Our Story

The Story Behind
NoScroll

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From a Side Project to the world's #1 Shorts Blocker

Every great product starts with a personal frustration. Here is how NoScroll went from one developer's coping mechanism to the most downloaded shorts and reels blocker on the internet.

~2022: The Research
1.5 years of deep research into digital addiction begins
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The Full Story
After personally trying dozens of productivity apps, from built-in Digital Wellbeing to top-tier paid apps costing $20/month, none of them worked. Within a week, every blocker became just another part of muscle memory. That is when the research began: what is actually causing the addiction?
The Realization
Apps aren't the problem: the content they serve is
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The Breakthrough
YouTube is the best source for learning new things. Instagram is great for connecting with friends. But YouTube Shorts are designed to distract from study sessions, and Reels are engineered to waste your time. The problem was never the apps: it was the short-form content loop frying our brains.
The Prototype
NoSwipe is built and tested personally for 2+ months
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The First Build
An app called NoSwipe was built as an internal tool, used exclusively by our team for over 2 months. During this time, universities and researchers began publishing studies confirming the same conclusion: short-form content is frying brain cells, reducing attention span, and causing long-term memory issues.
Sep 8, 2023
NoScroll public beta launches and gains instant attention
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The Launch
Renamed from NoSwipe, NoScroll launched as a public beta on September 8, 2023 as the pioneer of shorts and reels blocking. Within just one month, the app gained 5,000+ installs and overwhelmingly positive reviews, all completely organic.
Nov 16, 2023
NoScroll officially releases on Google Play
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Official Launch
After polishing the app based on beta feedback, NoScroll officially released on November 16, 2023. The app grew entirely organically. Tech YouTubers around the globe discovered and loved the concept, sharing it with their followers without any outreach from NoScroll.
2024 to Present
NoScroll becomes the #1 most downloaded shorts blocker
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The Impact
Today, NoScroll is the most downloaded shorts and reels blocker platform on the internet, supporting 20+ shorts platforms: highest in the category. From a personal side project to a global movement. And we're still adding more platforms periodically.

Before NoScroll, Nothing Actually Worked

Before NoScroll, all productivity apps were focused on one thing: blocking. Some focused on technical blocking, some on psychology, and some on both. But no app was actually working on the root cause of the problem.

🤔
Why other app blockers don't work?
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💡
They block entire apps and call it productivity. But apps aren't the problem. YouTube is brilliant for learning, Instagram is great for connecting. The real culprit is the addictive short-form content inside them.
🧠
What's really frying your brain?
👆 Tap to reveal
Short-form content loops. Universities and researchers confirmed: shorts and reels are frying brain cells, reducing attention span, and causing long-term memory issues. Not apps, the content.
💸
Why $20/month productivity app never worked?
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🔄
Expensive productivity apps become muscle memory within a week. Pin codes, timers, breathing exercises: your brain learns to bypass them all. They were super expensive and not effective at all.

The Moment Everything Changed

Apps are not the problem. The problem is the content they serve.

A note from Pritam Pawade (Founder):

I was so addicted to reels that I was watching shorts even during a 2-second wait for a webpage to load, or for something that takes a short moment. And then I'd waste 15 to 30 minutes scrolling. Every time I snapped out of it, I felt like a zombie who lost focus, context, and the ability to concentrate again.

After watching reels, I wasn't just wasting time. I was feeling stressed, exhausted, and facing genuine difficulty focusing on my work. Literally wasting hours without knowing what was happening to me.

"I personally tried dozens of productivity apps, from built-in Digital Wellbeing to the most popular productivity apps of that time. None of them ever worked. They just became muscle memory after a week. On top of that, they were super expensive: $20 a month."

Then I decided to build something useful for myself. I did research for almost 1.5 years and figured out the problem isn't social media apps, the actual problem lies in the content they serve. I built an app called NoSwipe and used it for myself for more than 2 months.

During that time, many universities and researchers were publishing their studies on shorts and reels. All of them had one common conclusion: it is frying our brain cells, reducing our attention span, and causing long-term memory issues.

0 yrs
Research before launch
0+
Installs in first month

NoScroll vs Everything Before It

NoScroll was never a product to be sold for profit. It was, and still is, a solution to a genuine problem every smartphone user is facing.

🚫 Block the entire app
🎯 Block only the addictive content, let users use the rest of the app
🧘 Show a useless beautiful breathe animation
⏱️ Ask user: "How long would you like to use this app for now and for today?"
🔢 Lock app behind a static PIN (becomes muscle memory)
🔐 Dynamic PIN or OTP sent to your friend/spouse: they decide if you use the blocked app
🔄 App breaks every time a platform updates its UI
🤖 Self-adapting algorithm that handles app UI changes without pushing updates
📦 Support a handful of platforms, need full app update for any change
🌐 20+ platforms supported, new ones added from backend: no app update needed

Features Only NoScroll Offers

Curizic leads the way while competitors can only copy our innovations. Our vision is original, focused on problem-solving rather than copying someone and providing blocker features.

NoScroll is the original: the first app ever to conceptualize and implement shorts and reels blocking. Before NoScroll, all productivity apps were just blocking apps calling it productivity. NoScroll identified the real problem: the content, not the app.
Unlike other shorts blockers that break every time a platform updates its UI, NoScroll has built an algorithm that can adapt to app UI changes without pushing an update. This makes NoScroll dramatically more reliable than every competitor, which needs manual updates for every platform change.
NoScroll is the only app that supports in-app YouTube Shorts blocking. You can block shorts on any app or browser that shows YouTube Shorts in a webview. If Shorts can find a way into your screen, NoScroll finds a way to block them.
NoScroll is the only app that supports blocking shorts on Instagram Lite and Facebook Lite apps. As of June 1, 2026, no other blocker in the market offers this.
Curious Mode and One Reel Mode are unique features found only in NoScroll. These carefully designed modes offer a balanced approach to content consumption that no competitor has been able to replicate, because they were born from 1.5 years of original research, not copied from another app.
NoScroll can add and update shorts platforms directly from the backend. No need to update the NoScroll app for minor fixes or adding new platform support. This keeps NoScroll always current and highly reliable, with new platforms being added periodically.
NoScroll isn't just a shorts blocker, it also supports traditional app blocking features. From hard blocking YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels to full-fledged app management, NoScroll 2.0 is now a complete productivity app that actually helps users stay productive.

Your Data Never Leaves Your Device

NoScroll uses Accessibility Service, a powerful Android permission that could easily be used to collect data. But from day one, a conscious and irreversible decision was made: NoScroll will remain a privacy-first app. Period.

No login screen required: you don't need to share personal data to use NoScroll
Everything stays on your device: nothing is ever shared with servers
No third-party data collection SDKs: unlike other apps that silently embed them
Rejected all data collection company offers: multiple offers received, all declined
Architecturally irreversible: structured so that even our team can't roll back privacy without months of restructuring
Most trusted privacy-friendly shorts and reels blocker platform

The Honest Truth About Keeping NoScroll Alive

Developing and maintaining any app is not easy, and definitely not cheap, especially when you do it for a living. Here is the unfiltered truth about how NoScroll sustains itself while keeping your privacy intact.

💰 Why NoScroll has ads +
Other apps integrate third-party data collection SDKs silently, put it into their privacy policy, then some charge for premium and some don't. NoScroll refuses to do this. Ads and NoScroll Premium are the only ways to keep this project running while keeping your data private. It's a trade-off we're transparent about.
Why premium exists +
NoScroll made all necessary unique features free from day one. The goal was big and simple: help every single smartphone user stay productive and protect their brain cells. Premium exists to support continued development at affordable rates, not the $20/month competitors charge.
🚫 What NoScroll rejected +
Multiple offers from data collection companies have been received, and every single one was rejected. We get emails saying "xyz app is free, xyz app has no ads." What they don't tell you is that those apps silently collect and sell your data. NoScroll will never do that.
🤝 The promise +
NoScroll will always be transparent, privacy-friendly, and affordable. No dark patterns. No psychological pressure to purchase. No forced upgrades. The vision is simple: an app that actually helps users stay productive. NoScroll was never built for profit; it is a genuine solution to a real problem.

NoScroll in Numbers

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0 +
Platforms Supported
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#0
Most Downloaded Shorts Blocker
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Global Installs
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4.5
Average Rating

Other apps copied NoScroll a lot, and they still do. NoScroll is now a benchmark for every productivity app out there. We feel proud: 1.5 years of research didn't go to waste. Users are now experiencing true productivity apps that actually help them stay productive.

No matter what app you use, Curizic feel proud that our ideas and research are helping you, whether through NoScroll or other apps.
Curizic Technologies

Ready to Reclaim Your Focus? 🚀

Join hundreds of thousands of users who have already taken back control of their attention with NoScroll — the original shorts and reels blocker.

NoScroll About Digital Wellbeing Privacy Android