Home / How it works
How ScrollTrace counts your scrolling.
ScrollTrace uses Android's Accessibility service to notice each time you swipe to a new video in Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts or TikTok. Each swipe adds one to that day's count. Time is estimated by multiplying the count by a typical video length. The count is stored on your phone. ScrollTrace does not read captions, comments, usernames or messages, and it does not block anything.
Step by step
- You open Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. Android tells the ScrollTrace Accessibility service which app is in front. The service is restricted to these apps; it receives nothing from your other apps.
- ScrollTrace works out which screen you are on. It looks at the name of the on-screen container (for example, Instagram's Reels player or YouTube's Shorts player), not at what the video shows.
- You swipe to the next video. Android reports a scroll event. If you are in Reels, Shorts or TikTok's video feed, ScrollTrace counts one video. A one-second cooldown stops a single swipe from being counted twice.
- The count is saved on the phone. Each day's totals per app go into a local database inside ScrollTrace.
- You see the result. The dashboard shows today's count, estimated time, a breakdown by app, and when during the day it happened.
What is counted
| App | Counted | Not counted |
|---|---|---|
| Swipes in the Reels player | Home feed, Stories, Explore grid, DMs | |
| YouTube | Swipes in the Shorts player | Long-form videos, comments, search |
| TikTok | Swipes in the video feed (TikTok and TikTok Lite) | Messages, profile pages |
How time is estimated
ScrollTrace counts videos, not seconds. It does not know how long you watched each one. To turn a count into time it uses a typical length per platform:
- Instagram Reel: about 22 seconds
- YouTube Short: about 35 seconds
- TikTok video: about 20 seconds
So 100 Reels shows as roughly 37 minutes. If you skip fast, the real time is lower; if you rewatch, it is higher. The count is the exact number. The time is an estimate.
Why scrolls, not screen time
Android's Digital Wellbeing reports how long an app was open. An hour in Instagram could be 50 minutes of DMs or 50 minutes of Reels, and screen time cannot tell them apart. Counting swipes in the short-video player isolates the part people usually want to cut down, while leaving messaging and long videos out of the number.
Limits and alerts
In Settings you can set a daily limit for Instagram Reels and for YouTube Shorts. When you pass it, ScrollTrace sends a notification. It does not close the app or hide the feed.
Running in the background
To keep counting when ScrollTrace itself is closed, the app runs a foreground service with a persistent notification, and restarts it after the phone reboots. Counting does not need an internet connection. Some phone makers aggressively stop background apps; if your counts stop, exclude ScrollTrace from battery optimization in Android settings.
Known limitations
- App updates can break detection. If Instagram, YouTube or TikTok rename their internal screens, counts can be missed until ScrollTrace is updated.
- Time is approximate, as explained above.
- Android only. iOS does not let apps observe scrolling in other apps.
- Web versions are not tracked. Reels watched in a browser are not counted.
Free and Pro
Counting and daily totals are free. ScrollTrace Pro is an optional subscription that adds deeper analytics, reality-check cards, pattern analysis and custom alerts. Prices are shown in Google Play at checkout.
Get ScrollTrace on Google Play
Next: what data ScrollTrace stores and sends · how it differs from blockers