Sort through enough advice and a clear pattern shows up. The tactics that hold up all do one thing, and the ones that fail all make the same mistake. Here is the honest version.
The honest, hard-won advice people actually swear by has one thing in common. None of it asks you to win a fight against your own thumb in the moment. They change the setup instead.
Every one of these works by handling the moment for you, so you do not have to white-knuckle it.
The advice that does not work nearly always asks the same impossible thing. "Just have more discipline." "Just put it down." "Just check it less." It depends on you having self-control at the exact second you have the least of it, on autopilot, before you have even decided.
Doomscrolling is automatic. Any fix that runs on willpower at the point of craving is fighting on the wrong ground. That is the honest reason most tips, and most simple timers, quietly stop working after a few days.
An app is worth installing only if it does the part willpower cannot. That means catching the reach itself, then offering a better path so the craving lands somewhere. A timer you can swipe away does not clear that bar. Something that interrupts the moment, changes its look so you cannot autopilot past it, and learns what actually pulls you out, does.
That is what Anása is built to be. Greek for breath, it steps into the moment, offers one breath and a better thing to do, and never shames you. Everything stays on your phone.
Tactics that change your setup or interrupt the moment, not ones that rely on willpower. Greyscale, leaving the phone in another room, and a ready alternative all work because they do not depend on resisting in the moment.
It asks you to resist at the exact moment you have the least self-control. The fixes that work remove the decision or interrupt the reach. More in how to stop doomscrolling.
The ones that interrupt the moment and replace the habit do. A simple timer you can dismiss tends not to. See the apps compared.
A set wind-down, the phone out of reach, and a calmer thing ready. See stopping at night.
Free on iPhone and Android. Everything stays on your phone.