Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

In plain words

Dull is an iOS app that loads Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X while filtering out short-form video content like Reels and Shorts using CSS and JavaScript injection. Designed for users who want to access these platforms' core features, such as direct messaging, without getting drawn into endless short-form videos, it also includes grayscale mode, time limits, and usage tracking. The app requires ongoing maintenance as platforms frequently change their underlying code structure.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

I kept deleting and redownloading Instagram because I couldn't stop watching Reels but needed the app for DMs. Tried screen time limits, just overrode them. So I built this. Dull loads Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X and filters out short-form content with a mix of CSS and JS injection. MutationObserver handles anything that lazy-loads after the page renders, which is most of the annoying stuff since these platforms love to load content dynamically. The ongoing work is maintaining the filters. Platforms change their DOM all the time, Instagram obfuscates class names, YouTube restructures how Shorts appear in the feed, etc. It's a cat-and-mouse thing that never really ends. Also has grayscale mode, time limits, and usage tracking. Happy to answer questions.

• 
  Dull — social media. less of it.Mar 2026 · ▲10

  Instagram without Reels. YouTube without Shorts. That's it.

• IB
  I built an app to block Shorts and Reels2025 · scrollguard.app · ▲690

  I wanted to find a way to use Instagram without ending up scrolling for two hours every time I open the app to see a friend's story. Most screen time apps I found focus on blocking the app itself instead of the addictive feed, so I created this app to allow me to keep using the "healthy" and "social" features and block the infinite scrolling (Reels) After implementing the block on Instagram Reels, I got addicted to YouTube Shorts and Reddit feed. So, I extended the app to cover these as well. To avoid replacing the scrolling for regular feeds, I also added a feature that shows a pop-up when…

• 
  Instagram.css2018 · ▲453

  Complete set of Instagram filters in pure CSS

• IC
  I completed shipping my desktop app2025 · pimosa.app · ▲526

  Hi, I'm a developer and first time i shipped the real product after observing the startups and indie hackers community for years. I had made so many useless apps [you should check my website https://ansh.life], but this time I built a very useful product that has a number of super easy-to-use tools in one app for video, music, and photo files. Users can compress, convert, resize, and do so much more with easy-to-use tools. Background: I developed a frame-by-frame video cropper to upload cropped landscape videos to Instagram Reels. However, it required FFmpeg, and as a noob video…

• 
  Edits by Instagram2025 · ▲252

  A video creation app for easy editing & sharing

• UF
  uBlock filter list to blur all Instagram ReelsMar 2026 · gist.github.com · ▲125

  A filter list for uBO that blurs all video and non-follower content from Instagram. Works on mobile with uBO Lite. related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47016443

• 
  AstraPixels▲267

  ​​A pixel-art solar system at its real current positions.​

  Growth · 29d ago · astrapixels.com

• 
  WorldMap.lol▲197

  Put your startup on the map. Literally.

  Growth · 13d ago · worldmap.lol

• 
  Brila▲1,367

  One-page websites from real Google Maps reviews

  AI · Apr 2026 · brila.ai

• AG
  A game where you build a GPU▲964

  Thought the resources for GPU arch were lacking, so here we are

  Life & fun · Apr 2026 · jaso1024.com

• IB
  I built a tiny LLM to demystify how language models work▲915

  Built a ~9M param LLM from scratch to understand how they actually work. Vanilla transformer, 60K synthetic conversations, ~130 lines of PyTorch. Trains in 5 min on a free Colab T4. The fish thinks the meaning of life is food. Fork it and swap the personality for your own character.

  AI · Apr 2026 · github.com

• 
  Fathom 3.0▲803

  AI meeting notes: now bot-free, in ChatGPT & Claude + more

  AI · Apr 2026 · fathom.ai

• BC
  Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)▲786

  Life & fun · Apr 2026 · sam-burns.com

• IB
  I built a frontpage for personal blogs▲783

  With social media and now AI, its important to keep the indie web alive. There are many people who write frequently. Blogosphere tries to highlight them by fetching the recent posts from personal blogs across many categories. There are two versions: Minimal (HN-inspired, fast, static): https://text.blogosphere.app/ Non-minimal: https://blogosphere.app/ If you don't find your blog (or your favorite ones), please add them. I will review and approve it.

  AI · Apr 2026 · text.blogosphere.app