kasparnoorApr 1

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

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.

https://getdull.app

Dull — social media. less of it.

Reels gone. Shorts gone. Algorithmic feeds gone. Time limits, grayscale, friction gates, usage tracking. And that's just the start.

Show threaddanpalmer

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?

Apr 1 at 10:47pmWeb
Show threadbuzzerbetrayedApr 1
Why wouldn’t making a paid web browser be legal?
Show threaddanpalmerApr 2

Obviously it isn't, but also obviously: this isn't a web browser in anything but technical implementation. It's a packaged, sold, interface to a proprietary service with a set of T&Cs that they are free to enforce.

Also every single one of these that I've seen before has fallen down in the same way. Chat apps that embed Facebook, third party YouTube viewer for Apple's VR headset, various other third party Instagram apps, etc.