Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
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TL;DR
- Google is working on an Expressive redesign for Digital Wellbeing’s app activity, App timers, and Bedtime mode.
- App timers could soon let you select multiple apps and assign the same daily limit to all of them at once.
- Bedtime mode could ditch collapsible sections while moving Bedtime routine to the top and Weekly average to the bottom.
For a tool that’s supposed to help you track your screen time and reduce it, Digital Wellbeing’s UI sure does promote the opposite. This hasn’t really been a concern up until now, mainly because we’ve been content with what the app offers. However, now that we’ve gotten an early look at how much better Digital Wellbeing could be, it’s going to be difficult to go back.
We’ve spotted Google working on several Digital Wellbeing UI changes — changes that could finally bring an Expressive makeover to the screen-time monitoring app.
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For reference, we already found clues hinting at a new Weekly wrap feature for Digital Wellbeing within the app’s latest version 1.47.964183037.beta build. Now, the same build also points at Google redesigning UI for the app’s timers, Bedtime mode, and app activity.
Starting with what shows up first when you access Digital Wellbeing, from top to bottom, the app activity details section could be getting a redesigned dashboard.
Currently, when you open the section, you see the “screen time” dropdown chip right in the center, followed by usage stats and a weekly graph. Tapping an app highlights its usage stats in a similar UI, as seen in the first two screenshots below. With what Google is cooking, the chip could be moved to the side, complete with the screen time stats and the weekly graph being bundled together in a rectangular card, as seen in the latter two screenshots.
Apps underneath the graph could appear as individual cards, instead of appearing as a continuous list. Plus, it looks like Google wants this page to look less busy, and it’s working toward that goal by getting rid of the timer and information icons that currently sit alongside every app. Accessing those icons could soon require you to tap the listed apps’ name, adding one extra step to an already multi step procedure.
App timers
Google’s not just working on changing the App timers UI, it’s also changing the way you create new timers. Currently, the App timers page lists all apps on your phone in a list, with a timer icon accompanying each. This works just fine if you want to set a timer for just one app, as highlighted in the first two screenshots below.
In cases where you need to limit multiple apps, the same one-at-a-time procedure can get tedious. That’s exactly what Google is trying to solve with this potentially upcoming change.
Instead of highlighting all apps on your phone, the App timers page could soon only highlight a “Use app timers” toggle with an option to add apps. Tapping Add apps would let you select multiple apps at once, complete with the option to give them all a shared timer, as seen in the last four screenshots above. You’re then free to individually tweak timers if necessary, as seen in the last two screenshots above.
Bedtime mode
This isn’t a relatively huge change, but one worth noting after all.
Currently, the Bedtime mode page highlights different sections that you can expand and collapse. This includes options like Weekly average summary, Bedtime routine, and Customize in Modes. With what Google is experimenting, the different sections could be expanded by default, with no way to collapse them.
Check out the existing UI in the first two screenshots and the upcoming changes in the latter two:
That’s really all there is to this change, in addition to Bedtime routine being moved to the top, and Weekly average summary being moved to the bottom.
Like always, there’s no telling if and when these UI changes might make their way out to users. If they do eventually come out, they might not look or function as we’ve explained.
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