Is Digital Wellbeing Slowing Down Pixel Handsets?

A few Reddit posts claiming that Google’s Digital Wellbeing is slowing down the firm’s smartphones have gained some traction, for some reason. But I disabled the feature a week ago and haven’t experienced the promised performance boost or the expected battery life improvements.

So you should approach this one with an open mind, methinks.

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The original Reddit post, the one I saw, dates back to May 3, but I read it on May 8. In it, a Redditor claims that they have tried everything to overcome performance issues with a Pixel 3 handset. Finally, they disabled Digital Wellbeing and that did the trick. “After that, my phone has been butter-smooth [with] not one stutter or lag,” they write. “Switching between apps is a breeze now, no more text input lag just speedy performance throughout the whole UI.”

Well, that and turning off animations in developer options, apparently. You know, maybe it was that.

Anyway, I gave it a shot, and I’ve left Digital Wellbeing disabled since then; my Pixel 3 XL gets markedly bad battery life compared to the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and I hoped this change would make a difference. It has not. But I also haven’t noticed any negative effects either, so I left it alone. I don’t really need this functionality anyway. So I kind of forgot about it.

This morning, however, I see that a different and more recent Reddit post, which is tied to the release of the Pixel 3a and 3a XL, is being reported everywhere as a “fix” for all modern Pixel handsets.

I don’t know. Maybe you should just turn off animations in developer options.

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Conversation 18 comments

  • davidblouin

    13 May, 2019 - 8:58 am

    <p>Has anyone ever needed to turn off animation on an iPhone?</p>

    • provision l-3

      13 May, 2019 - 10:35 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427718">In reply to davidblouin:</a></em></blockquote><p>I guess it depends how you look at it. Have customers? No. That is because Apple does this automatically for iPhones that have a performance impact due to animations. I think we can reasonably argue in this case that someone is turning them off. </p><p><br></p><p>It does strike me as odd that it is required on such a new phone though. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 11:12 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427718">In reply to davidblouin:</a></em></blockquote><p>This is a hidden feature that requires you to enable a developer mode. And we're not turning it off, we're turning it down.</p><p><br></p><p>It'd be nice if Apple gave users this level of control. They don't.</p>

  • rob4jen

    13 May, 2019 - 8:59 am

    <p>I don't have a Pixel 3 XL so I can't comment on whether DW makes any difference but I do, as a matter of course, lower the animation settings to 0.5X on every Android phone I buy or test. It makes a huge difference in usability. Once you get used to using phones with the lower animation scale it's hard to go back. It's like listening to podcasts at 1.25X and then going back to natural speed. Something is just off.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 9:02 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427719">In reply to rob4jen:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah, I was wondering if that wasn't making a bigger difference. Will try that too.</p>

    • GuyDye

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 9:57 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427719">In reply to rob4jen:</a></em></blockquote><p>As a user of both Android and iPhone, it is amusing the number of things we will do and the amount of pain points we will endure to prevent ourselves from having to use something else. ;)</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        13 May, 2019 - 11:08 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#427733">In reply to GuyDye:</a></em></blockquote><p>This is true of all platforms. We're just more honest about it.</p>

    • dcdevito

      13 May, 2019 - 10:15 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427719">In reply to rob4jen:</a></em></blockquote><p>I can attest to lowering animations to 0.5x on all my Android phones always made a huge difference. I hope Apple cuts back some of the animations in iOS someday. </p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 10:30 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427719">In reply to rob4jen:</a></em></blockquote><p>Wow! Thanks for that. My P20 was still very fast in transitions, but now it is blindingly fast, Just tried it out and had my Mate 10 Pro next to it for comparison (same processor, same patch level)… Night and day.</p>

      • bart

        Premium Member
        13 May, 2019 - 10:57 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#427749">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>Would you mind explaining how to lower animations 0.5x?</p>

    • av8ryxx

      13 May, 2019 - 11:22 am

      <blockquote><em>I did that when I got my Pixel 2 and it definitely made a difference for me. </em><a href="#427719"><em>In reply to rob4jen:</em></a></blockquote>

    • rmlounsbury

      Premium Member
      13 May, 2019 - 12:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#427719">In reply to rob4jen:</a></em></blockquote><p>This is pretty genius! I did it on my Pixel and does give it a peppy feel. Thanks. </p>

  • rlcronin

    13 May, 2019 - 12:13 pm

    <p>Totally agree that.5x animation makes it feel quite a bit snappier but still provides some eye candy. </p>

  • rmlounsbury

    Premium Member
    13 May, 2019 - 12:28 pm

    <p>I turn off this function as a default step in my setup on my phones. My family is perfectly willing and able to let me know if I'm being a phone zombie. Not to say that it isn't entirely not helpful because we do have a whole generation of people buried in their devices even out on dates or at business functions. But it doesn't really serve any purpose for me and thus I shut it down. </p><p><br></p><p>To some degree it's yet another ankle biting dog yipping for my attention on my phone. </p>

  • BeckoningEagle

    Premium Member
    13 May, 2019 - 12:29 pm

    <p>I turned it off this morning and I don't see a big difference (I had turned off animations previously). I did notice less drain on the battery, although it may very well be a placebo effect. But at this time I am usually below 60% and today I al still at 78%, so that is good.</p>

  • wolters

    Premium Member
    13 May, 2019 - 3:32 pm

    <p>The timing of this is so interesting for me personally…I decided last night to give it a try and see if it helps reduce distractions and then I wake up to this article…</p>

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