Google has 3 apps that can guilt you for using your phones too much

Google’s Digital Wellbeing project gets three new experiments which are available as apps and a PDF as well.

Google’s new Digital Wellbeing project - ‘Envelope’. (Google)

Google introduced 'Digital Wellbeing' in 2018 with Android 9 Pie to help people take a break from their phones. Google last year launched six Digital Wellbeing apps as a part of 'Experiments with Google'. It has now added three new apps to its Digital Wellbeing project.

The new Digital Wellbeing apps are 'Screen Stopwatch', 'Activity Bubbles' and 'Envelope'. Of the three, Screen Stopwatch and Activity are available as apps on the Play Store. Envelope is similar to the Paper Phone as it offers the same functionality but with more options. Some of these include an envelope which turns one's phone into a very basic device and one which turns it into a photo and video camera but with no screen.

Google's new Digital Wellbeing app, Screen Stopwatch. (Google)

Google's new Digital Wellbeing app, Screen Stopwatch. (Google)

"We were inspired by a recent trend where people purchase a second, simpler phone for holidays and weekends, as a way of limiting their access to technology," Google explains.

These envelopes are available as PDFs for users to download and use.

Coming to Screen Stopwatch, this Digital Wellbeing experiment will tell you how many times you unlock your phone. This will be available as a wallpaper on your phone and it will keep updating. Each time users unlock their phone, the stopwatch continues to count. Activity Bubbles also work in a similar way where the bubble grows the longer you stay on your phone. By the end of the day Screen Stopwatch and Activity Bubbles will tell you how addicted you are to your phone.

Activity Bubbles

Activity Bubbles

Google has also added an update to its actual Digital Wellbeing feature on Android. 'Wind Down' feature gets a 30-minute pause option for users who wish to take a small break. Wind Down works like the DND option on iPhones. With this users can take a break from their phones as calls and notifications are silenced. There's now an option to choose 30-minutes as the Wind Down duration.