Quick summary
An APK teardown has suggested Google is working on a daily limit feature for YouTube Shorts.
The teardown report was published by Android Authority and it suggests the daily limit feature will be specific to YouTube Shorts.
Unless you have managed to avoid social media entirely, you've likely been guilty of doom scrolling at some point in the last 10 years. The problem with social media is there's always more content to see, watch and interact with.
Over the years, platforms like Instagram have tried to help users by alerting them when they have spent a certain amount of time on the app, while smartphone manufacturers all have their own features that let you limit the time you spend on certain categories of apps.
Most of these features require you as the user to actively make the decision to limit your time, but it's always good to have the option. And it looks like Google might offer one on YouTube soon.
According to a report on Android Authority, Google may allow you to set a daily timer for watching YouTube Shorts in the future. The report highlights that studies have shown over-using short video apps like YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels is linked to distraction, poor time management and a reduced learning capacity.
That doesn't stop us watching them all of course. Google has said YouTube Shorts gets over 70 billion daily views so it's clearly something we all enjoy. Android Authority's APK teardown of version 20.15.32 beta of the YouTube app has revealed some new strings of code suggesting a daily timer limit is coming however.
What might the YouTube Daily Limit feature do?
It's said this feature will be separate to the 'Take a break' reminder that appears for standard video watching and instead applies directly to Shorts, enabling users to pause infinite scrolling once your daily limit has been set. The code suggests you will define your own daily limit and once it's been reached, Shorts will still appear elsewhere on the platform, but you won't be able to scroll through them continuously.
For now, it's important to note that as this is an APK teardown, there is nothing to say it will definitely roll out as a feature on YouTube, though we hope it does. You can still make the choice whether you set it a daily limit, but choice is good, especially when it's also beneficial to your health.
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