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After years of trying to get us to use our smartphone more and more, technology giants have been trying in recent years to moderate our addiction. Google is constantly trying to put features and apps that will lead to us being released from our mobile under the Digital Wellbeing umbrella – and now she wants us to do that, even when we’re walking down the street.
Heads up, the app said
The feature, first discovered by users in the XDA developer forum, has started reaching users under the very appropriate name – Heads Up. Once you turn it on, you will start receiving alerts from your device – if you use it while walking – and the device will offer you to pay attention to where you are going, stay alert and look up from the device.
The feature will, of course, require an opt-in – meaning you will need to authorize the device to track your traffic to figure out when to wake you up, because Google does not want to tire itself out on two billion Android users.
The feature, as mentioned, was found in the depths of the Android beta back in November 2020 – and now it is actually starting to reach users – when at least according to the screenshots, users of Google’s Pixel devices are probably the first to enjoy the feature. In these screenshots you can see that Google offers users the option to alert them when they go, but at the same time warns “Use caution, Heads Up does not replace your need to pay attention (where you are going, AA)”.
Google’s new feature, if you choose to use it (when it reaches you), will ask you for permissions to access the location of the device and of course to identify that you are on the move to flood you with the various alerts. Heads Up.
What is Digital Wellbeing anyway?
Digital Wellbeing is a set of tools and services from Apple and Google designed to track our screen time, the apps we use the most, and also quite a few tools for parents who want to manage their children’s screen time – a feature that has become critical in days when they do not have much outdoor work.