Google will set time limits on apps which will make smartphones easier to ignore in response to fears that they are becoming too addictive.

A software update to Android, the company’s smartphone operating system, is designed to make it easier to ignore mobile phones.
It is one of the first times in decades that a major technology company has acknowledged that smartphones and social media apps may have become too distracting, following calls from health experts and organizations that people have become dependent on the devices.

Unveiling the changes at its annual developer conference in Silicon Valley, Google said future Android phones would include an optional app timer that will alert owners when they have spent a pre-set amount of time on an app. The feature will “nudge” users when they are approaching the time limit, and then make the app’s icon black and white when they have passed it, to discourage them from using it.

A separate feature will allow users to specify a particular bed time, and silence alerts as well as turning the phone’s colour screen to a greyscale format, a change that is believed to make mobile phone screens less attractive.

A third update is designed to automatically recognise when a phone has been placed face-down on a table and respond accordingly, by silencing notifications such as phone calls and text messages. The software will also tell users how much time they are spending on individual apps and how many times in a day they unlock their phone.

The changes will be included in the next major update to Android, which is due to be released later this year. The software accounts for more than half of smartphone sales in the UK, and more than three quarters worldwide.

Earlier this year, Apple investors demanded that the company include features in the iPhone that would make them less addictive to children. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, recently demanded that social media companies introduce time limits for children.

http://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/googles-effort-to-help-smartphone.html?m=1