9 Best Infinite Scroll Apps To Cure Boredom & Kill Free Time
No matter how your life happens, there are bound to be times when boredom sets in. As per the legends, in Boredom town, one minute lasts for eternity, and existential crisis runs rampant. Today, we look at the 6 best infinite scroll apps that fill in your free time and cure your boredom.
Whether you’re looking to make your daily commute more fun or want to pass the time at the reception as you wait for your turn, several infinite scroll apps will help you out big time.
What are infinite scroll apps?
For those who don’t know, infinite scroll is a design strategy for apps and websites that focuses on producing new content dynamically as the user scrolls down. Infinite scroll apps continuously load new posts as you scroll through.
This design approach allows users to swipe along the screen to view more content instead of tapping multiple times and navigating through different menus. Infinite scroll design has retained users and is a popular choice for mobile apps. Most social media apps implement infinite scroll in one way or the other.
9 infinite scroll apps to cure your boredom
Below, we list the best infinite scroll apps designed to consume your time on mobile. Since videos tend to captivate us for longer than other media, we have mainly chosen apps that fit this category. The entries are in random order and include some popular apps, some lesser-known apps, and everything in between.
1. Tumblr
Tumblr is a unique micro-blogging site with many images, videos, and text posts. You’ll find aesthetic art, inspirational quotes, gaming clips, funny GIFs, popular memes, and more here.
The app’s infinite scroll page is available in the home tab (default) itself, which has three sections, “Following,” “For you,” and “Trending.” To be more precise, the Following tab is for scrolling content related to the interests you have subscribed to. Moving on, the For You tab shows content curated based on your app activity. Finally, “Trending” is for viewing posts picking up pace with the Tumblr community.
2. Imgur
This app follows the “A picture is worth a thousand words” approach. It is a haven for users who particularly like seeing images more than text. Whether it be quirky short videos or cat pictures, Imgur features a range of stimulating visual content.
It ramps up the dynamism of its infinite scroll page by splitting it into two columns and allowing you to find even more content simultaneously. The best part is it doesn’t require you to sign up or anything and throws you right in the middle of the action.
The home tab is an infinite scroll catalog, which has segments such as “Most Viral,” “User Sub,” “Following,” “Snacks,” and “oddly satisfying.” While most of these categories have self-explanatory names, the User Sub and Snacks section stand out. While the former allows you to vote for the next viral post, the latter is a unique short video collection that you can scroll horizontally.
3. Twitch
For gamers, Twitch is a highly attractive destination for watching videos and live streams. The platform is home to many of the most famous gaming streamers, celebrities, and the like. However, it also hosts other content, including sports, vlogs, cooking videos, etc.
For infinite scrolling on Twitch, you can go to the “Browse” tab and browse different streaming categories or view countless live streams. You can filter them based on viewer count, stream starting time, and recommended streams.
4. YouTube
While the conventional YouTube area hosts videos, there is a dedicated section for streaming short videos in under a minute. The YouTube Shorts section is where you’ll find Shorts content from various famous YouTubers in genres such as comedy, cooking, sports, etc.
You can scroll Shorts videos endlessly as the app continuously generates new content based on your viewing patterns. The layout is the same as the long-format videos on the service. It allows you to browse clips sharing the same audio, making navigating a particular social media trend easier.
5. 9GAG
Based on the briefest experience, you can quickly figure out that 9GAG is a magical meme machine. Loads of classic and trending memes can turn your mood around in a second. Besides this, the app provides a plethora of viral GIFs and videos to enjoy.
The homepage offers a scrolling experience that is supplemented by relevant sections (“Hot,” “Trending,” “Fresh”), categories (“Funny,” “WTF,” “Animals”), and filters (“Most Commented,” “Weekly Highlights,” “Latest News”). One downside is that the app shows ads to its free users, and you will have to purchase 9GAG Pro to hide them.
6. Reddit
On its website, Reddit claims to be “the front page of the internet” — a reasonably true claim. From celeb Q&As to gaming leaks, the freshest and hottest content tends to make it to Reddit first before anywhere else. The platform is where you can surf through various text, image, and video posts from various subreddits (groups) based on your interest.
Reddit’s homepage is a cascade of interesting posts sourced from your favorite subreddits. You can endlessly scroll the Discover tab, which introduces you to prospective new interests. While these sections are rich in content, the experience is slightly scuppered by the noticeable time the app takes to load new posts.
7. Snapchat
Snapchat is mainly a social media app for social butterflies who have a large friends circle. However, the app also contains a segment where everyone would find it fun to scroll through trending video content.
The Spotlight section on Snapchat is an infinite scroll page where you will find short viral clips from various Snapchat creators. For your convenience, Spotlight allows you to browse clips that share the same audio and use the filter or effect used in a particular video.
8. Instagram
One of the world’s most popular social media apps, Instagram is a platform where a sizeable chunk of today’s generation spends most of its time. The app is built to work efficiently on a smartphone and features everything from picture posts to videos.
The homepage features an infinite scroll section of your Instagram accounts. On the other hand, the Explore section is where you may scroll through trending and curated content. For short videos, Instagram possesses a dedicated Reels section where you can watch TikTok-like clips. You have the option to browse videos based on the same audio clip.
9. TikTok
TikTok is a leading name in the category of short-form video apps. In recent years, it has experienced tremendous growth and now rivals the userbase of the likes of Facebook and Instagram. The platform brings videos from various categories, including DIY, life hacks, memes, cat videos, and more.
Its infinite scroll experience in the Home and Discover sections is captivating, as proven by the rise in the number of TikTokers and their audience over time. Thanks to its immense popularity, many social media trends originate from here — so, as a TikTok user, you’ll be among the first users to check out new viral trends.
The aforementioned apps are stupendously fun and a rabbit hole of relevant content. Hence, many users become addicted to using them for long hours. So, make sure you use these apps responsibly and only during your free time.
While scrolling in an app is a way to kill boredom, you may be able to better use that time by listening to podcasts. For those interested, here’s a list of the 10 best podcast apps for Android and iOS.
