RouteGuard: Keep the Messages, Skip the Feed

Use Instagram for messages only. Feed, Explore and Reels sit behind a wait that grows each time. Nothing leaves your browser.

RouteGuard keeps Instagram's messaging useful while removing the parts designed to keep you scrolling. Open Instagram and you land straight in your Inbox — not the feed. Messages, replies, and conversations work exactly as normal. But the Feed, Explore, and Reels are gated behind a short wait before they'll open. That wait isn't fixed. Every time you go around it, it gets a little longer. Ten minutes without opening the feed, and it eases back down. It's built this way on purpose: a flat delay becomes background noise after a few days. A delay that responds to your own behavior is harder to tune out. What it does: - Instagram opens to Direct Messages, not the feed - Feed, Explore, and Reels require a short wait to access - The wait increases the more you use it in a short window, and decreases the longer you go without - Login, account, and messaging pages are never blocked What it doesn't do: - It doesn't read, store, or send anything you type, view, or message - It doesn't track your activity or connect to any server — everything runs locally in your browser - It isn't a hard blocker — Instagram Messages stay fully usable, always Why it exists: Most blockers fail the same way: you eventually need Instagram for something real — replying to a message — you disable the blocker "just for a second," and it never goes back on. RouteGuard doesn't ask you to give up the useful part. It just makes the part that isn't useful cost a little more each time you reach for it. Open source in spirit: no accounts, no analytics, no ads, nothing collected.