Created to address fears about smartphone addiction, Google’s Digital Wellbeing feature tracks how long a
Pixel owner uses his phone and individual apps each day. A timer can be set for each app, limiting the amount of time that it can be used in a day before it is shut down. The Wind Down setting gets users ready for bedtime by limiting notifications and turning the screen to greyscale; this gives an Android user the incentive to put down the phone and grab some shuteye.
But it appears that Digital Wellbeing also has a hidden feature that does something Google didn’t intend it to do.
According to several posts on Reddit (via
The Verge), Digital Wellbeing is actually slowing down
Pixel 3 and
Pixel 3a users. One
Pixel 3 user turned off Digital Wellbeing and found that the difference was like “night and day.” He also recommends that the feature be turned off even if a Pixel 3 user doesn’t feel as though he is having a performance issue.
To turn off Digital Wellbeing, open the app and tap on the three button menu on the upper right side of the screen. Select Turn off usage access and a box will appear. Inside the box, click on Turn off in Settings. That will take you to the Usage access page. Tap on Digital Wellbeing and toggle off Permit usage access. If you go ahead and do this, the data on the app will disappear within 24 hours. If you turn usage access back on, Digital Wellbeing will use the last ten days of data from your phone’s internal storage. The big question is whether your Pixel feels zippier when you disable the feature.
Disabling Digital Wellbeing could make your Pixel run faster
Even if you own an older Pixel model, if it is feeling a little sluggish and laggy, you might want to disable Digital Wellbeing to see if it makes a difference.
