The App That Makes You Do Push-Ups to Open Instagram

You open Instagram to check one thing, and forty minutes later you're still there. Every phone already has a limit you can set, and almost everyone has learned to tap straight past it. A push-up blocker changes the price of that tap: before the feed opens, you get down on the floor.

Here is how these apps work, what the rules are in Drill Sergeant, and how to set one up in about two minutes.

How a push-up app blocker works

1. You pick the apps that eat your day. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, whatever it is for you.
2. You open one of them. Instead of the feed, you get a checkpoint. In Drill Sergeant that's Captain Jack, who wants to know what you're doing there.
3. You earn your way in. Prop the phone against a wall, get down, and the front camera counts your push-ups out loud. Ten push-ups, ten minutes.
4. The time runs out and the app locks again. Want more? Earn it again.

That's the whole trick. The push-ups aren't a punishment, they're a speed bump with a side benefit. Most of the time you'll look at the checkpoint, decide you didn't really want to scroll, and close the app. That's the result you wanted anyway.

The rules in Drill Sergeant

At the checkpoint you get three choices:

Push-ups and reports also earn stars, and stars earn rank: 16 of them, from Recruit to Colonel. Captain Jack calls you by your rank, which is more motivating than it sounds.

Ten push-ups or real work. Then you scroll. Not before.

Why push-ups beat a normal screen time limit

A normal limit is easy to ignore. Apple's own guide says it plainly: by default, Screen Time limits can be ignored once reached^[2]. Android's app timers dim the icon until midnight, but you can delete the timer whenever you like^[3]. A limit you can dismiss with one tap trains you to dismiss it.

Friction works, and the research is solid. In a six-week field study with 280 people, a short pause before opening social apps made people give up on 36% of their attempts on the spot. Over the six weeks they also tried to open the apps 37% less often, and in total they opened them 57% less^[1]. A follow-up experiment in the same paper found that the biggest effect came from simply giving people a clear way to back out. A push-up checkpoint is that same pause, with a lot more friction than a breathing exercise.

The side effect is good for you. Ten push-ups, five times a day, is 50 push-ups you wouldn't have done. In a ten-year study of 1,104 male firefighters, men who could do more than 40 push-ups had far fewer heart problems than men who could do fewer than 10^[4]. That's a link, not proof that push-ups protect your heart, and the men were firefighters, not office workers. But it's not a bad habit to pick up while you're quitting a worse one.

How to set it up on Android

1. Install Drill Sergeant for Discipline from Google Play and tell Captain Jack your goals.
2. Turn on app blocking. Android only lets apps do this through its Accessibility setting, so it takes three taps in your phone's settings: the downloaded-apps section (its name differs a little per phone), then "Drill Sergeant", then switch it on and tap Allow. The app opens the right screen for you and tells you what to tap, in your phone's own words.
3. Choose what to block: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Threads (and the Lite versions of Instagram and TikTok).
4. Open one of them. Captain Jack will be waiting.

About that Accessibility permission: Drill Sergeant uses it only to notice which app you open, so it can step in front of it. It doesn't read, record or share what's on your screen, and nothing about your app use leaves your phone. You can switch it off any time in Android's Accessibility settings.

And on iPhone?

On iPhone, apps can only block other apps through Apple's Screen Time. You pick the apps from Apple's own list, Apple never tells the app which ones you chose, and you can turn it off any time in Settings. Drill Sergeant is launching on the App Store, and app blocking on iPhone arrives in an update shortly after launch. Tap the App Store button below and we’ll email you the day it lands.

Other apps that make you exercise before you scroll

Drill Sergeant isn't the only one. The best known are:

• Pushscroll (iPhone and Android): push-ups, squats and other exercises unlock minutes. $14.99 a month on iPhone^[5].
• PushUp Time: App Blocker (iPhone): push-ups, squats or sit-ups unlock 15 to 120 minutes. $14.99 a month^[6].

What makes Drill Sergeant different is that push-ups aren't the only currency. Real work counts too, Captain Jack turns your goals into daily objectives, and your friends can see your rank on a weekly board. At $6.99 a month it also costs half as much. For the full comparison, including cheaper and free options, see Pushscroll alternatives, compared.

If the problem is one app in particular, how to block Instagram Reels covers every option on both phones. And if you want the research on what actually works, read how to stop doomscrolling.