Google Unveils 3 New Experimental Apps To Cut Down Phone Usage

Google has taken a step forward towards its Digital Wellbeing initiative by launching three new experimental apps, including Activity Bubbles, Envelope and Screen Stopwatch.

The Envelope app can only be accessed on Google Pixel 3a while the other two apps can be used on any Android-based smartphone.

Envelope

Google’s Envelope app is one of the most interesting and challenging apps on the list. The user is supposed to take a unique print out provided by the app and fold it in such a way that it takes the shape of an envelope. After creating the Envelope, users will be supposed to pack their smartphones inside it and use it like that.

In this way, the user will only be able to use the dialer and the camera of the smartphone. A few more tricks can let the user check the time and do a few more things on their smartphone.

Activity Bubble

The second experimental app introduced by Google is the Activity Bubble. The app works on a very simple concept: the number of times the user unlocks the smartphone, a bubble will be created in the wallpaper.

The size of the bubble depends on the time spent on the phone after unlocking it, i.e., using the phone for a long time will make the bubble grow bigger. Users will end their day with a cool wallpaper made of abstract bubble patterns.

Screen Stopwatch

The third experimental app introduced by Google is Screen Stopwatch. It works in the same way as Activity Bubbles; it is a wallpaper that shows the phone usage in real-time through which the users get to know the time spent by them on their phone.

The counter stops when the phone is locked, as soon as the phone is unlocked, the user starts getting a ticking reminder from the home screen.