How many times did I pick up my phone and get sucked into the endless scroll? Too often to count, thanks to the compulsion to open Threads and TikTok at all hours of the day. But I discovered a way to retrain my brain using a new iOS 27 feature.
I’m beta testing the upcoming operating system and its refreshed Shortcuts app, which lets you program your iPhone to do things using ordinary language. It’s called Describe a Shortcut. I speak my wishes into the app, and it obeys.
So in this One More Thing video, which you can watch embedded above, I found out what happens when you tell Shortcuts to not let you open Instagram (or Threads, or TikTok) during work hours.
This is probably not what Apple developers had in mind for Shortcuts. After all, the Apple Screen Time app already has plenty of ways to help curb a social media addiction. But reprograming my phone to turn it into a brick is more fun than paying for another company to “Brick” my phone. (Yes, people do this.)
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