Smartphone addiction is one of the biggest threats that face the current generation of beings. This has been one main reason why Google released Digital wellbeing tools to help you monitor how often you use your phone.
Although the app does not force you to cut down your smartphone usage patterns, it shows you how long you’ve been using particular apps, the number of unlocks you have performed in a day, and the number of notifications received in a day. Google hopes these stats could scare you to cut down your phone usage, but it seems that it is not working.
Google has gone ahead, making it mandatory for all Android phones to come pre-installed with a “digital wellbeing” app. Furthermore, the company has forged ahead, launching six different experimental digital wellbeing apps.
The first app is dubbed Unlock Clock, which is a live wallpaper that displays the number of times you have unlocked your phone. This is quite a simple implementation, and that will work if the numbers displayed could shame and scare you from your lousy smartphone addiction.
The second app on the list is We Flip. We Flip applies to group gatherings. The app would have to be installed on all devices. Then the app can detect each other using Nearby permission. The first person to flip the phone up to view a notification “loses,” and the whole session ends.
Post Box is another app. It collects all your notifications then delivers them during specific scheduled times. Take it as a form of “focus mode” app for Android.
Desert Island, on the other hand, lets you choose MUST use apps (up to five) then hides the rest.
Morph allows you to create different modes of your phone like work, weekend, etc. with different apps available. So, it can switch between these modes automatically depending on the time of the day or your location.
Lastly, there is Paper Phone. It enables you to print all the critical information that you have to attend during the day so that you avoid checking your phone.
