times when you know you have triggers that lead to using it," Dr. Charguia says. She suggests starting small: everyone in the family puts their phone in another room during dinner, and at work you find 30 minutes or an hour of focused time with no phone next to your computer. When reaching for the phone is inconvenient, you may start to do it less.
Dr. Ayuob notes that turning off electronics during meals or family time eliminates distractions. A basket near the table gives phones somewhere to go.
"Remove those external motivations to reach for your phone," Dr. Charguia says. "Turn off the notifications, and disconnect alerts or reminders that go to other devices, such as your watch or Fitbit." The settings below show how.
Scrolling while you watch TV or drink your coffee is easy to slip into. Dr. Charguia says focusing on just one thing may feel uncomfortable at first, but your brain will adjust. Dr. Ayuob adds that even a TV left on in the background pulls your focus away from what's happening around you.
"Sub in something else so that you're not looking at an empty hand," Dr. Charguia says. Her examples are a morning ritual of reading a book with your coffee, or a 10-minute walk after work instead of scrolling. Dr. Ayuob suggests a bike ride, a walk, a park, a museum or a local nature trail.
Dr. Charguia says it takes more than two months to create new behaviors or habits. Look at your Screen Time report once a week. If a change isn't working, adjust it rather than dropping the whole plan.
Bundle alerts into a Scheduled Summary. Instead of getting notifications all day, get them in batches. Open Settings, tap Notifications, then tap Scheduled Summary. Turn it on, set the times you want your summaries, then choose which apps to include.
Turn off notifications or badges for an app. Open Settings, tap Notifications, then tap the app under Notification Style. Turn off Allow Notifications, or just turn off Badges so the number on the app icon stops tugging at you.
Set up a Focus with a quieter Home Screen. Open Settings, tap Focus, then tap a Focus such as Personal or Work. Tap People and Apps to choose who and what can still notify you. You can also choose a Home Screen page to switch to while the Focus is on, which Apple describes as a way to help limit distractions. Put only tools on it, like Maps and Calendar.
Put the Focus on a schedule. On the same Focus screen, tap Add Schedule to have it turn on automatically at a set time, at a location or while you use a certain app.
Fill in the blanks and keep the plan somewhere you'll see it, like the fridge.
My goal: about one hour less a day, held for two weeks.
My trigger times: ________ (for example, the first 30 minutes after waking, or after dinner).
Where my phone goes then: ________ (for example, the kitchen counter).
What I'll do instead: ________ (for example, a 10-minute walk or a chapter of a book).
Who can still reach me: ________ (the people allowed through my Focus).
Check-in day: every ________, I'll look at my weekly Screen Time report.
If you'd like firmer limits, our guide on how to block apps on iPhone compares Apple's Screen Time limits with app blocker apps. And if cutting back feels impossible, or your phone use is causing problems with sleep, work, mood or relationships, it's reasonable to talk with your doctor or a mental health professional.
On iPhone, open Settings, tap Screen Time, then tap Daily Average. Tap Week or Day, and scroll down for Pickups and Notifications.
You don't have to. According to UNC Health, deleting all social media won't work for most people. Cutting back by about an hour a day is a more realistic start.
Longer than a week. Dr. Charguia says it takes more than two months to create new behaviors or habits, so give each change time before you judge it.
No. Screen Time, notification settings and Focus are built into iPhone, and keeping the phone in another room costs nothing. An app can add extra friction if you want it.
If there are a few apps you want a speed bump for, FocusPass: App Blocker blocks the apps, categories or websites you choose using Apple's Screen Time picker. When you open a blocked app, you can go back or take a timed Pass, such as 5, 10 or 15 minutes, and it relocks automatically when the Pass ends, even if FocusPass is closed. It needs no account, shows no ads, keeps your rules and history on your device, and its Turn Off All Protection option is never locked behind a purchase or streak.
Get FocusPass free on the App Store
Stop scrolling your day away (UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health)
5 ways slimming screen time is good for your health (Mayo Clinic Health System)
Set up Screen Time for yourself on iPhone (Apple Support, iOS 27)
Change notification settings on iPhone (Apple Support, iOS 27)