This week Google is launching five new digital wellbeing apps for android devices designed to help people find the right balance of technology in their lives.
These open source apps are available on Google Play for consumers, and on Google’s Experiment with Google platform for designers and developers (along with other experimental apps for voice, AR, VR and digital art).
Built by the Google Creative Lab, these digital wellbeing apps are experimental prototypes, so don’t expect anything too polished. But they do reveal Google’s vision for digital wellbeing.
In a nutshell, Google’s take on digital wellbeing is two-pronged.
- First, Google wants to encourage designers and developers to integrate digital wellbeing features into their products. To this end, the five apps are designed to inspire, and offer free access to download code. There’s also a free playbook/hackpack available to help agencies build apps that promote psychological health and balance.
- Second, Google is promoting a concept of digital wellbeing around healthy balance and self-empowerment (take back control of your tech). They walk the tagline talk on Google’s two digital wellbeing sites (Google and Android) “New ways to find balance for you and your family” (Android) and “Find a balance with technology that feels right for you”.
To these ends, the five digital wellbeing apps are designed to facilitate (partial) disconnection (towards ‘JOMO’ – joy of missing out on distractive screen time) or reduce temptation in order to either reduce distraction and improve focus, or raise self-awareness of digital habits so people are empowered with the knowledge to act.
- Unlock Clock: A live wallpaper for your device that shows the the number of times you’ve unlocked your device that day. Designed to help you better understand your tech use by seeing how often you unlock your phone. (Google Play link)
- Post Box: Schedule times you want to receive notifications on your device. Outside these times, notifications are held in a virtual holding area, and released when you’ve scheduled them. Designed to help you minimise digital distractions. (Google Play link)
- We Flip: A group ‘off’ switch that deactivates all devices in a group, until one person reactivates their device. Designed to help you spend quality time together by switching off from technology as a group. (Google Play link)
- Desert Island: A simple app that hides all non-essential apps (as decided by you) for 24 hours. Designed to help you find focus, by challenging you to go a day with only your essential apps. (Google Play link)
- Morph: An app organisation tool that organise and display apps relevant to your current activity, time or place (home, work, gym, evening etc). Designed to help you stay focused, and minimise distraction by giving you just the right apps at just the right time. (Google Play link)
Google is encouraging agencies to contribute their own experimental apps and ideas to the Experiment with Google platform, and London-based agency, Special Projects has already uploaded an app called Paper Phone
- Paper Phone: A printable paper phone which helps you take a break from your digital world. Paper phone is a printout in a personal booklet format, of the key information you’ll need that day (schedule, maps, contacts, notes etc).
Whether or not our industry will progress Google’s vision that the future of good design is design for good psychological health (aka wellbeing), remains to be seen. At the very least, these digital wellbeing apps provide good inspiration for software, web and app designers.
Mobile payment services Google Play and Apple Pay have proven that convenience and simplicity are when borders disappear. Companies should not limit themselves to one ecosystem and think more broadly in order to win the trust of consumers. In successful companies, designers do not focus on their own Department, but work with other specialists from different departments. But if you don’t have your own specialists, you can always find them in akveo
Rely on your experience and the experience of your marketers and do not be afraid of new things, continuing to create and experiment. Good luck!
Services for mobile payments Apple Pay and Google Play have demonstrated that boundaries don’t matter when it comes to ease and simplicity. To gain the trust of customers, businesses should look outside of the confines of one ecosystem. Designers in successful businesses collaborate with experts from other departments rather than concentrating on their own Department.