Get Rid of Smartphone Addiction With Google’s New Android Apps
Android: Your Android has many useful tools to help you control smartphone addiction. But settings like Google’s Digital Wellbeing feature are more functional than fun. They will encourage you to use your device less often, but they lack a certain flair.
Google recently released three new apps that are designed to help you cut down on the time you spend glueing to your phone and create beautiful (albeit slightly annoying) reminders. Although this is good; we should all use our smartphones for less than the 5+ hours that most Americans spend looking at their devices every day .
But which app is the best? Well it depends on how addicted you are.
Addiction to “regular text messages”: Activity Bubbles
Google’s first app may have a weird name, but you’ll see why in a minute. Download it for your Android and it will replace all the wallpapers you are currently using with a beautiful black screen. This screen will start to fill with bubbles to indicate how much you use your device each day. New tooltips show you how much time you spent on your phone during the last conversation.
There are no built-in punishments in Activity Bubbles . Fill the screen as much as you want; it’s on you. The app is designed to help you better understand your habits, not get rid of them.
Netflix Binge Addiction: On-Screen Stopwatch
If you need a slightly more compelling reminder of how much time you spend on your phone, try Screen Stopwatch . Install it and your wallpaper will become a stopwatch that counts how much time you spend on your phone every day. If cute bubbles don’t do it for you, then this is a great way to curb your addiction with good old shame.
You can’t put your smartphone down: envelope
Google’s third and final app, Envelope , only works on the Pixel 3a – not even the Pixel 3a XL, only the Pixel 3a. I’m not entirely sure why Google needs to test this on this device and only on this device, but I suspect it’s because the app prompts you to print … an envelope. Yes, you will need to print a physical sheet of paper, which you then fold into a small container for your Pixel 3a. Once you seal your Pixel 3a in paper, you “can” only use your smartphone’s camera and phone — that’s all.
Bizarre? Absolutely. But it improves your smartphone a little, but lowers it significantly. I consider this to be the last resort of the three recently launched by Google. However, if that’s what you need to relax while using your smartphone, all you need is a little quirky origami to get to it.