A Shortcuts automation that pauses you before Instagram opens

What you’re building

A personal automation with the trigger “App → Instagram → Is Opened”, running immediately, that waits a few seconds, asks “Is this on purpose?”, and — if you cancel — sends you to the Home Screen. No app, no account. Two minutes.

Step by step

1. Open Shortcuts → Automation tab → “+” (New Automation).
2. Choose “App”. Tap “Choose” and pick Instagram. Tick “Is Opened”. Choose “Run Immediately” and turn off “Notify When Run”. Tap Next.
3. Tap “New Blank Automation”. Add the action “Wait” and set it to 5 seconds.
4. Add “Show Alert”. Title: “Is this on purpose?”. Body: “You opened Instagram 5 seconds ago. Continue, or go do something else.” Leave “Show Cancel Button” on.
5. Add “Go to Home Screen”. Shortcuts stops at the alert if you tap OK, so “Go to Home Screen” only runs when you tap Cancel — that is the exit.
6. Tap Done. Open Instagram once to confirm the alert appears over the app.

Optional upgrades

1. Replace “Wait” with “Ask for Input” (Number): “How many times have you opened Instagram today?” — then “Show Alert” with your guess. You will be wrong, and that is the point.
2. Add “Start Timer” (10 minutes) before the alert so the session has an external clock.
3. Add a second automation for TikTok and YouTube. Each app needs its own.

Where the trick falls short

It cannot count anything: no record of how often it fired or what you chose. It cannot vary: the same alert every time, invisible after a week. It breaks: major iOS updates sometimes reset “Run Immediately” or the trigger, and you only find out when Instagram opens silently. And the alert appears on top of the loaded feed — the first Reel is already playing behind it.

That last point is the structural one. A Shortcuts automation runs after the app launches. Apple’s Screen Time framework is the only thing that can intercept before the app appears, and only apps with that entitlement — one sec, Opal, ScreenZen, Cortex app — can use it.

How Cortex app builds on this

Cortex app uses the same App-opened automation as the trigger and pairs it with a Screen Time shield, so the pause appears instead of the feed, not over it. During setup it installs the automation for you. Then it rotates the intervention (breathing, typed math, trivia, your own numbers, a time box), asks why you’re opening the app, and scores the decision: +1 for the Home Screen, −2 for continuing, reset at midnight.

It also ships App Intents, so power users can keep their own automations and call Cortex from them — a Focus mode that turns monitoring on, a shortcut that starts a focus session.