Toggle vs Dull: two filtered browsers for social media, compared

Who each app is for

Toggle (toggle.social) is an iPhone app that opens Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, Threads, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook and Snapchat inside one app, with the parts built to keep you scrolling switched off. Dull is the same kind of app for five of them: Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X and Reddit. SocialLite is the third app in this category; Opal and Apple's Screen Time take the other route and block whole apps for a period.

Dull is for you if your apps are among its five, you want the lower price, and you want limits around the browsing itself: daily caps, quiet hours, a pause before the app opens, a day's delay before you can loosen a filter. Toggle is for you if you use TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn or Snapchat too, want notifications without the real apps installed, and want the real apps blocked so the clean version is the one you open.

Toggle and Dull side by side

Checked October 24, 2026 against Dull's App Store listing (version 1.9.3, released October 13, 2026) and getdull.app. Toggle's column is from its App Store listing (version 1.5) and the app itself.

Where Dull is the better pick

Dull costs less. Its monthly plan is $3.99 and its lifetime purchase $59.99; Toggle's weekly plan alone is $6.99. Over a year Dull is $14.99 or $29.99 depending on which of its two published prices you see, against Toggle's $99.

Dull puts limits around the browsing. A daily cap per platform closes the app when it's reached, with one 15-minute extension per platform per day. Quiet hours block a platform on a schedule, so Instagram "just isn't an option after 10pm". Toggle has a daily goal in Settings but no cap; nothing closes when the goal is passed.

Dull adds a pause before the app opens. Its friction gate can be a 5 to 30 second wait, a short arithmetic problem, three guided breaths or a typed intention, one per platform. Toggle opens its apps at once.

Dull protects your settings from your late-night self. With its commitment delay, loosening a filter takes 24 hours and can be cancelled in that window; a 4-digit PIN can put settings behind a lock, with a 48-hour cooldown to remove it. Toggle's locked feeds relock after five minutes, but its other switches change at once.

Dull keeps each platform in its own isolated data store, so, in its words, Instagram can't see that you also use X.

Dull's filters are documented in detail. Its "What Dull removes" page lists every removed and kept element per platform, and its technical page explains the three layers and the typical 5 to 10 day lag after a platform redesign.

Where Toggle is

Toggle covers nine apps to Dull's five. TikTok opens on Following with For You, Explore and LIVE hidden, Threads opens on Following, LinkedIn opens on Messaging with Jobs kept, and Snapchat is chats and calls with Spotlight, Stories and the Map never showing. Dull's site says TikTok "isn't a Dull problem, it's a deletion problem" and lists Snapchat, LinkedIn and Threads as not supported.

Toggle sends notifications itself. Each app can be set to all, messages only (direct messages, replies, comments, mentions), or off, delivered through the sites' own web push and Toggle's relay to Apple, encrypted end to end so the relay can't read them. LinkedIn has no web push, so Toggle checks its notification count in the background. Dull relies on the real apps being installed for notifications, which is the thing both apps are trying to replace. Details on Notifications in Toggle.

Toggle blocks the real apps with Apple's Screen Time. Settings → Choose apps, then a blocked app shows a shield with "Open in Toggle", and "Unblock for 5 minutes" gives a short break. Dull's technical page explains that it chose not to use the Screen Time API; its home page offers widgets so you open the platforms through Dull by habit instead.

Toggle looks like an app, not a web page: a native tab bar and header per app, comments in a native sheet on Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn and YouTube, a YouTube player with a mini player.

Toggle's feed switches are locked. Reels, Shorts, For You, Explore and the recommendation feeds are on from the first load and can be shown for five minutes at a time at most; Dull's filters are chosen per platform and can be turned off (with the optional 24-hour delay).

Toggle's privacy label says "not used for tracking", with no advertising identifier. Dull's lists purchases and identifiers under "Data Used to Track You", and its privacy policy describes the Meta SDK sending install and paywall events outside the EU, the UK and South Korea.

Toggle has a free Chrome extension for the same nine sites on a computer, with a Safari extension coming to the Mac App Store. Dull has no desktop version.

The verdict by use case

• Your apps are Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X or Reddit and price matters most. Dull. The lifetime purchase is less than eight months of Toggle's yearly plan.
• You use TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn or Snapchat. Toggle. Dull doesn't support them.
• You want a hard daily cap or a bedtime cutoff. Dull's time limits and quiet hours. Toggle has neither.
• You want notifications without the real apps installed. Toggle.
• You want the real apps blocked, with a way back to the clean version. Toggle's Screen Time shield shows "Open in Toggle". Dull doesn't block.
• You tend to turn your own filters off at 11pm. Dull's commitment delay and PIN lock. Toggle's locked feeds relock after five minutes, but that's its only guard.
• You also want a Mac or Chrome version. Toggle's free Chrome extension today.

How each one works

Both load each service's own mobile website inside the app, signed in with your own account, and hide parts of the page before you see them. Toggle's version is explained in How Toggle works; Dull's is on its technical explainer. Both depend on the sites keeping their shape: a redesign can break a switch until the app updates, and Dull quotes a typical 5 to 10 day lag.

Neither app is made by or connected to Meta, Google, X or Reddit. For Toggle's price and trial in full, see Toggle pricing; for the iPhone app's switches per app, see Toggle for iPhone. The other apps in this category are covered in Toggle vs SocialLite and, for blocking whole apps instead, Toggle vs Opal.

Sources

All checked October 24, 2026: Dull's App Store listing (version 1.9.3, released October 13, 2026; 55 ratings; description, in-app purchases and privacy label), getdull.app (home, What Dull removes, technical explainer, Time limits, Commitment lock, Dull vs Opal, Privacy Policy, Android), and Toggle's App Store listing (version 1.5). Prices are US and change; check the listings before you buy.