We have to admit. However awesome our lives smartphones have made, they do come with a lot of side effects too. Probably the worst of the lot is getting addicted to them. We often find ourselves unnecessarily checking our phones even when there are no notifications or calls and this habit further glues us to the screens. Such bad habits often make us get lost in the virtual world and lose the track of what’s real. This also leads to neglecting of family, friends and people around us. This is the prime reason many workplaces have banned the use of smartphones in the working environment as they serve as more of a downside to productivity and less of a boon. But if there are apps that make us addicted, it makes sense to develop an app that unhooks us too. Probably on this notion, Emberify – an Indian start up was born. Their flagship app in known as Instant which helps users to control smartphone addiction.

What Is Instant?

Instant is an app that helps you to keep a tab on the amount of time you use your smartphone everyday. It works in the background automatically and keeps collecting data like the amount of time spent using the phone or the number of times the phone was unlocked. In this sense, its working is quite similar to the apps that track your fitness regimes. And what’s more, the developers have redesigned Instant recently to introduce the latest fad of material design that users are preferring. Download Instant here

Features Of Instant And How To Use Them

Apart from the automated device usage track and the unlock count, Instant also provides you with reminders as notifications according to prior set Daily Limits. This can be found in the settings section of the app where you can set the usage limit for the day and Instant will give you warnings once you exceed them.

Moreover, you can also set the frequency of reminders according to your preference which range from reminders every 60 minutes to 24 hour intervals. You can also choose to enable and disable Background Tracking and the Notifications. However please note that if you disable Background Tracking, Interval will not be able to collect your phone usage data and hence it won’t be able to aid you with your addiction. Another cool feature is the Graph Section that shows you the usage details with the help of graph plots according to the day of the week. Thus this makes the data easy to comprehend.

Future Endeavors

Although the app is currently available free on the Google Play store and for just 99 cents on Blackberry World, Emberify will probably add more lifestyle tracking methods like time spent running, driving, at work, using social media, etc in the future updates. I expect the added services will be included as in-app purchases.

Conclusion

Apps like Instant come once in a while that aim to aid the users and solve the problems they face. Emberify aims to help users differentiate between the real and the virtual world. In these times, the virtual world has taken a toll on all of us and a check is necessary especially in the case of children. Instant helps to solve this problem and control smartphone addiction. Share your views about the app in the comment section.