48 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 50GOOGLE I/O 2018
series of settings, options, and features, Google wants
Android P to be the least-used version of Android, and
it just might make us love our phones even more.The bitter truth about app usage
The premier feature of the new initiative is Android
Dashboard, which provides a snapshot of your daily
usage, not unlike the Battery tab in Android Oreo. But
instead of showing you which apps are causing your
battery to drain, the screen will show you exactly how
long you’ve used your phone each day, as well as the
apps that have gobbled up the most of your time.
Think of it as nutritional labelling for phone addicts.
Among the data presented on the exhaustive
Android Dashboard is how many notifications you’ve
received, and how long you’ve used each app on a
daily and hourly basis. When confronted with all these
details, you’ll likely be shocked by just how many
hours you’ve been staring at your phone’s screen –
and that’s the point. And the reports extend beyond
your phone. For example, your entire YouTube watch
time will be collected, whether you’ve been playing
videos on your phone or a PC.
It’s a bold strategy for a company that makes
phones and apps. While cigarette makers have a
long history in fighting regulations designed to
warn customers about the harm their products
cause, Google is voluntarily sharing potentially
alarming information directly on our devices. As
Google explains it, the Digital Wellbeing initiative
is a response to customer concern, and not any
attempt to get ahead of regulators.