Pixel, how to stop watching Reels at night
Pixel (Android 14) / OS version Android 14 / Checked on 2026-09-15
Aimed at the hour that turns into three. Nothing gets deleted, only the night hours change.
This app cannot block other apps. What it can do is show you the shortest way to turn the phone you already own into a dumb phone, using settings it already has.
Taken from the maker's own support documents. We have not held these handsets ourselves, so if a menu name differs, search for the word below.
1. Open Digital Wellbeing
Settings > Digital Wellbeing and parental controls
Everything below lives on this one screen.
Type this into the Settings search box: Digital Wellbeing
Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 14 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)
2. Schedule bedtime mode
Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > Bedtime mode > Schedule
At the hour you set the screen dims and Do Not Disturb comes on with it. Alarms still ring.
Type this into the Settings search box: Bedtime mode
Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 14 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)
3. Put an app timer on Instagram
Digital Wellbeing and parental controls > Dashboard > hourglass next to Instagram > set a time
The icon locks when the budget is spent and unlocks at midnight. It is a daily allowance.
Type this into the Settings search box: App timer
Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 14 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)
4. Turn the screen black and white
Bedtime mode > Customise > turn on greyscale. For all day, Settings > Accessibility > Colour and motion > Colour correction
Without colour, thumbnails stop pulling at your eye. Turn it back off in the same place.
Type this into the Settings search box: Colour correction
Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 14 / Source Google, Android Accessibility Help, adjust display colors (from the official document)
5. Take the icon off the home screen
Press and hold the icon and choose Remove. The app stays in the app list
It empties the spot your thumb remembers, so opening it needs a search first.
Type this into the Settings search box: Home screen
Checked on 2026-09-15 / OS version Android 14 / Source Google, Android Help, manage how you spend time on your phone (from the official document)
Every change here can be undone in the same place. That means it is not enforcement, and we are not hiding that.
Other troubles on this phone
If the settings are not enough, the next step is a different handset. Here is what each one costs you.