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Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

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Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#1

Post by kasparnoor »

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.

Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)
getdull.app

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#3

Post by bryanhogan »

Sounds like a good project, I also hate that Instagram pushes algorithm-driven content into your face everywhere without any options to turn it off, it's good to fight against these toxic dark design patterns.

Can also recommend using Instagram with the IGPlus web extension. Or for a native Android version there's also DFinstagram.

For YouTube there are many web extensions as well. On Android the YouTube ReVanced patch is really good though.

IGPlus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/igplus-extens...

DFinstagram: https://www.distractionfreeapps.com

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#4

Post by danpalmer »

Doing this as a browser extension is one thing, but selling an interface to Instagram and YouTube sounds like it's very risky.

What's your basis for thinking this will work long term? I see you're selling yearly or lifetime subscriptions, suggesting you think the product can exist. There have been many attempts at this in the past that have been taken down, why is Dull different?

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#8

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

danpalmer wrote: post #4

Doing this as a browser extension is one thing, but selling an interface to Instagram and YouTube sounds like it's very risky. What's your basis for thinking this will work long term? I see you're selling yearly or lifetime subscriptions, suggesting you think the product can exist. There have been many attempts at this in the past that have been taken down, why is Dull different?

Why wouldn’t making a paid web browser be legal?

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#9

Post by nativeit »

mind_heist wrote: post #7
SoKamil wrote: post #2

This could have been Safari Extension

Instagram is not predominantly used on Safari, so Safari doesn't sound like the best place to implement something like this.

Isn’t this just WebKit with some user scripts anyway?

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#10

Post by dnlzro »

mind_heist wrote: post #7
SoKamil wrote: post #2

This could have been Safari Extension

Instagram is not predominantly used on Safari, so Safari doesn't sound like the best place to implement something like this.

The use case for this app (Dull):

1. Uninstall Instagram

2. Install Dull

3. Use Instagram via Dull

The use case for a Safari extension:

1. Uninstall Instagram

2. Install the Safari extension

3. Use Instagram via Safari

Am I missing something that is obviously better about Dull (which couldn't be replicated by a Safari extension)?

(P.S. this is not meant to discourage the developer of Dull; I like the idea and your implementation seems really good.)

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