We saw Google introduce a few Digital health-related features in the Google I/O a couple of weeks back, helping you limit your phone’s usage. Apple has now introduced a similar feature, called Screen Time which helps you keep a track of the time spent on specific apps and helps you limit the usage of those apps to a limited amount of time each day.
Screen Time will list the apps you’ve used throughout the day and also display the duration for which you’ve used the app. If the app usage times are greater than ideal, you will get a warning suggesting that you’ve used the app for longer than intended. You can then set time limits for each app according to your preferences which will help you limit the usage of that particular app. When you open that app the next time, you will be greeted with a message saying you’ve already used the app for the stipulated time and you should probably give your phone some rest.
The DND feature also does a similar job, except for it doesn’t restrict you from using an app, but instead hides notifications from apps that you don’t want to be using in certain scenarios. For example, if you’re out with your kid, you surely don’t want your attention to shift from your kid to a new Instagram post notification on your device. Or if you’re asleep, and you want to check the time, you don’t want to be greeted with a ton of notifications which wouldn’t let you sleep for the next half hour. DND hides your notifications during bedtime and when you wake up in the morning, you’ll be able to see all your notifications back on the lock screen.
Coming to notifications, Apple has finally introduced grouped notifications in order to clear the clutter from the lock screen. A neat little addition which was much required.
Both Google and Apple seem to be keen on improving the digital health of consumers by limiting the usage time of certain apps on devices and to help you spend quality time in the real world other than just staring at your smartphone’s screen.