Sidestep
Stay with your friends, skip the scrolling. Messages, stories and your friends’ posts stay, and so does search on YouTube.
Pick an app and open it without Reels and Shorts. Messages, stories and friends stay.
There’s no Reels tab at the bottom. Stories and posts from people you follow stay.
Set a time or a list of goals. Until then, Instagram and YouTube are locked.
Hours saved, productivity and days in a row under your limit.
Open Instagram for the people, not for Reels.
See how it worksEverything else stays where it was. Flip the switch and see the difference.
No Reels tab and no Reels in the feed. Home, Search, Messages and Profile stay.
No Shorts tab and no Shorts on the home page. Home, Subscriptions and You stay.
Your account stays as it is. Sidestep just doesn’t show Reels, Shorts and suggestions.
Since 1 January, people in Slovenia have spent
0
hours on social media
Estimate: 1.57 million social media users in Slovenia (DataReportal, 2025) × an average of 1 h 48 min a day in Europe. The number grows in real time.
Set how much time a day you spend on Instagram and YouTube. If you don’t know, check Settings › Screen Time on your iPhone.
Over ten years, that’s 1 year of your life.
Through Apple’s TestFlight app (steps below). No account needed.
You sign in on their own site, just like in Safari. We never see your passwords.
Choose how much time a day you want on social media. Soon Sidestep will also lock the original apps with Screen Time.
No. You sign in to Instagram and YouTube yourself, on their official pages, just like in Safari. Sidestep never sees or stores your passwords.
To Instagram, Sidestep behaves like a normal browser. It doesn’t hide ads or change your account, it just doesn’t show Reels, Explore and suggestions.
Your stats and settings are on your phone. You only need an account so you don’t lose them when you switch phones. More in the privacy policy.
Yes. All features are free for now. If you join now, you’ll get a gift when Sidestep Pro arrives.
Yes, if you want. Turn on TikTok in Settings › Apps. It opens in your messages only: you can watch a video a friend sends you, there’s no feed.
Not yet, only on iPhone. If you want it on Android, write to us at hello@sidestep.page.
The public beta for iPhone is free. You need iOS 17 or later.
On your iPhone, tap “Join the beta” below. The link opens in TestFlight.
Sidestep installs like any other app. Updates arrive in TestFlight.