Apps to replace doomscrolling
“What do you open instead of doomscrolling?”
30 answers from 28 people · Updated Oct 12, 2026
Anyone can bird, and Merlin makes it easy and fun!!! Best app discovery of the past few years.
3
A low effort way to look at a new piece of art every day.
Handwritten digital letters to and from people all over the world you can be as simple or as creative as you’d like. Very wholesome.
2
A game that’s even more smooth, relaxing, and addictive than 2048, with the gentlest touch of challenge. Threes game somehow hits the spot for both take-me-out-of-my-misery days and for I’m-smart-I-got-this days. You can play mindlessly or confidently and both are equally relaxing, engaging, and pressure-free. It takes maybe 20 minutes of random play to figure out the rules, and then you’re set up with YOUR FAVORITE GAME for years to come. Perfect if you like Wordle and 2048. (NOTE: There are many versions of the app. Get this one.)
121
My read-it-later app of choice! Thoughtful design, top-notch article parser, tagging, searching, queue filtering, pretty quoteshots, etc: “Sync your newsletters, follow your favorite writers, and save anything from the open web. You can even save YouTubes and podcast episodes and Matter will transcribe them to time-synced text.” Anyway, one of my most used apps, and a great companion to Libby for all your on-screen reading needs. Also honorable mention to Instapaper, my first love. I left when they got bought, and then bought again by Pinterest, and it seemed like it was getting worse (can’t remember why I thought that) but it looks like they stayed the course and some time ago spun back off to indie, and have kept improving it, so probably also a great choice.
I've recently become addicted to doing chess puzzles on Lichess. Free and endless. Something to do with my phone that doesn't rot my brain (I don't think?)
1
My go-to app for a thinking type of game. A word play puzzle game that has a lot of fun rules to learn — it takes a bit to learn how to recognize them, but the payoff is priceless. It’s so exciting getting a puzzle correct!
2
In my pursuit of doomscrolling less, I have stumbled upon this simple, addicting, amazing card game app. Came for the solitaire, staying for my new obsession with gin rummy (lol). I am referring to this little habit as “training” to destroy my family members in recreational competition during the holidays this year. Bill, my computer opponent, better watch out!
81
4 recs
Weird fun dumb little rabbit hole apps that make good alternatives to doom scrolling
A hobby that makes your hands dirty
So you cannot touch your phone. I do ceramics and you cannot fuck with your phone because your hands are wet and covered in, essentially, dirt. Other options: gardening, some forms of cooking, paper mache, pastels. Here is a pot I made.
554
This is how I save everything to read later. It talks to all my devices. It is simple and easy. You can easily turn off and ignore the AI stuff.
5
tracking restos, cafes, and bars on Beli
it’s like Rec League but specifically for places to eat or get a little treat. add your friends and whenever you’re somewhere they’be been it’s like getting their secret guide. invite only but I’m inviting you all with my link.
2
Good Sudoku taught me how to play sudoku! I go through wild bursts of obsession with this game every 6 months or so.
2
RSS is one of the best bits of the internet. If someone tried to invent it now, it would be an ad-filled, walled-garden disaster. Thankfully it was invented when people had greater aspirations for the internet. Unread is my favorite reader because a) it works fine on the free tier with no restrictions, and b) the reader view (where you can get it to fetch the article text even when the feed doesn’t expose it) is effective and configurable per feed.
3
A super playful app that forces you to create instead of scroll. It gives thoughtful prompts to creatively express yourself and allows you to see how other people creatively address the prompt as well! The more reps I do the less perfect I tend to be with it and I think that’s the point.
582
Metazooa - daily puzzle game about the animal kingdom
If you, like me, have always wanted a stronger handle on the animal kingdom's taxonomy, this is a fun, bite-sized way to learn. The goal is to identify the daily animal within 20 guesses, and each wrong guess is traced back to the closest category it shares with the answer. There's always a little lesson about the latest shared category, which gives some guidance about what to guess next, and there's a bank of animals so you're not totally on your own to think of every animal name. Resets at 8 p.m. (in Baltimore).
keeps a little automatic journal/record of where you have been in a day and how you got there. each day gets a little summary with tiles showing steps, weather, map, photos, etc. you can change what is shown, add notes to your day, and import data from other apps. it automatically detects trips and I loved being able to see how much I walked Vs. bikes Vs. took transit Vs. car on my trip home this summer! i loved the moves app before it was shutdown and this fills the same niche for me, which makes sense since some of the team is the same. the discord is very active and the team is very receptive to requests for features and bugs. iOS only, data is on your device and icloud, end to end encrypted. more info about privacy is on their website. there is an AI chat in the app but I haven't used it so I can't speak to it. free, or subscription for more features. there is a lifetime subscription. I currently have an annual subscription. not an expert but happy to answer questions about it! (I think this is a referral link, not sure i did it right honestly. if so if 8 people use the app for 10 days I get a lifetime subscription. I love this app enough I pay for it already, but thought if I was going to share anyway I would use this link. feel free to look it up yourself!)
13
If you’re a word game aficionado/addict like me, this phone app is such a satisfying complement to the NYT ones! You make words given the letters available to you in a cluster — that’s it! It gets harder throughout the week, but isn’t really so hard as to be annoying; it somehow doesn’t require internet (so comes in clutch when you want to kill time on an airplane); and there are streaks, but if you forget a day or five, you can regain that streak when you come back to it by playing for a week. A near-perfect way to exercise your brain every day.
5
Artle - the daily art exploration game
A fun way to test your art history knowledge
great little app that comes in a widget for your lock and Home Screen to drop you little vocab words. My favorites so far are sonsie, loquacious, and apperceptive.
1
Bend: Stretching & Flexibility
Finally, an app that reminds me to stretch before my body starts filing complaints. 😂 Bend has short, guided routines, but my favorite feature is that you can describe what you want to focus on, your difficulty level, any issues you’re dealing with, and how much time you have—and it creates a personalized routine for you. You can save it and make it part of your regular routine. Simple, flexible, and actually easy to stick with. My muscles are happier, and I’m slightly less creaky now. Highly recommend!
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