Dull – An iOS app that filters out short-form content (Reels, Shorts) from social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X)
Raw Developer Origin & Technical Request
Hacker News
Apr 1, 2026
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.
Developer Debate & Comments
No active discussions extracted for this entry yet.
Engagement Signals
Cross-Market Term Frequency
Quantifies the cross-market adoption of foundational terms like DOM and usage tracking by tracking occurrence frequency across active SaaS architectures and enterprise developer debates.
Market Trends