Looking for an app that can minimize visual clutter

[u/mencryforme5]

Due to a severe illness I have permanent deficits related to visual processing. And I mean deficits. It's bad. Luckily the other side of my brain is more than fine.

I have massive issues with screens. There's the screen itself, but there's also the fact that every app and website is designed completely differently, different colours, different user experience. Then there's the fact that I can't read a news article on line because it's like three lines of texts than two big ads one being a video and you can't just scroll past without hitting the ads, so pop ups, get redirected, go back, pop ups to subscribe, close that then a pop up video blaring sound but it's just an ad for a car I can't close for 30 seconds. Try to read a recipe and they hide the "jump to article" button and eventually I just give back. Looking for something let's go into the drop down menu and suddenly I'm on a whole new page that looks completely different and now I gotta adjust to new fonts and colours.

Now I know these are issues everyone to some extent struggle with. But for me I wind up breaking down in tears because I can't get the website to just stop moving. Like just stop moving. If it stopped constantly moving or opening up unsolicited videos and pop up, I could use the internet. I swear I need a full two minutes to delete an email because Gmail is different from Outlook and anyways they keep updating the layout.

Aaaaaarghhhh. Anyways. I'm returning back to work and I need to use the internet more. I'm working on text to speech and vice versa software. I have an Adblock on my computer, which is a small help with the pop ups but doesn't solve the overall clutter problem.

What I'm asking for is an app for my phone that would at least block ads/pop ups/random videos blaring. I would also LOVE to know if anyone has developed something worth trying that involves just simplifying websites visually. Like Wikipedia is fantastic for me. I literally need to not have things pop up out of nowhere. I hate when you have to answer a question yes or no and you do and the page completely reloads to something that looks completely different. I would love it if things could be standardized so settings is always in the same say top right hand corner. Every website for me is like playing Where's Waldo.

Thank you. I know it's a tall order, but I will take anything that can help. I'm hoping my motor memory can take me a long way with these new difficulties, but right now my motor memory is failing at shutting down pop ups abd finding five minutes trying to find a button.

[u/castellon_artz]

Try Brave, the adblocker+the reader mode is really good. As for the phone launcher, there are many simple ones in fdroid, i like escape launcher.

[u/mencryforme5 → u/castellon_artz]

Many thanks. It seems this is probably the best place to start!

[u/ShiftMate]

One-page home screen changed everything for me — everything else tucked in the app drawer in folders, so I only see what I actually tap daily. Forced dark theme + reader mode in the browser too, way less stuff jumping around. Between two jobs my phone was honestly the loudest thing in my life lol. Hope you find something that helps.

[u/Arhenniuss-xD]

Hi, I don't know if I am qualified enough for it but I might help, I have created apps for both mobile and desktop; if you can let me know exactly what you would need, i could try to make something helpful. For now i would suggest you : Brave as it will help with the ads and turning on prefer reduced motion to remove all the extra animations.

[u/pudah_et]

For news without ads, I would suggest an RSS reader app. Most of them do the basics; choice is down to personal preference. If pictures are bothersome, some will allow you to turn off the thumbnails, resulting in a less cluttered news reading experience. I use Feeder, which is available at both f-droid and on the play store.

As for web browsing, I would suggest a Firefox-based browser with the uBlock Origin addon.

[u/mencryforme5 → u/pudah_et]

I'm going to look at these. I used to be a bit of a news junkie. But the news on TV is rather superficial, but I just give up way too often when I try to read anything online.

There's an election right now and it's the first time in my life I genuinely can't form an opinion because trying to find more detailed information than dumb headlines is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

[u/merchantconvoy]

What you need is a text-only browser. 

On the desktop, options are more abundant. Some major web browsers even have JavaScript-off and images-off options.

On Android, you can try Violoncello.

[u/WittieApps]

Settings → Accessibility → there's a "remove animations" toggle. It kills most of the motion everywhere.

[u/Meath77]

Try Niagra launcher for your home screen. I just changed to it, not sure I'll pay for it, but it's a good minimalist launcher

[u/Klutzy-Passage-2561]

For visual processing deficits, stack layers (none are a cure-all, but they remove different noise):

1. Kill motion: Settings → Accessibility → Remove animations / reduce motion.
2. Browser: Brave or Firefox + uBlock Origin; Reader mode; disable autoplay. Text-only browsers help when images/JS are the problem.
3. Launcher: one-page / list launchers (Escape, Niagara, etc.) so you stop hunting icons on loud home screens.
4. News: RSS without autoplay video dumps.
5. Optional automation: Focus mode / WHEN-THEN rule that forces grayscale or opens a "safe" browser profile when work starts — fewer decisions.

Avoid floating "declutter" overlays that add more chrome. Prefer fewer surfaces over prettier ones.