GLOOMSCROLLER

Break your scroll.

Your minimum effective dose of movement.

Gloom Scroller mascot, a heart-with-legs character

Gloom Scroller is an iOS app that locks selected social media apps until you complete 60 seconds of movement, using an on-device camera pulse check to estimate heart rate.

How it works

I lock your apps.

Pick your poison. Instagram, TikTok, whatever your guilty pleasure is. I lock them all.

I read your pulse.

Put your finger on the camera. I estimate your heart rate in seconds. No gadgets, no gym equipment.

Move. Then scroll.

60 seconds of movement. Hit your heart rate target and I give your apps back. That's the deal.

The research

Not just vibes.

40%

25,241 non-exercisers. 3 minutes of movement a day. 40% lower mortality risk. The research says even tiny doses matter.

Stamatakis et al., Nature Medicine, 2022

32 min

Morning movers spend 32 minutes less on screen leisure per day. Not from discipline. From momentum.

Brooker et al., J. Behavioral Medicine, 2023

91%

91% of people stick with exercise snacks. 60 seconds is a hard thing to say no to.

Systematic review, BJSM, 2025

143

143 people limited social media to 30 min/day. Depression and loneliness dropped significantly. I'm asking for 60 seconds.

Hunt et al., J. Social & Clinical Psychology, 2018

Read the full breakdown on /science

Philosophy

What I believe.

I'm not the police.

Everyone scrolls. Everyone scrolls a little too much. That's fine. I just insert a tiny pause before the scroll begins.

The interrupt is the point.

60 seconds of movement changes what happens in the next 60 minutes. The exercise is the mechanism. The interruption is the real product.

Minimum effective dose.

The smallest nudge that shifts your behavior. Tim Ferriss called it the minimum effective dose — the smallest input that produces the outcome. No gym. No shower. No changing clothes. You can do it in pyjamas, at your desk, first thing out of bed.

For people who don't exercise.

Chair-friendly. Low-impact. Tiny-space. If a burpee is too much today, a standing march counts. The bar is reachable from wherever you are.

Sometimes I'm generous.

I check if you actually moved. If I get it wrong and you get a free pass, the interrupt still happened. And you can always skip — heart lives are built into the game.

FAQ

You have questions.

Does 60 seconds actually do anything?

Research says yes. A Nature Medicine study of 25,000+ non-exercisers found that just minutes of daily movement made a measurable difference. 91% of people stick with exercise snacks because they're so short. The science validates the concept. I just make it hard to skip.

How is this different from Screen Time?

Screen Time is a report card. I'm the interrupt. It shows you how much you scrolled after the fact. I give you a reason to pause before the scroll begins. See the side-by-side comparison.

How does the heart rate thing work?

Place your fingertip over the rear camera and flash. The light shines through your skin and the camera reads your pulse from the color changes. Hold still for a few seconds. No watch, no chest strap, no gadgets.

Is the heart rate accurate?

Accurate enough to tell if you moved. I'm a nudge, not a medical device. Sometimes I'm generous. If I get it wrong and you get a free pass, you still moved — the interrupt worked.

Who is this for?

Anyone who reaches for their phone before their feet hit the floor. Non-exercisers especially. No gym. No equipment. No spandex. Just 60 seconds and whatever you're wearing.

What if I can't exercise?

Heart lives let you skip guilt-free — it's built into the game. Plus: chair-friendly seated marches, wall push-ups, standing calf raises. The bar is reachable from wherever you are.

Will this help with my mental health?

I'm not a therapist. But the research says limiting daily social media use measurably reduced depression and loneliness in a 143-person trial (Hunt et al. 2018). I make that limit easier to enforce — every app open costs 60 seconds of movement, and that adds up across a day. Read the science page.

Will this make me more productive?

Indirectly, yes. I won't track your work or grade your output. But every doomscroll I interrupt is fragmented attention you get back. Brooker et al. 2023 found morning movers spent 32 minutes less on screen leisure per day — that's 32 minutes returned to whatever you actually wanted to do. I just don't promise the dashboard. Read the science page.

Is my data private?

Heart rate data stays on your device. Never uploaded, never shared, never sold. No account required. Read the privacy policy.

Is this free?

The core experience is free — one blocked app, all exercises, heart rate detection, streaks. Premium unlocks unlimited blocking, smart rotation, and stealth filters.

Your daily sixty-second fitness scam.^*

*or not.