How do I set a daily time limit on an app in Android?

In Sanctuary, open Settings, then App Limits, select the app, and give it a daily budget. When the budget is spent, a calm limit screen appears asking you to come back tomorrow rather than blocking the app with an error. Limits are per app, so you can budget the two or three that cost you time while leaving messaging, maps, and your camera untouched. Android’s built-in Digital Wellbeing also offers app timers; the difference is mainly in tone and in how easily the boundary is dismissed.

What time limit should I set?

Measure a real week first, then subtract about a quarter. If you genuinely use an app for eighty minutes a day, set sixty. A modest reduction is barely noticeable day to day and still standing in a month, whereas cutting eighty minutes to fifteen produces a confrontation every evening and is usually abandoned within a fortnight. The failure mode to avoid is a budget so tight that you override it daily, because that trains you to dismiss the limit screen without reading it.

What happens when I reach the limit?

Sanctuary shows a calm daily-limit screen asking you to come back tomorrow. It is deliberately not an error, a warning, or anything red — a boundary that feels like punishment gets argued with, while one that feels like a reminder usually does not. You can override it if you genuinely need to, and the override is recorded locally so the pattern is visible to you later.

Can I still use the app after the limit is reached?

Yes. Sanctuary never locks you out of your own phone. The limit screen is a boundary you set earlier, not a refusal, and overriding it is always possible. If you find you are overriding most days, the honest interpretation is that the budget was set too low rather than that you lack discipline — raise it to a number you would actually endorse in the morning.

Do app limits work if I open the app from a notification?

With the optional Accessibility permission granted, yes — Sanctuary can detect that a limited app has entered the foreground regardless of whether it was opened from a notification, a link, a widget, or the Recents switcher. Without the permission, limits and gates still apply to apps launched from within Sanctuary itself, but an app opened from a notification bypasses the launcher entirely and cannot be detected.

Core feature

Daily app time limits on Android

A time budget is a decision made in the morning, enforced in the evening by someone who is no longer in the mood to make it. That is precisely why it works.

A budget is a message from a calmer version of you

The person who sets a limit and the person who hits it are in very different states. The first has perspective, no immediate craving, and a clear view of how they want the week to go. The second is tired, mildly bored, and three-quarters of the way into a feed.

A daily limit is simply a way for the first person to leave a note for the second. It does not need to be enforced with any severity to work — most of its effect comes from the fact that the session now ends on a decision that was already made, rather than trailing off when something interrupts you.

This is also why an unrealistic budget is worse than no budget. If you set fifteen minutes and routinely use ninety, the note from the morning is obviously wrong, you override it daily, and within a fortnight the limit screen is something you dismiss without reading. You have not built a boundary; you have trained yourself to ignore one.

Setting a limit you will keep

1
Find out what you actually use
Before setting anything, look at a real week. Most people are wrong about their own numbers in both directions — badly overestimating apps they feel guilty about, and underestimating one or two they never think about. Set budgets against reality, not against a feeling.
2
Subtract a quarter, not three quarters
If a real week says eighty minutes a day, set sixty. A twenty-five percent reduction is invisible in daily experience and permanent in a month. A seventy-five percent reduction is a crisis every evening and lasts until Thursday.
3
Budget the apps, not the phone
Limits are per app. Put them on the two or three that account for your unchosen time and leave messaging, maps, payments, and your camera entirely alone. A global phone limit punishes the useful half of your device for the sins of the other half.
4
Let the limit screen be calm
When the budget is spent, Sanctuary shows a quiet screen asking you to come back tomorrow. Not an error, not a warning, no red. The tone matters more than it sounds: a boundary that feels like punishment gets argued with, and a boundary that feels like a reminder usually does not.
5
Adjust once, after two weeks
If you overrode the limit most days, it was too tight — raise it rather than abandoning it. If you never reached it, lower it. One adjustment, then leave it alone. Constant tuning is its own form of engagement with the problem.

Limits compared with the alternatives

No limit, just intention

LimitationHandles the opening well and does nothing about the session that quietly runs long.

With SanctuaryGates catch the entry, limits catch the duration. Most people need both, on the same two or three apps.

A hard lockout at the limit

LimitationArrives as a refusal at the worst moment and produces the uninstall that removes every constraint.

With SanctuaryA calm daily-limit screen. The same boundary, delivered as a reminder rather than a verdict.

A single limit for the whole phone

LimitationCharges maps, messaging, and your camera for time spent elsewhere, so it gets switched off.

With SanctuaryPer-app budgets, so the useful half of the phone is never rationed for the sins of the other half.

A weekly report

LimitationTells you afterwards. There is no moment at which it can affect the behaviour it describes.

With SanctuaryActs at the moment the budget runs out, which is the only moment where the outcome is still open.

How limits behave

Scope: Per app, per day.
At the limit: A calm daily-limit screen, not an error or a lockout.
Reset: Daily.
Overrides: Possible, and recorded locally so the pattern is visible to you.
Works without Accessibility: Yes, for apps opened from Sanctuary. The permission extends it to every launch route.
Availability: Advanced daily limits are part of Sanctuary Pro.

Straight answers.

How do I set a daily time limit on an app in Android?: In Sanctuary, open Settings, then App Limits, select the app, and give it a daily budget. When the budget is spent, a calm limit screen appears asking you to come back tomorrow rather than blocking the app with an error. Limits are per app, so you can budget the two or three that cost you time while leaving messaging, maps, and your camera untouched. Android’s built-in Digital Wellbeing also offers app timers; the difference is mainly in tone and in how easily the boundary is dismissed.
What time limit should I set?: Measure a real week first, then subtract about a quarter. If you genuinely use an app for eighty minutes a day, set sixty. A modest reduction is barely noticeable day to day and still standing in a month, whereas cutting eighty minutes to fifteen produces a confrontation every evening and is usually abandoned within a fortnight. The failure mode to avoid is a budget so tight that you override it daily, because that trains you to dismiss the limit screen without reading it.
What happens when I reach the limit?: Sanctuary shows a calm daily-limit screen asking you to come back tomorrow. It is deliberately not an error, a warning, or anything red — a boundary that feels like punishment gets argued with, while one that feels like a reminder usually does not. You can override it if you genuinely need to, and the override is recorded locally so the pattern is visible to you later.
Can I still use the app after the limit is reached?: Yes. Sanctuary never locks you out of your own phone. The limit screen is a boundary you set earlier, not a refusal, and overriding it is always possible. If you find you are overriding most days, the honest interpretation is that the budget was set too low rather than that you lack discipline — raise it to a number you would actually endorse in the morning.
Do app limits work if I open the app from a notification?: With the optional Accessibility permission granted, yes — Sanctuary can detect that a limited app has entered the foreground regardless of whether it was opened from a notification, a link, a widget, or the Recents switcher. Without the permission, limits and gates still apply to apps launched from within Sanctuary itself, but an app opened from a notification bypasses the launcher entirely and cannot be detected.