Google launches three new tools to get you off the smartphone

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Three months after proposing paper phone, Google has just launched three new "experiences" focused on digital well-being: Envelope, Activity Bubbles and Screen Stopwatch.

Last October, Google launched a series of applications dedicated to digital well-being, including one allowing you to replace your smartphone for the day thanks to a paper ersatz containing all the necessary information. The firm encouraged users to try these "experiences" to assess their relationship to the smartphone and possibly pick up the screen a bit. She said she was aware that these first tools were far from covering the whole issue and promised new experiences soon.

Three months and the arrival of focus mode later, the giant keeps its promise. It has just expanded its offer with three new applications. Among these, the most original is undoubtedly envelope. A bit like Morph and Post Box, two applications unveiled in October, the idea is to refuse the distractions that come with the smartphone, here by ignoring all its accessory functions.

To do this, simply install the application and slip the device into an envelope to its size. A model is available for the Pixel 3a only. The paper does not prevent using the touch screen. Thus, it is possible to pick up the phone, make calls, possibly take photos … But not much more. A virtual return to feature phone while having your smartphone on hand, just in case. Of course, the aim of the game is to last as long as possible without unpacking the device.

Activity Bubbles and Screen Stopwatch, for their part, are two related approaches intended to raise awareness of the time spent on the smartphone in a day. The first of the two apps measures the duration of each activity session, starting with unlocking the device, and represents each moment spent on the smartphone by a new ball in the background, the size of the balls being proportional to the smartphone usage time. Screen Stopwatch, for its part, performs the same measurements, but letting a timer run in the background, without resetting it from one session to another. Thus, in the evening, the user knows how much time he spent on his smartphone during the day.

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